Opera Garnier

SP and I lived together for only six short weeks but we managed to pack in a huge amount of fun together, including Bastille day celebrations, the tour de France and a week in a French chateau. The expression quality not quantity definitely applies here! We also managed to fit in a trip round the Opera Garnier which is, in my opinion, one of the most impressive and pretty buildings in the city. Known as the home of French ballet and les petits rats, I was especially eager to explore. We were treated to a spectacular visual feast of intricate and sparkly costumes, an elaborate Chagall roof and room after room of elegant beauty. 

I loved the cool marble floors with intricate mosaic patters and the curving steps that let up to the stage. 

For me ballet is an intriguingly paradoxical world that contrasts exquisite beauty with extreme pain and hard work. It presents the human body at its two extremes, at its most perfectly beautiful and controlled but also at its physical limits. For me the building was a representation of this, with the dazzling perfection of the architecture and decoration that houses the fraught and painful world of dance. Making dreams come true but also simultaneously brutally crushing them. This is a world and a place that visual imperfection has no place. As an outsider this beauty is nothing less that breathtaking and is quite simply stunning. We wandered through the endless maze of rooms, each more interesting than the last, culminating in the golden hall of mirrors,  reminiscent of Versailles.

The balcony looks out on the Avenue de l'Opera and provides a quintessential view of Parisian life. Starred Haussmanian boulevards stretch into the distance and provide a frame for the hustle and bustle of the city, with parisians soaking up the sun on packed terraces and taxis frantically circling the roads looking for customers. 

I would recommend a visit to the Opera Garnier, especially for those wanting to escape the busier tourist traps and wanting to see impressive and uniquely Parisian buildings. 

Mood - In the mood to dance 

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