I was on a mission today (the 28th) to see the Opera house. I just loved that building when I was here last. The day started out with me going to a place in the northern part of Paris where it is one of the largest spots in Paris that has antique vendors, called Clignancourt. I got up early to be there around 9am. It was an overcast day so when I arrived there wasn't many people there and it was easy to wander around the stalls and just look at the different antiques. Around 11am I was done wandering through the main part and I was wandering around the outskirts of the area. Let me tell you...bad idea. The area was filled with tents and vendors selling clothes, jewelry, shoes, purses etc., but the style was a ghetto/street style. The time that I became more cautious was when I realized I was outnumbered. There were far to many guys talking up their little shops to the walkers buy for me to feel comfortable staying there for the rest of the day. It felt like a scene from a movie, when the girl is wandering through a market (typically Chinese idk why the movies always choose that) and she somehow gets lost, asks a guy for help and the next thing you know she's missing or dead. So I retraced my steps and left. If I was with someone, maybe my dad or my boyfriend or my brother or someone besides myself, maybe I would've stayed longer but I was alone so I found the quickest way out of there and left. I am very glad I have parents who have taught me the ways of the street and how to keep oneself protect so thanks mom and dad! :)
I decided to return to the heart of the city and see more of what I haven't seen yet and this is what I saw...
Bank of France
I was determined when I got back into the heart of the city to see the Opera house again but I stumbled upon the Bibliotheque National aka the National Library. Let me just say.... I FOUND IT!!! Most of the collection is held in two buildings in a different part of the city but this..THIS..is what all the pictures of the Bibliotheque are normally of!
Although photos are prohibited, I snuck one anyway! You can go in there and read or study or play around on your laptop or whatever as long as its quiet but it was so cool to be in that room!
They had a money exhibit on the second floor showing money from the Ancient Roman period.
This room is where you can look at priceless paper artifacts from the past.
Then there was a second part to the building that you could look at pictures and maps from the past but all the rooms had doors you had to be buzzed into. Since I really had no reason to be there, I decided I'd wait until another day and maybe make up an excuse once buzzed in to be there.
I then found the Palais Royal. It was the home of the Cardinal Richelieu and the the dukes of Orleans. Now its just the garden and it has little shops surrounding the garden and the courtyard.
The garden of the Palais Royal
courtyard of the Palais Royal
Conseil d'état aka it acts as the legal advisor to the executive government in France.
Came across this... the antique galleries of the Louvre. Or as I like to call it, where you can spend millions of dollars on priceless artifacts
St Roch Church
I love the bakeries here, such craftsmanship even at random small ones!
Place Vendome: a square built in 1699 but made famous when Napoleon put the column in during the 19th century.
Now it has shops on the inside of the square like Dior and random pieces of art like the red blob thing.
or these black budda like things
I was near L'Opera and fitting to the Opera is a ballet shop where the fans blew the skirt of the tutu to make it look like it was dancing
L'Opera! built in 1874! I could hear music as I was walking towards it...
There was a band playing! I did hear music! and they were actually really good.
entrance ceiling
entrance foyer
they had costumes on display all around l'Opera
part of the grand staircase
ceiling inside L'Opera
the Grand Staircase
and que the Phantom of the Opera music!
Seats inside the Opera
Stage
Ceiling inside the stage
The door to your box, monsieur et madame.
There was a library in the Opera that showed old stage set ups and had every play's manuscript housed inside. The one above is Don Juan by Mozart played in 1787
the library
they had paintings on display of famous actors who played in the Opera
in between acts you can take a stroll through here....
wow
or go outside
and look at Paris
when you come in with your ticket to see the play or the ballet this is your view
some cool opera masks!
Then I found this church "Sainte Trinite"
What a day!
Yet its not over, Mr Nguyen's son is moving back home. He lived at the Cité Universitaire in Paris which is like a college dorm campus where there are multiple buildings created for students who study in Paris so they have a place to live. I was going to try to live there but I believed at the time that it was for graduate students only. I came to find out tonight from Mr Nguyen who also lived there when he was studying in Paris a long long time ago (as he puts it) that you have to be in college for at least a few years before you can live here. Therefore I read the french wrong on the website and I could've applied. However I am happy I did not. The buildings are very neat, each set up to represent a country. So there is the American house, Canadian house, Japanese, Iran, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Morocco, etc, over 20 some countries represented. So if I applied I would've automatically been put into the American house unless I asked for the international house which is also known as the French house. However even if I asked there wouldn't be a guarantee that I would be placed there because someone from that house would have wanted to move to the American house at the same time I asked to be placed there. Plus I saw the rooms. The house Mr Nguyen's son lived was in the Swiss House because on top of being French and Vietnamese they are also Swiss (Mrs Nguyen comes from Switzerland). His room was the size of mine now but a shower and a toilet and a sink were also in side it. In other words his living space was very very small. He also had to share a communal kitchen, which was a kitchenette and smaller than the one I have to use now which is small. He was paying close to 720 euros a month to live there, much more expensive than what I am paying. Plus if I lived there I would not have had the chance to live with such a great family who has helped me out so much! I would've been writing about how lost and confused I am instead of how much I have already learned!!
The Lord is kind and merciful and He has done such wondrous things for me!
Praise And Glory to God! :)
