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Jun. 29th, 2003 08:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darcydodoStill haven't gotten around to finishing the Versailles entry. I'll post this, eat dinner, and then do so. Honest.
Anyway, I needed to do laundry today, so I went to Franprix to get washing powder. Unfortunately, they're closed on Sundays. Grr. But some nice soul had left their box of washing powder in the buanderie, so I nicked a bit. Naughty me.
I then sat around accidentally doing nothing until about 2:30, realized this was happening, and went off to figure out what I was actually going to do with my last day in Paris. At first I thought about the Catacombs, which I still want to see, but they're closed on Sundays, so that'll have to be one of the things to do with my parents in the three days that we're back here. (How many plans is that, now? Catacombs, Musée d'Orsay, wandering around Montmartre, far too many restaurants....) Instead, I went to the old Opera house (not the Opéra Bastille, but the other one, whatever it's called). It's really lovely inside, with sculptures and paintings and carved marble all over the place. Chagall did the ceiling of the audience hall (obviously replacing another painting from when the operahouse was built), but I don't know who did the ceiling over the staircases, because the guard I asked had forgotten.
Downstairs, there was an indoor fountain, now without water, but it was fantastic imagining how it might once have been. Near it, on the ceiling, was a circle of the four cardinal directions and all the signs of the zodiac. The acoustics of this room were fantastic, but I couldn't quite work up the courage to try singing something, especially after the room started filling with other tourists.
Upstairs, two of the boxes were open, and they were a wonderful deep red, both the furniture and the cloth covering the walls. On the first (or maybe ground, can't remember) floor, there was a costume display, I think of costumes designed by modern fashion designers. There was a Carmen costume that was made entirely of red and black leather. Wow. I forgot to wonder where the Phantom would have been flitting around, but now I'm being curious. And, umm, no chandeliers. :)
There was a little "museum" with paintings of things related to the Opera (portraits of relevant people, sketches for eventual larger things, etc), and also more maquettes like the ones displayed in the opera room at the Musée d'Orsay. The museum overlapped a bit with the library, and hence the walls were packed with scores. This was slightly painful, as I've been wanting to check the music and/or words to a few things recently. I can't imagine the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion having a vast music library like that one, though I suppose in fact it probably does.
After I left the opera house, I thought about going to see the old galleries and passages (essentially the first mall, constructed so that people could do window shopping), but instead I ended up doing a much more modern shopping thing. Namely, since it's currently the Soldes and hence a lot of stores are being open on Sunday, I went clothes-shopping. Yes, this is what I'm doing with the money I earned for tutoring Sandrine. Yes, I did also spend stupid amounts getting photographs developed yesterday, so in fact, I'm probably just spending some of my reserve money from home. Ah well. As my mom keeps telling me, I'm not actually in graduate school to make a profit. I got a pair of brown or fawn or something-colored 3/4-length pants to replace the capris that got ripped on the bike (see the not-yet-extant Versailles entry) and two shirts, one bright red, and one a deep vaguely turquoise-y blue. No,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mciac, I think they don't have t-shirts in Paris, so you can relax.
Then, since I was right by the Galeries Lafayette, and I've been wanting to see them, I wandered in there. It was quite a sight. I told myself that ostensibly I was looking for a white bra, but it didn't happen (too expensive), and it was more fun just nosing around a bit anyway. There's one bit on the ground floor where you can look straight up to the domed roof of the ceiling, which is all sorts of colors of glass. I don't know how old the building is. Around the open space are gilded moldings, including one ring of passion-vine flowers, most randomly. When I was coming down the escalators at one point, I noticed signs for a Häagen-Dasz café somewhere, and given my pledge toeliade this morning, I decided to pursue its location.
I couldn't find it, at first, and instead ended up in the other half of the Galeries, on the floor where the food-type things are. There were an incredible number of delicious-looking prepared foods being sold, as well as a huge wine section, a cheese seller, etc. I drooled, wandered, and fled. But I did eventually get to the Häagen-Dasz café, and ordered two scoops, one of the lychee-cream-ginger ice cream that was advertised both at the film last night and on signs outside the café, and the other of the chocolate-chocolate-chip. They were, however, out of the former, which made me cross. Why advertise something you haven't got?! And I can't imagine they'll have this in the States, so I'll continue my hunt for it in France, which I'm sure will disgust my parents to no end (and will, in fact, make me feel slightly silly, too). Häagen-Dasz is good, but nothing compared to a lot of the artisanal ice-creams available in France!
I then made my way back to the Cité by a much simpler route than I had taken to get to the opera house (sometimes avoiding Châtelet-Les Halles as I do can be a bit silly) and corrected the last bit of Sandrine's paper. And did a lot more nothing. Right, the Versailles entry will happen tonight, I promise.
Anyway, I needed to do laundry today, so I went to Franprix to get washing powder. Unfortunately, they're closed on Sundays. Grr. But some nice soul had left their box of washing powder in the buanderie, so I nicked a bit. Naughty me.
I then sat around accidentally doing nothing until about 2:30, realized this was happening, and went off to figure out what I was actually going to do with my last day in Paris. At first I thought about the Catacombs, which I still want to see, but they're closed on Sundays, so that'll have to be one of the things to do with my parents in the three days that we're back here. (How many plans is that, now? Catacombs, Musée d'Orsay, wandering around Montmartre, far too many restaurants....) Instead, I went to the old Opera house (not the Opéra Bastille, but the other one, whatever it's called). It's really lovely inside, with sculptures and paintings and carved marble all over the place. Chagall did the ceiling of the audience hall (obviously replacing another painting from when the operahouse was built), but I don't know who did the ceiling over the staircases, because the guard I asked had forgotten.
Downstairs, there was an indoor fountain, now without water, but it was fantastic imagining how it might once have been. Near it, on the ceiling, was a circle of the four cardinal directions and all the signs of the zodiac. The acoustics of this room were fantastic, but I couldn't quite work up the courage to try singing something, especially after the room started filling with other tourists.
Upstairs, two of the boxes were open, and they were a wonderful deep red, both the furniture and the cloth covering the walls. On the first (or maybe ground, can't remember) floor, there was a costume display, I think of costumes designed by modern fashion designers. There was a Carmen costume that was made entirely of red and black leather. Wow. I forgot to wonder where the Phantom would have been flitting around, but now I'm being curious. And, umm, no chandeliers. :)
There was a little "museum" with paintings of things related to the Opera (portraits of relevant people, sketches for eventual larger things, etc), and also more maquettes like the ones displayed in the opera room at the Musée d'Orsay. The museum overlapped a bit with the library, and hence the walls were packed with scores. This was slightly painful, as I've been wanting to check the music and/or words to a few things recently. I can't imagine the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion having a vast music library like that one, though I suppose in fact it probably does.
After I left the opera house, I thought about going to see the old galleries and passages (essentially the first mall, constructed so that people could do window shopping), but instead I ended up doing a much more modern shopping thing. Namely, since it's currently the Soldes and hence a lot of stores are being open on Sunday, I went clothes-shopping. Yes, this is what I'm doing with the money I earned for tutoring Sandrine. Yes, I did also spend stupid amounts getting photographs developed yesterday, so in fact, I'm probably just spending some of my reserve money from home. Ah well. As my mom keeps telling me, I'm not actually in graduate school to make a profit. I got a pair of brown or fawn or something-colored 3/4-length pants to replace the capris that got ripped on the bike (see the not-yet-extant Versailles entry) and two shirts, one bright red, and one a deep vaguely turquoise-y blue. No,
mciac, I think they don't have t-shirts in Paris, so you can relax.Then, since I was right by the Galeries Lafayette, and I've been wanting to see them, I wandered in there. It was quite a sight. I told myself that ostensibly I was looking for a white bra, but it didn't happen (too expensive), and it was more fun just nosing around a bit anyway. There's one bit on the ground floor where you can look straight up to the domed roof of the ceiling, which is all sorts of colors of glass. I don't know how old the building is. Around the open space are gilded moldings, including one ring of passion-vine flowers, most randomly. When I was coming down the escalators at one point, I noticed signs for a Häagen-Dasz café somewhere, and given my pledge to
eliade this morning, I decided to pursue its location.I couldn't find it, at first, and instead ended up in the other half of the Galeries, on the floor where the food-type things are. There were an incredible number of delicious-looking prepared foods being sold, as well as a huge wine section, a cheese seller, etc. I drooled, wandered, and fled. But I did eventually get to the Häagen-Dasz café, and ordered two scoops, one of the lychee-cream-ginger ice cream that was advertised both at the film last night and on signs outside the café, and the other of the chocolate-chocolate-chip. They were, however, out of the former, which made me cross. Why advertise something you haven't got?! And I can't imagine they'll have this in the States, so I'll continue my hunt for it in France, which I'm sure will disgust my parents to no end (and will, in fact, make me feel slightly silly, too). Häagen-Dasz is good, but nothing compared to a lot of the artisanal ice-creams available in France!
I then made my way back to the Cité by a much simpler route than I had taken to get to the opera house (sometimes avoiding Châtelet-Les Halles as I do can be a bit silly) and corrected the last bit of Sandrine's paper. And did a lot more nothing. Right, the Versailles entry will happen tonight, I promise.
