A Quick Succession of Busy Nothings: Opera Garnier

Today we had a private tour of the Opera Garnier (along with 26 of our favorite students). It is a beautiful building with an interesting history and don't forget the phantom. We were disappointed that we couldn't see the auditorium (I put a picture I found online below) because of a rehearsal that was going on. We were able to look through a window on the balcony level but didn't really get the whole feel of it.

We had to listen to this street performer talk about the woes of love
and sellouts who sign record contracts while we waited for everyone to arrive.
I wanted to shout out "Get to the workin' overtime part."

The building is elaborately decorated in a style Garnier called Napoleon III.
About half of the paintings include the Greek god Apollo who is the
god of music, light, and poetry, among other things.

The Grand Foyer.

Our tour guide told us that originally women were not allowed in the Grand Foyer. During intermission the women were expected to stay in their seats while the men could wander the building. One night the Queen of Spain came to a performance and decided she wanted to see the Grand Foyer for herself (after hearing how magnificent it was). And so she did. Other women in the theater who were watching her decided to see where she was going and followed her into the foyer. After that the rule was changed to allow women in. Way to go Queen of Spain. You have to respect women (people) who recognize inequality and decided they aren't having it. If only all sexist rules/ideas were so easily changed.

The auditorium.

There was a beautiful costume display. These were from the Nutcracker.

This is in the library which contains a history of all the
performances ever held in the building.

Box 5 owned by the phantom.
Apparently Phantom of the Opera has never been popular in
France, so it is usually American and
English tourists who are interested in seeing this box.