L'Opera Garnier

L'Opera Garnier is my most favorite thus far. When the tour started, our guide was telling us that women were not allowed to attend the opera by themselves, that they usually were with their father or brother or a chauffeur. And I thought that was cool, to go to the Opera with your Dad or brother and maybe you'd see your friend there with her Dad. I don't know, I just started thinking in the frameset of that time (late 19th century).

I walked into the foyer, which was okay looking, nothing extraordinary, but when we started the actual tour, I swear, my mouth was open the whole time, it was so beautiful. It was just so ornate and extravagant, and, the weird thing was that it felt like HOME. Not like home home, like I've actually lived in the Opera [oh God, maybe I was the phantom of the opera? ;)], but it felt like I've visited this place many times, known these statues, these halls, looked through these windows. And it first occured to me, near the end of our tour, when we were descending the le grand escalier--the main staircase that leads to the opera house. I was walking down the staircase carefully--it's pure marble, and I didn't want to slip--and the WEIRD, BIZARRE thing was that I held my left arm in a way so that someone could have his right arm slipped through it. It was as if I was being led carefully down the staircase by some imaginary ghost chauffeur. C'EST TRES BIZARRE! And I had no idea why I did that, I just did it. No one saw me, thank God, I must've looked absolutely ridiculous.

I turned left to follow the rest of the tour, and we reached the ground floor where the old entrance used to be, and there was this mirrored wall there. It was put there so that women and men can fix their clothes before going up the main staircase. And I stood there to see if I looked alright--I was wearing a skirt and had my long scarf draped over me cuz it was cold--and even THAT felt bizarre to me. Like I stood there before in another life. Weird stuff like that always happens to me.

Well, I LOVED the Opera Garnier even though we didn't get to see the actual opera house since there were dancers practicing, but my friends and I plan to see an opera or ballet sometime while we're here. I just can't wait to dress up and get all fancy! With or without a French date...Us girls can go the opera by ourselves now...sigh...

Anyway, this weird episode just adds to all my deja vus and other weird episodes that explain my inclination towards France and the french language in general.

UPDATE!:
I just re-did my whole "des photos" section of my blog using my limited html skills acquired in grade school, and now you can look at my photo albums without leaving my blog. Yay! They also show when they've been last updated. Yay for improvements!