Morning view from our hotel near the Gare de l’est. Grey day but quite a bit warmer than Berlin!The Ibis breakfast was definitely up to scratch, these madelaines were fresh out of the oven. They’re supposed to remind me of something apparently. I thought this poster in the breakfast area was to the point.
Pauline was keen to visit the Palais Garnier opera house so we walked down there after breakfast.
The Palais Garnier has been called “probably the most famous opera house in the world, a symbol of Paris like Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, or the Sacré Coeur Basilica”. This is at least partly due to its use as the setting for Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera. Another contributing factor is that among the buildings constructed in Paris during the Second Empire, besides being the most expensive, it has been described as the only one that is “unquestionably a masterpiece of the first rank”. (Wikipedia)
At the foot of the grand staircase. According to Greek mythology, Pythia was the priestess of Apollo, the god of arts, and she delivered the oracles of the god.The grand staircase definitely lives up to its name.A view from the balcony. Inside one of the boxes, the auditorium ceiling.A view of some of the other boxes inside the auditorium.There are busts of famous arty types all around the boxes including this one of Berlioz.Upstairs is the grand foyer, the artist who painted the ceiling wanted to out do the Sistine chapel. It’s spectacular. The ceiling of the grand foyer.Outside, being France there were good natured protests against the government cuts to arts funding. Fair enough too!Pauline’s next plan was to visit this very fancy department store, Galeries Lafayette. They had some Christmas displays in their windows.Inside the decorations are amazing.It’s a bit flasher than even Arthur Barnetts was.They had some amazing boots.We climbed right up to the terrace on the roof, what a view! The Opera in the distance there.Tour Eiffel Paris traffic. Much lighter than it used to be thanks to bicycles and congestion charges!This wonky skyscraper had us intrigued. Built in 2017 apparently. We had to buy some touristy things, everything else cost an arm and a leg, even in the second hand bit.This second hand fur jacket for example, €610! Crikey.
It was a fun day in Paris, and I’m glad Pauline thought of these places to visit. We got the 16:50 train to Rennes and the bus to Josselin arriving at 20:10. A very excellent long weekend was had by all.
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