Paris Day 3 - Palais Garnier 12.10.2021

Our group starts moving around 7, although my internal alarm again went off around 4:30. So I sipped a Nespresso while sorting pictures, posting to social media and enjoying reliving the prior day via pictures.

Travel on a cruise is much more food driven around time periods than our time pre and post cruise. Most cruise lines have time ranges for b'fast, lunch and dinner, where our discovery daily determines when we eat a sit-down meal as a group. Breakfast is much more informal, focused around the coffee and small bites.

As the others join me at the gathering table, we enjoy croissants, marmalade, and leftovers from last nights dinner. Our plans today are to explore The Paris Opera House or Palais Garnier, located about a kilometer from our apartment. Our reserved tickets were bought on line for 12:30 entrance here.

The Opera Garnier was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called "Salle des Capucines" because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th district of Paris. (translated to Nasturtium Room) A symbol of Paris like Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, or the Sacré Coeur Basilica, partly due to its use as the setting for Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera, Beneath the opera house, sits a water tank, and legend says a man once lived there who had no face. . . .That tank, referred to as a lake and a lagoon, inspired Gaston Leroux, a crime reporter and theatre and opera critic, to use it as a setting in his classic novel.

So after all are ready we head toward the Palais. I never tire of the view as we turn the corner off Rue Saint Augustine to Avenue de Opera. The building is centered on a diamond formed by four avenues that present the beautiful front façade at the bottom of the diamond on Boulevard des Capucines when viewed on a map.

Our Traveling Family!

Chegall's Ceiling

Just Stunning!

A 19th-century architectural masterpiece, the Palais Garnier Opera House, built by Charles Garnier and opened in 1875, is the 13th opera house in Paris since the introduction of French opera by Louis XIV in 1669. Napoleon III commissioned it as part of the renovation works in the capital carried out under his command by Baron Haussmann. Haussmann was given the task to clear enough land to build the opera house in 1858. The design, by architect Charles Garnier, was chosen from a competition held in 1861.A historical monument open to visitors during the day staging opera and dance. The ceiling painted by Chagall in the main auditorium.

We spent the better part of the afternoon exploring the beautiful Opera House, areas not to miss is the grand staircase, the Sun and Moon Rooms on either end of the Stunning Ballroom modeled after the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

The mirror is designed to look like night

Sun mirrors were designed to look like a sunset The mirrors in the room create multiple reflections in a single mirror.

View from the Hall of Mirrors Ballroom, looking down the Boulevard D' Opera

After leaving the Palais Garnier we found a brasserie open and grabbed lunch; Burgers, Eggroll Salad, a nice French white wine, and the kitchen upstairs.

Tonight we have dinner reservations at Villa Dondelli right next door to our apartment. A lovely Italian restaurant with fun décor and delicious food. Additionally we were joined by Maria & Rosa our River cruise compadres.

Tonight we also welcomed Wendy to Paris for the weekend, we met up at Harry's New York Bar for a night cap. 2 blocks from our apartment. Famous for their Bloody Mary Cocktails. Harry’s Bar was born on November 26, 1911 on Thanksgiving Day, (a sacred sign for an American bar). It is a bar literally dismantled from the 7th avenue of Manhattan (pre-prohibition 9 dry states) and reassembled rue Daunou in Paris. At the beginning of the twentieth century the legend was born.

The establishment was later able to be worthy of this scoop by inventing over the years what will become classics in the first rank of which the Bloody Mary; the SideCar the Blue Lagoon or the White Lady to name a few. [ 1 ]

Long day full of fabulous memories. Good night ! ! !

Travel opens your mind to a different perspective!