Shopping in style: Galeries Lafayette and Printemps

Today we went back to the Opera Garnier for a guided tour, since Kevin hadn't yet seen the inside.  I won't bore you all with too many more photos of the Opera house, but the guided tour did provide some insights that the self-guided tour did not.  Such as this entrance hall ceiling, where Charles Garnier "signed" his work by hiding the words "1861-1875 Jean-Louis Charles Garnier, Architect" in the ornate plasterwork.

Apparently Garnier wasn't the only one who liked to put his own stamp on things.  Remember this Marc Chagall ceiling in the auditorium?

Well, by the time he designed the ceiling, Chagall was well into his 70's so he didn't actually paint the whole ceiling himself.  But he did paint this part, a self-portrait.  Sneaky, no?

Okay, enough about the Palais Garnier.  For lunch, we decided to walk over to the 10-story flagship store of the Galeries Lafayette, a French department store chain.  As we crossed the street, we saw these people perched on the roof.

We went inside and made a beeline for the terrace.  We weren't the only ones up there, either.  Everyone else was sitting down eating lunch and ignoring the spectacular view.

From this height you could see so much more of the detail on the facade of the opera house across the street.

The terrace restaurant was bustling, of course.  But after looking at the menu prices, we realized why people were enjoying brown-bag lunches on the astroturf instead.

Since we had not thought ahead to bring a picnic, and we weren't willing to spend a bazillion dollars on lunch with a view, we headed downstairs to the tourist-packed cafeteria instead.

We had a decent, but still overpriced, meal of two salads and two diet cokes.  Not horrible, but not fantastic either.  The tricolor terrine with the salmon salad was pretty to look at though.

After lunch we did a little exploring of the shopping galleries.  The space is huge.  Want contemporary fashions?  Head to level 2.  Want Children's or Maternity?  Try floor 5.  "Designer Fashion" is on level 1, while "Seduction Fashion" (whatever that is...lingerie maybe?) is on the third floor.

Looking down, you'll see the cosmetics, fragrance, and jewelry kiosks.

Looking up, you'll see the gorgeous art nouveau ceiling, added to the building in 1912.

As we left the building, we saw this chalk artist creating a tribute to Salvador Dalí.  He certainly got the crazy eyes and moustache right.

For comparison, we walked over to another Paris shopping institution: the Printemps department store.

The displays and merchandise inside could hardly compete with the turn-of-the-century elegance of Galleries Lafayette.  To me, it looked pretty much like any department store anywhere back home.

Except, of course, for the Ladurée kiosk inside.  Actually, I'm kind of glad we don't have this temptation in clothing stores back in the states!

Le Palais Garnier - The Paris Opera House

During the reconstruction of Paris by Napoleon III and Baron Haussman, an architectural competition was held to design a new opera house.  An unknown architect by the name of Charles Garnier designed the winning entry.  The result was the Palais Garnier:

The opera took 15 years to build and was inaugurated in 1875.  The facade of the building is adorned with busts of famous composers and mythological statues -- this one represents Harmony.

The entrance for the tours is guarded by a bust of Charles Garnier, and a plaque on the base shows the plans for the design of the opera house.

The Palais Garnier was home to the Paris Opera until 1989, when the company moved to a new opera building near Bastille.  Only a handful of operas are performed here each season although the Paris Ballet still uses the Garnier as its primary venue, as these souvenirs in the gift shop boutique attest.

The striking Grand Staircase is made of multi-colored marble and leads up to the foyers of the different levels of the auditorium.

At the foot of the staircase are bronze female torchères holding bouquets of light.

The Grand Foyer has a very opulent feel.

The ceiling of the Grand Foyer was painted by Paul Baudry and portrays scenes from the history of music.

The enormous mirrors along the side of the foyer contribute to the feeling of open space.  We took the opportunity to take a self-portrait.

It seems as though every surface within the building is elaborately carved and gilded.

The ceiling of the avant foyer is no exception -- it is also covered in golden mosaics.

The auditorium seats 1900 people and when you enter, it feels like you have stepped back in time.

The plush seats are covered in red velvet fabric.

In the late 1890's one of the counterweights for the six-ton chandelier fell, killing a spectator and injuring several others.  Gaston Leroux used this incident and other details about the opera as inspiration for his novel "The Phantom of the Opera".  In 1964, Marc Chagall painted a new mural on the ceiling above the chandelier.