5th Post on Paris - The City of Love - Palais Garnier
Tuesday, July 5, 2011 //
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The next place we visited was the Palais Garnier.
On the way there, we stopped by a drug store and it captured my eyes as their drug stores are all decorated with neon lights signboards unlike what we see in Malaysia where neon lights signboards are normally used for entertainment places such as clubs.
The Palais Garnier also known as the Opéra de Paris or Opéra Garnier.
It is actually a 1,600 seats opera house that was designed by Charles Garnier and was regarded as a masterpiece of its time.
Using our student cards to purchase the ticket, it costs us 5 euro which is about RM21 for entrance fee.
The interior of the many places inside the opera house. I just love how everything looked so grand and I love how the architecture look so neatly done and thoughts of perfections were given to it the moment it was built and well preserved till this day.
I absolutely love this place because it was my first time actually visiting an actual opera house and initially I thought this place was a museum. Look at the picture below this, these are actually doors to individual balcony rooms and each room can cater up to 6 persons with velvet-ish walls. Classic.
The inside view of each of the balcony rooms. It reminded me of Phantom of the Opera the movie.
Lots and lots of beautiful chandeliers hanging on the ceiling which makes up the grand feeling when you're inside. Not to mention, the very artistic paintings surrounding the entire building.
This is actually the view from the main balcony of the opera house. Overlooking the city. The feeling when you stood up there is how you will feel as a pope, waving to thousands of people at St. Peter Square. But for this, you actually wave to the locals here and they are the ones that try to get your attention so you will take their pictures from above.
The interior.
This building actually served as the principal venue of the Parisian Opera and Ballet since its open. Thus, this explains why they have a gift shop that is totally dedicated to ballet dancers selling the outfits, shoes, books, cd, keychains and many more other ballet related items inside.
After that, we continued our journey just shopping around Paris's famous shopping area , the Champ Elysees and visited the Arch De Triomphe. Fret not, more pictures coming in the next post.
Till Then.
Labels: France, French, Friends, Holidays, Palais Garnier, Paris, Places to Visit, Travel, Vacation
4th Post on Paris - The City of Love - Louvre
Sunday, June 5, 2011 //
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4th post on Paris.
Located at the heart of Paris is the Louvre. It is originally built as a 12th century fortress and then converted to a royal palace in the 14th century and now it is one of the largest and most visited museum in the whole world.
The glass pyramid originally received mixed review as it contrasts with the original classical design of the surrounding buildings but then it was considered as a good solution as to giving the museum a huge central entrance without the need to touch the historic patrimony.
Well, actually the main attraction here mainly is because of the Glass Pyramid which was the latest addition to this prestigious museum. This pyramid was built in 1989 ( exactly the same year as I was born :P ) but yet it still looked so good as it is so well maintained. The pyramid is actually the entrance door to the museum.
Just look at the amount of people queuing, dying to get in the museum everyday is enough to make you not want to go in and visit the museum unless you have 24 hours to spare just for this museum. This is not even half of the queue yet :/ thus we ended up just snapping pictures outside of the pyramid instead of going in the museum itself.
If you would like to read more about The Louvre, check out this link : The Louvre for more informations.
After the Louvre, we had our brunch at a nearby restaurant. This restaurant serves the typical French cuisines you can find anywhere in France, but unlike the restaurants and some places in France, this restaurant allow us to take picture of their food and the owners were very friendly and efficient in their service.
I had fish the other day and it was really good. Tasted the French union soup and it was uber-delicious, unlike those you often get here, which always is diluted and tasteless.
and in Paris, you often can see really nice magazine booth such as above.
Remember I was saying that transport is very efficient in Paris? You can rent public bicycles everywhere and need not to worry you won't get any because they have tons of it and is often lined up by the road side.
Labels: France, Holidays, Louvre, Paris, Places to Eat, Places to Visit, Travel
3rd Post on Paris - The City of Love - Fountaine St.Michel and Notre Dame
Sunday, May 29, 2011 //
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So my third post on Paris will be on Notre Dame.
Also known to the French as "Our Lady of Paris"
Prior to reaching Notre Dame, we were just walking around streets and snapping pictures randomly.
And I love how almost, each and every memorable monuments are "almost" close to one another.
By "almost" I meant by some, not all. Some requires longer walks and you'll need to take other transportation.
I especially love the designs of their cafes, often in a classic old building, with outdoor patio where one can just sit, chill and relax while taking a break from the hustle and bustle life of the busy city.
Motorcycles are everywhere, which is why traffic jam is not an issue in Paris. Transportations there are so efficient, and they also have public bicycles for rent. Pictures will be in the next post :)
Then, at the heart of Quartier Latin, the Place-St. Michel is a famous Paris landmark that you'll see. There is a fountain ( Fontaine Saint Michel ) in the center of the square and it was created by a French sculptor , Gabriel Davioud back in 1860. This landmark basically represents Saint Micheal, the protector of France slaying a dragon.
Originally, the fountain central's statue supposed to be of Napoleon Bonaparte but it received criticism from some of the opponents thus it was then changed to the image of St.Micheal.
Walking across the road by the bridges and overlooking the river of Seine, is the Notre Dame.
Speed boats can be seen along the river.
As we reached the outside of Notre Dame, within sight you're able to see this shop and also a beautiful garden before entering the Catholic gothic church.
Notre Dame is famous for it's finest French Gothic architecture and the naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with the earlier Roman architecture. It was completed back in 1345.
Visitors are allowed to enter the church for free and the view inside is amazingly breathtaking. As a catholic myself, upon entering I was so amazed and fascinated by the church it got me carried away. I mean for us back here, the churches are just normal building with less architectural details been put unto it , the most you can get is just the glass windows and probably the altar that has a similar touch to the churches in France but other than that, the building architectural is nothing compared to churches in France.
This is actually a candle holder, antique ones and it looked like some sort of decoration thing. Well at least that was what I first thought when I saw it.
A mini size figurine of the church on display.
There were also a lot of different small prayer rooms inside the churches, surrounding the main altar. Each and every prayer room is for different Saints, Mother Mary, Jesus and the father himself. There were at least 10 of them each with their own chairs and altars for praying.
Anyone is free to buy a candle as donation to the church and you can light it up for your personal prayers.
Jesus Christ.
The side view of the main altar.
The main altar.
And you can also purchase souvenirs inside the church. Just walk towards the left upon entering the church. There is a special souvenir that I've collected when I was there and few other places whereby one can only get it from the place itself when you visit it. Picture on this will be shown next time :)
This church is located at 6 Parvis Notre-Dame, Place Jean-Paul II, 75004 Paris, France.
Well if you would like to know more about this church and more of it's specialties , you can view this website : NotreDameParis
Labels: Fountain St Michel, France, Holidays, Notre Dame, Paris, Places to Visit, Travel
