Yesterday and today, we had excursions to the Marais and Palais Garnier, with our in-house tour guide, Mirec. Yesterday was very interesting because we got to see several of the old "Hotels" of Paris, where they wealthy built huge palaces and residences on the banks of the Seine called the Marais. "Marais" implies swamps or marshlands, and this area of the city once was swampy and undesirable. But it was transformed and built over with grand structures during mainly the 18th/19th centuries. These buildings are beautiful. It is also interesting because now, the area is a largely Jewish and Gay community. We passed through an area that had a large amount of Kosher boulangeries and restaurants, which was cool! There is also a lot of interesting artwork and graffiti tagged on several walls in the neighborhood, which I thought was kind of pretty (the contrast bewtween the old and the new).
Today, we were able to go on a tour of the interior of the Palais Garnier. I wish we could have seen the r
eservoir underneath where the Phantom of the Opera lives, but that wasn't included in our tour. The building is so beautiful, and it is incredible that it was Garnier's first huge project. It is just so opulent and magnificent. The slightly ironic thing
eservoir underneath where the Phantom of the Opera lives, but that wasn't included in our tour. The building is so beautiful, and it is incredible that it was Garnier's first huge project. It is just so opulent and magnificent. The slightly ironic thingabout it is that there are several inscriptions and engravings with Napoleon III's name on them, but before the Opera House was finished, he was exiled from France!
Another interesting thing we learned was that in the time period that the Palais was being built, other opera houses in Europe had a lifespan (statistically) of about 12 years before burning down. This is because before electricity, everything was lit by gas, and in an opera house full of sets, costumes, etc, there is a lot that can go up in flames.
The Palais is absolutely beautiful...I remember going to see Giselle there with my family when I was 16, and I could still vividly remember the ceiling by Chagall when I saw it again today. It is so bright and pretty, and such an extreme contrast from the marble decorating the rest of the Palais. I am so excited to go see a ballet there in March!
Right now, I am at the ACCENT center, waiting to start my third intensive French lesson, and then I will go home to a delicious dinner!
6 comments:
I clicked on each and every one of your pictures - just HAD to have a look at the full-sized version... beautiful...
Hmmm... the Phantom's reservoir... are visitors allowed down there?? If so, I can't wait to see THOSE photos...
xoxo
Oh i WISH! I dont think they are...but I will definitely look into it, and be sure to make a trip for you if so haha
Bonjour Ashley!
I'm really enjoying you commentary about all the sites and experiences you've had Paris. I feel like I'm getting a private tour with a great curator! The pictures are spectacular as I follow along day by day. I am so excited that you have this opportunity to speak and live in Paris! xoxo Diane
I did a little Googling and learned that the Phantom's reservoir is now tended by the city's "pompiers-sapeurs" - and only rarely has anyone else been allowed down there. I think it requires diving gear to get there...!
I want to share a few more bits of history(and folklore)that I was intrigued to learn about the Opera house (maybe you have heard all of this already:))
- There are trout living in the underground pond! (what do you think your Uncle Johnny will say when he hears about THAT!?!)
- Honey-bee hives are tended on the ROOF of the opera house (the honey is sold for charity)
- There really WAS a chandelier that crashed down into the audience during a performance, in 1896. One woman was killed.
-and... There actually was a man, an architect, with a deformed face, who supposedly lived in the opera house... Then, in 1907, a body, believed by some to be his, was discovered in a subterranean room that had been bricked over and forgotten for many years...
It sounds like an amazing place - history, beauty, and mystery...
I'm very happy that you will have the opportunity to spend more time there... and that you have the ballet performance to look forward to!! YaY!!
<3 Aunt Diana
p.s. (did i use the correct French?....for "firefighters"??)
Oh my goodness...it's so wonderful to read your commentary and see thephotos day by day. I hope you are able to keep up the posts once your classes begin. I know the schedule will be very busy. Madame sounds so interesting. What does she do? Will she let you post a photo ? That would be fun. I'll check back soon for more adventures of Ashley in Paris!
Much love, Aunt Valerie
Hi Ashley...and Diana...and Valerie...and....Pamela too!
Diana: Loved your fun facts. Bees on the roof....crashing chandeliers...fish underfoot...
And, Valerie, I was going to ask the same question of Ashley: What does Madame do? So American! But, inquiring minds do want to know!
Found a couple quotes I think you may enjoy from my own Paris diary:
"And yet that dislocating strangeness, that suspension in time and space, is what one travels for; it gives us permission to not worry about our usual responsibilities and to imagine change."
"But for us, there was only pleasure in the manners of France. Contrary to their press, we found the French almost ineluctably enchanting, polite and imbued with an admirable sense of host-guest relations, through perhaps at times (we thought) masking some interior sadness. Theirs does not seem a culture that values charisma over probity."
Both quotes are from Author Judy Kronenfeld's book, Speaking French.
A book, if you haven't read, I know you would enjoy.
Really enjoying your journal. Am creating my own blog for The Guest Experience and am really enjoying participating in yours. Mine launches in the next week to 10 days so will let you know "when."
Love to you on this Super Bowl Sunday,
Heidi
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