Aug. 21, 2006 - 6:10 a.m.
katie and i took the guided tour at the paris opera on saturday. it was really neat and i learned a lot. the guide was very funny and personable, and he knew the answers to everyone's questions. katie let me keep my head out of her bag so i could see everything too. i can understand why she thinks it's the prettiest building in paris. it was really impressive. we started under the auditorium, in the season ticket holders' rotunda. there were huge mirrors on the walls and the floor was all mosaics, and you could see where charles garnier signed his work in the very center, on the ceiling. it was hard to read, but we did it.
after that, we went to pythia's fountain. pythia was one of apollo's muses. the fountain is right behind the grand staircase, to announce that you are entering a place dedicated to apollo, who was also a god of music. his symbol was the lyre, so there are lyres almost everywhere you look in the building, but they're very well disguised, so it's not like you get tired of seeing them. we went up the grand staircase and found out more about that, and then into the theatre, which was really impressive. then we went into the grand foyer, where there were more really big mirrors and a lot of goldleaf. the tour ended there, and katie went around taking pictures. here i am on one of the balconies overlooking the grand staircase and entrance to the auditorium.
the railing i'm sitting on was made out of onyx, which is a semi-precious stone and very expensive. more expensive than any of the different kinds of marble, and there were a lot of really expensive marbles in the place! the building is really impressive. most of the floors are venetian mosaics or wood parquet, and there's marble everywhere and gold gilt almost everywhere else.
after we saw most of the building, we went to the museum and library, where they have a small study of the original ceiling by jules-eugene lenepveu, which katie can't believe they covered with the ceiling by marc chagall. i understand why she feels that way - the new ceiling doesn't really match anything. katie loves the miniature sets in the library. the scene designers used to make little paper cut-out sets elaborately drawn and painted to show the director what they wanted to create on-stage. they're really neat. here i am in front of one that's of a forest. i don't know the name of the show it was for, sorry. see my reflection in the glass? katie had a hard time taking this picture, because she couldn't use her flash, and it was really dim in the room. the "set" wasn't lit well, either.
katie had to leave before she got all the pictures she wanted to take. she says she could spend all day there just taking pictures. i believe it, because there's a lot to see. but the museum people were really nice and stamped her ticket so she can go back and take pictures for free. see? paris people are nice. :)
your pal,
pete
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public transportation is good for everyone - Oct. 03, 2006
keep off the grass - Sept. 08, 2006
