Tuesday, May 27 - Opera Garnier and Galleries Lafayette

 

The weather has turned cold on us this morning so it was a good day to hang out a department store. (Aka - shop). Before I can twist Gary's long arms, we signed up on a tour of historical buildings in the famous Opera district. Our tour leader this time is Celia. This was her first time leading a free tour on her own and she was just wonderful. Celia is from Paris but travelled and lived in the US and Argentina to study languages.

 

 

We met the group on the front steps of the famous Paris Opera house - Opera Garnier. (1875) The building covers almost a block. A young architect by the name of Charles Garnier relatively unknown at the time won the competition to design this 2000 seat Opera House. Gary is standing in front of the floor plan of the theatre. No revisions here.

 

I'm standing where Napoleon would enter. The side door.

 

 

Enough history lesson for now. Celia took us along Place Vendome - a very famous and important address if you have something to sell. In Paris, if you do not have a store on this street u don't matter. All the big guns are here, Chanel, LV, House of Dior, Piaget, Van Cleef & Arpel and the biggest of them all - The Ritz. French couture doesn't get any more famous than goods from this address.

I've successfully lead him to the shops :)

 

Gary and I disagreed on what to buy so we had a little spat :(

 

 

 

Our final stop was Plaza de la Concord. Nope, not where the Concord has a metered parking stall but the location where many executions took place in history. Louie XIV and Marie both ended up on public display here.

 

 

 

After all this walk and talk made me hungry for a little shopping therapy. So we continued on our own tour to Galleries Lafayette. A beautiful and expensive department store in a even more beautiful centre atrium. The stain glass was backlit showering a rainbow of colours over the shoppers below.

 

Oh, did I mention expensive ? Not only are the merchandise eye poppingly gorgeous & costly, even a chicken ( yes Thalia) sandwich and two cafés costed us $33 euros ($50 cdn) Needless to say we wanted to camp overnight here to recoup our investment.

 

 

Luckily there is a roof top (almost free) level with money taking view for those who can't afford the lower floors. We took advantage of this purk for as long as possible.

 

Grasping for luxury goods is not a good idea in Paris as it will be never ending. So we went to satisfy our other pleasure - hearing! At a classical music concert VIVALDI / 4 seasons-PACHELBEL / Canon-ALBINONI / adagio in the stain glass supreme of Sainte-Chapelle. A Gothic cathedral built between 1242 and 1248 Louis IX the only French King who is now a saint. Then a slow evening walk along the Seine on the way home.

 

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