Paris

31 Aug 2013

I know I owe the blog a post on the city of Bourges, and I promise I’ll get to it, as Bourges was quite an interesting place. But…we’re in Paris for a couple days and I think I’ll throw a Paris post in for the heck of it. This will be just kind of freeform, mostly pictures.

Quiet Streets

For some reason, the walk today took us on a number of quiet streets. Paris is a big city and like all big cities, noisy. But these streets are all in popular parts of Paris, they all connect main streets and yet, well, look at the pictures. [gallery link=”files” size=”medium” columns=”2” ids=”1546,1535,1537,1541, 1543”]

Some stores we liked:

[gallery link=”files” size=”medium” columns=”2” ids=”1549,1548,1540,1539,1544”]

Seine Walks

I’ve talked before about how Paris has opened up the Seine river banks to pedestrians. Here’s some pictures of another area. This one is almost a mile long. [gallery link=”files” size=”medium” columns=”2” ids=”1554,1553,1552”]

*A beautiful place to walk along the Seine.*

*I could get used to taking lunch out here.*

Rodin's Garden

We ended by having lunch at the cafeteria in Rodin’s garden. It’s not the greatest food, but the setting: in a beautiful garden with Rodin sculptures around. Fabulous. [gallery link=”files” size=”medium” columns=”2” ids=”1565,1550,1551”]

Palais Garnier

Palais Garnier is the smaller of Paris’s two opera houses and definitely the over-the-top one. It was built on the commission of Napoleon III, who was Emperor of France (taking after his uncle) from 1852 to 1870. Napoleon III was a lousy emperor, but a great city-builder; Paris today is largely the result of his efforts, as carried out by Baron Von Haussmann and others. Charles Garnier got the commission to develop this opera house. Although an architectural upstart at the time, this building made his reputation and career.

*The top of these bannisters is onxy! Onyx is so rare and expensive it's usually used for small pieces of jewelry. Garnier spent, well, a lot of money on this onyx, which came from Algeria.*

The ceiling painted by Marc Chagall in 1964; it contains scenes from operas and ballets. It was not exactly popular - this modern art in a classic setting - but most people now accept it as a masterpiece. Laurie and I agree.

*The Ballroom. Can you say, "Over the top?"*

*Laurie checking out the sights from the balcony.*

We took a guided tour of Palais Garnier and are soooooo glad we did. Definitely a high point of Paris for us.