on the beauty of the opera house

metro buddies greet us on our way home every day. the wolf says, "fuck halloween". we don't take offense but we don't share his sentiment.

Paris, day 22

morning: a friend of mine comments on facebook that i should read a book, which will remain unnamed, about a girl from chicago who spends a month in paris. claire and i say that we have to network and learn to be schmoozers in order to get our own book deals.

we head to the paris opera house, or palais garnier, named after the man who won the prize to become its architect. we are spending another 10 euro on another tour with paris walked, and just like yesterday, it is cold out, but not as biting. though it's only a block or so from the metro opera stop to the entrance of the opera house, i am immediately glad that we will be spending the afternoon indoors.

the lights of the grand staircase are warm.

the chicago symphony orchestra won't get any more of my money until they drape everything in crushed red velvet. j/k.

afternoon: the tour is led by the same knowledgeable woman we had yesterday, oriel, who greets us at the entrance. little do we know the opulence that lies ahead. we lie to the boy behind the opera ticket tour office and he sells us a discounted student entrance ticket for four euro. i don't feel bad about this because i am young and unemployed. and yes, there is an unemployed discount for four euro as well, but i don't know how to prove my lack of a job.

we start the tour in the entrance that was supposed to be used by Napoleon III, who commissioned the building of the opera house because he wanted to show others countries that Paris was prospering. as we learn later, Napoleon never got to go to the opera because he abdicated before the opera house was finished 15 years later in 1885. damn that franco-prussian war. the interior of the building is pretty outrageous, much like versailles, but less overwhelming and ostentatious and a bit cozier. it also inspired The Phantom, and we learn that there is a lake under the building (no swans, alas). there is an amazing ballroom there too, just beyond a mosaic gallery, and in it, they filmed a part of marie antoinette and stella mccartney held her first runway show with chloe there too. the opera house is one of the most wonderful sites we've toured on this trip -- not overwhelming, beautiful mosaics, red velvet in the auditorium, stairs like waves, the chagall ceiling, the fabulous chandeliers, cozy lighting -- one day i would love to see an opera there. it makes me think about how i want to get another subscription to the cso, or see the joffrey ballet, or go to the lyric when i'm back in chicago and have some disposable income.

the ballroom makes me want to waltz.

the night sky as rendered by garnier.

the hall of mosaics must have taken a long time to create.

while in the opera house, we see that it's snowing a little outside. it's the first snow we see of the season and we see it in paris! it's magical and ridiculous how happy this makes me.

later, we walk from a metro stop, through the rain, to musee guimet, in a 'sumptious hotel' as described in our guidebook. (hotel in french does not only mean a place to sleep for the night, but a residence i think.) it is a museum full of buddhas collected by a scientist who became obsessed with them on his travels and brought them back to the city. some buddhas are cute and zen, some are agro and scary, but seeing them comes as a welcome relief from the opulence of the opera house and previous tours of amazing buildings.

evening: basically everything in paris is closed on sunday -- supermarkets, retail stores -- but luckily banette is open so we get another baguette. we also shop for cherry crumble materials to use our expensive cherries before the rot and to welcome aaron to our paris apartment for the next five days. my feet need a blankie over them.