The Left Bank and the Opera

 

Tuesday was another “free” day, with only one appointment, a behind-the-scenes tour of Opera Garnier at 5:00 PM.

We met Matt and Hosanna at the boulangerie across the street. Kathy and I had breakfast in our room but we sat outside with them as they fueled themselves for the day.

Both Matt and Hosanna wanted to see the bookstore Shakespeare and Company (S&C). (Kathy and I had just read Hemingway’s A Movable Feast where the bookstore’s owner, Sylvia Beach, played such a large part.) From our apartments, we walked past Notre Dame. The kids thought that they might go in, but the line was too long, so we kept going. At S&C there was short line, so I sat in the shade while Matt, Hosanna, and Kathy went in. Our kids bought some treasures there.

Since we were so close, I suggested that we walk across the bridge to Ile St. Louis and get some ice cream at Berthillon. When we’d visited years ago, the to-go ice cream was sold from a separate window down the street. Now, it’s sold from a cart in front of the main restaurant.

From Ile St. Louis, we took the Metro to Luxembourg Gardens. I wanted to follow the Rick Steve’s Left Bank walk. Since it ends in Luxembourg Gardens, I thought we could follow it in reverse. When we got off the Metro, all of us were hungry, so we started looking for somewhere to eat. We ended up at a fast-food hamburger and taco place. It was inexpensive, but all of us agreed that our food didn’t look like the pictures. After lunch we walked into the Gardens, starting at the pool where you can rent sailboats. These are pretty ingenious. They are not remote controlled. All the children were given is a four-foot-long stick that they can use to push the boat away from the side and maneuver it until the wind catches its sail.

The Gardens are beautiful and clean. Even though it was a Tuesday, you could see the French people of all ages enjoying the chairs, the lawns, the pool, the pétanque courts, and all of the other amenities. The children’s playground is full of children. Between ourselves we wondered how everything could be so clean. I got a little insight into that when I got up early one morning and found the streets full of maintenance workers cleaning up the trash from the night before.

We ended our amble through the park at the beehives, some of which have been here since 1872. The bees are kept here to service the nearby apple and pear conservancy which contains over 600 varieties of fruit trees. The honey is sold one day of the year, only in September, early in the morning, inside the park of Jardin de Luxembourg, right next to the bee hives.

By this time it was almost 3:30 PM. We knew we had to be at the Opera by 5:00 PM, so we left the Garden by the north exit, walked past St. Sulpice church, and caught the Metro home.

After a short cleanup and rest, we again descended into the Metro and caught the line to the Opera. We walked around the side to the ticket office where we picked up our pre-bought tickets and were given our headsets for the tour.

The Mysteries of the Palace Garnier tour takes place after 5:00 PM. Our tour had a Phantom of the Opera theme. Our guide was a talented performer and mimic and the tour was well worth the money.

This is the famous staircase, made with several types of marble. 

This is Marc Chagall ceiling and chandelier which fell at the end of Act 1 in the theatrical adaption of the book. In reality, the entire chandelier never fell, but one of its counterweights did, killing one opera goer.

This is what the theater looks like sitting in the third row.

After the theater, Matt lead us to a great restaurant where we had one last meal in Paris. 

Hosanna took one last picture out of their window. Tomorrow Matt and Hosanna will be leaving for home, and Kathy and I will head to Rennes in Brittany.