Bonjour,

The Paris Opera or Palais Garnier Opera House is one fancy opera house. It was built from 1861 to 1875, so it was started at the start of the American Civil War. It’s a world famous opera house, in part because it was the setting for the 1910 novel, “Phantom of the Opera’. The entire building is very opulent with marble floors and columns, horse-carriage access from under the building, secure access rooms for the well-to-do, a library, a restaurant, and much more. I liked our visit here a lot, probably because I didn’t know about it, so I had no expectations.

1. This is the front of the building but you could study it for many hours and still not see all the unique statuary and carvings and marble and gold, etc.

2. This is the Grand Staircase. This was the entrance for the well to do but not for the common folks. I guess they messed up because they let me waltz right up the stairs.

3. This view is from above, where you can see the Grand Staircase split in two directions.

4. This is the back of the auditorium, rather than the stage. It looked more interesting. The auditorium holds 1,979 patrons.

5. The Grand Foyer was the drawing room for Paris Society. It was designed to look like the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Nice place to spend time waiting for the next act.

Voila,

Bill