The Ham Nomads

12 Oct 2015. <FR> Paris —

Went into Paris, using the campsite's shuttle bus and the Metro. We went to l'Avenue de l'Opéra, visited Paris Tourisme where we the bought our Paris Card, which gives us access to museums, the Eiffel Tower, a day on the hop-on, hop-off Big Bus, a cruise on the Seine, and five days of unlimited public transport. We went across the street to a brasserie for our early morning cuppa, then walked up the Avenue de l'Opéra to the Palais Garnier, aka l'Opéra de Paris.

After Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie narrowly escaped an assasination attempt in 1858 at the old Opera House in a crowded, cramped area of Paris, it was decided to construct a new Opera House in run-down section of Paris, which was to be cleared and redesigned with wide boulevards more suited to the grandness of the enterprise — and easier to make secure. In 1861, a young architect, Charles Garnier, won the competition to design the new building. His concepts were daring, brilliant, magnificent. He was not designing in the old Louis XVI style, he said, but — as some quote him — in the new Napoleon III style, but it's more likely he said 'in my own style'!

Like many ambitious projects, this one was not without its hiccups, and it was not until the end of 1874 that the new Opera House, still incomplete, was officially opened. By this time, Napoleon III had been ousted, the Second Empire was history, and the Opera was completed (reluctantly) by the Republic. Because of its perceived excesses, the building was derisively called Palais Garnier. Ironically, this is the name it now proudly bears, and it is only incidentally that it is called L'Opéra de Paris.

The ceiling above the Grand Staircase

The view of La Place de l'Opéra from the loggia outside the Grand Foyer

The less-splendid entry for the non season-ticket holders
(The statues are of Händel, Gluck, Lully and Rameau)

The building is stunning, and we will let the photos speak for themselves. Suzie considers this a trip highlight, which is amazing when you consider what we've seen over the past year or so. The stairways and foyers are so magnificent that in 1876 the American novelist Henry James wrote of the Grand Foyer: "If the world were ever reduced to the to the domination of a single gorgeous potentate, the foyer would do very well for his throne room".

The auditorium is splendid. It was designed not so much to allow the patrons to see and enjoy the performance as to allow them to be seen in a setting of sublime magnificence. Even the choice of red for the decor was intended to reflect into the women's faces and give them a rosier complexion. And don't be too upset with the occasional late-comers at today's operas — the Paris Opera insisted on a ballet just before the last act, so that the glitterati could make a grand entrance at that point, after having whiled away the earlier part of the evening in the glamorous restaurants and cafes that surrounded the Opera!

And we can't forget the Chagall ceiling, unveiled in 1964. The original painting is still in place, unharmed, hidden behind the magnificent ceiling painted by Marc Chagall.

A maquette of the original ceiling, by J.E. Lenepveu

There's another little point of interest — the Opera Box no 5 is the one chosen by Gaston Leroux for the Phantom of the Opera in his book. By the way, the episode in the book where the huge 7-ton chandelier falls onto the audience is based on a real event, when one of its huge counterweights fell during a performance — and yes, there was one fatality on that night.

Afer the Opéra, we went shopping. Well, we went to one of the Grands Magasins — Les Galeries Lafayette, just a short stroll form the Opéra. This store has to be seen to be believed! The central part of the store, beneath a magnificent Art Nouveau glass dome, is laid out in galleries overlooking a large circular central space. And the brands you find there, each with its own special area, read like a Who's Who of the retail trade — Dior, Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss, Chanel, Swarovski, Prada, Gucci, Amarni, Givency, Stella McCartney — and even the recent interloper, Apple!

And, from the children's toys area, we got a good view of Sacré Cœur de Montmartre, which we will be visiting in a couple of days.

Another full and satisfying day. We made our way back via the Metro and the shuttle bus to our campsite for a quiet night of recovery.

Distance driven — today, nil; to date, 29,782 miles ( 47,930 km )