The window decorations here have amazed and surprised me...I am all amazement, as Lizzy from Pride and Prejudice, would say.
Here are some more pics from Saturday...
Go to the next blog and start at November. Remember, blogs work from the now and go back into the past, so go right back to the first post in the new blog...ran out of room here!
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Date with Destiny in Garnier Opera House, Paris...Sat 24 Nov 2012
Up bright and early this morning...well, early for here...8.30am!
Went to book my 5Euro Megabus fare from Paris to Amsterdam last night and found I had to get my Visa card authorised for the payment to go thru even tho I had used my card a zillion time since coming over here...
Forgot that with Megabus...
It's the only company that requires double verification...and for a 5 Euro fare!
Anyways I contacted Heritage via email last night and they responded within a few hours and when I awoke the answer was there. I only had to go to a tab on the dash called "Services", click "Visa Authorisation", put in 2 extra passwords and a personal message like..."my first dog's name was Spot" and wait 2 hrs and it would be OK to use the card to pay the fare.
So, now I will load to-days pics...lots of them. Little things fascinate me...like every 4th shop is either a leather shoe shop and every other 4th shop is a pastry shop.
The French have a fetish for pastries and shoes would be my summation of the suburbs of Paris!
Am off to the Garnier to-morrow for a private/guided tour and will be totally off the planet...So 'nite all...!
Went to book my 5Euro Megabus fare from Paris to Amsterdam last night and found I had to get my Visa card authorised for the payment to go thru even tho I had used my card a zillion time since coming over here...
Forgot that with Megabus...
It's the only company that requires double verification...and for a 5 Euro fare!
Anyways I contacted Heritage via email last night and they responded within a few hours and when I awoke the answer was there. I only had to go to a tab on the dash called "Services", click "Visa Authorisation", put in 2 extra passwords and a personal message like..."my first dog's name was Spot" and wait 2 hrs and it would be OK to use the card to pay the fare.
So, now I will load to-days pics...lots of them. Little things fascinate me...like every 4th shop is either a leather shoe shop and every other 4th shop is a pastry shop.
The French have a fetish for pastries and shoes would be my summation of the suburbs of Paris!
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| The space between the two buildings of this Hostel... |
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| Looking the other way, away from the office area entrance from the dorms... |
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| Motor bikes and pushies are huge over here...On my way to the Garnier... |
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| Now, that's a strawberry pie! |
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| Every 4th shop is a pastry shop and no one seems fat over here in Paris... |
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| More of the goodies... |
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| Have no idea what these are, but they are pastry goodies... |
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| ...And these... |
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| All that food made me hungry so I bought lunch...a Chinese fried rice, pork and vegies...3.60 Euro |
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| Then I set out to get to the Paris Opera Garnier...the Home of the Phantom! |
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| It's really weird...purveyors of people in all these little cafe's... |
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| Neat chair designs... |
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| Heading into Paris central... |
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| Paris is just as the pictures say it is... |
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| Even with merry-go-rounds in the street... |
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| Here I go...Down to the dungeons of my deepest desires to find my Phantom of The Opera...To the Metro subway system in Paris! |
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| I tried to run after this romantic couple to get a special shot, but boy...could they walk fast! |
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| Thought I'd taken a wrong turn there for a moment... |
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| The Paris underground rail system...at 11 am on a Saturday in the 'burbs... |
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| Then, at the station before I went up, I felt like something to drink and found more pastries! |
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| Then I found a hot Chocolate...1E.60c |
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| Now...all my wildest dreams are about to come true...The Opera House Garnier in Paris...the setting of my fave show...The Phantom of The Opera...wow! What fantasies await for me in this my Phantom's Opera? |
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| Totally gobsmacked...There it is, as soon as you arise from the bowels of the earth from the underground system under Paris...It's there. This is the first glance of light and OMG...it's real...it's just there! I'm still emerging into the light from the subway...WOW! Beautiful and creamy and perfect... |
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| First I look that way... |
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| Then I look the other way...My mind can't comprehend the beauty of my special building... |
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| Then I look wherever... |
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| I burst into tears at the beauty of this building...The golden statues... |
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| Oh, so beautifully proportioned... |
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| Note my Phantom badge from the ladies at the Redux9 in USA, I'm wearing on my jumper...This is where reality meets fiction or is it where fiction meets reality?...Awesome. I really made it! |
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| Tried to do a Christine type wiggle here when she was the mute one in a scene in Phantom...but the person taking the photo didn't appreciate my leg wagging, so it's a pretty plain pic! |
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| I love Charles Garnier...and Napoleon for commanding this building be built! Onya Nap! |
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| It is sooo devastatingly beautiful...no wonder LeRoux set Phantom here. How Hauntingly beautiful a building... |
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| Am I about to die and go to heaven? Do I see where the Rooftop scene was filmed?...Those green domes look familiar... |
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| Then reality sets in...behind every beauty is a make up artist at work...and here outside the Garnier in Paris is no exception... |
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| But, regardless...Phantom rolled out the red carpet for ME! |
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| I so love this building... |
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| Entry fees... |
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| Coming up to the ticket counter...Excited little critter that I am! |
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| Just had to break queue and go take a pic of one of the lights...most were a bit off centre, so I went from one to the next in search for a straight light... |
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| Then found the TV playing a promo of the building...and then was told the main auditorium was closing due to rehearsals...so I was lucky that I dilly-dallyed, as I would have missed half the building I came to see...I talked with one of the attendants and they said to come back at 11,30 am on Sunday and have a private tour for 4 E more and I will get to see it all and MORE! ... |
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| My Hero...along with Andrew Lloyd Webber... |
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| Speculation that this was the window/entrance that M'me Giry, as a girl, helped Phantom, as a youth, enter into the Garnier to find a place of refuge from the harsh life as a circus freak...??? |
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| The Garnier staff parking lot to-day...How many horses would it have held in 1870-1895? So, leaving my planned sojourn to the place of many dreams...I ventured forth into the heart of Paris at Xmas..WOW! Was that an unexpected bonus! |
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| Great stairs in some building... |
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| Decided to learn another function of this tiny new camera of mine here...Too many things to adjust...let me just take a pic please! Will end this lot of pics here to-day and post the rest in a 2nd part to this day's blog...Beautiful window decorations in Paris...Awesome! |
Friday, November 23, 2012
Friday in Paris... When it Rains...Fri 22 Nov 2012
Was only going to stay in Paris for 2 nights and 2 days and leave last Wed night on the night bus to Amsterdam. But now with my schedule all messed up due to the ferry not going as planned and I was delayed 3 days, it brings me into the week-end and I'm not sure on opening times etc, so I just figured it's easier to stay until next Wednesday and do all the things in 6 days that I was going to do in 2 days!
I decided to stay for 6 nights and days, leaving Paris on Wednesday evening for Vienna... possibly.
Have to juggle things about a bit as my budget blew out over $100 this Paris stay, with the week-end rates almost doubling here and the ferry taxi thing and then buying the ticket at the counter for the train from Cherbourg last night.
It was all too dickie to plan this part of the rushed alterations as the ferry I had researched to go across on had a different schedule and luckily I didn't book those connections ahead, as I would have lost them all. Tickets on the really cheap fares are non refundable.
However, all is good and when I get to Vienna, I'll have 10Euro hostels, not 25E like here in Paris, so I'll be able to catch up and save and go from Vienna to Copenhagen later. It's a bit of an eye opener here before Xmas as nothing seems to be in low time mode except the ferry/ship from Ireland to Cherbourg!
This hostel is booked out and isn't too far from the heart of things.
It's only about 6 Metro/underground stations stop to the Garnier Opera House of Phantom fame and from there everything is just a walk away.
Can't get used to this dark mornings thing at 8 am. It was overcast and rained this morning and no one had to get up early, so everyone began waking after 10.30 am, missing breakfast and half the day!
Still, I guess the rest was good as it was a rough time crossing the sea and then walking in the dark behind the fish wharves to the train station in Cherbourg, then finding how to get someone to read my hostel directions in English here in Paris, then to point me to the right trains, jump on different train lines to get here...all after 10pm at night.
I need not have been concerned, as the hostel is right around the corner from Maccas and the neighborhood is a good one. Here are a few pics I took on a couple of hours walk in the rain this afternoon at 3pm....
That wraps up day 1 in Paris...
Early to bed to-night to hopefully wake up at 6 or 7 am to get out and amongst it. Some girls from Venezuela, one studying in England and the other working in Champagne area of France, went out this morning and visited the Eiffel Tower, the Champs D'eEllyses and some museum...and they left at mid day and arrived back here just then, at 6.30 pm, so it's an easy day to get to see so much.
xxx
I decided to stay for 6 nights and days, leaving Paris on Wednesday evening for Vienna... possibly.
Have to juggle things about a bit as my budget blew out over $100 this Paris stay, with the week-end rates almost doubling here and the ferry taxi thing and then buying the ticket at the counter for the train from Cherbourg last night.
It was all too dickie to plan this part of the rushed alterations as the ferry I had researched to go across on had a different schedule and luckily I didn't book those connections ahead, as I would have lost them all. Tickets on the really cheap fares are non refundable.
However, all is good and when I get to Vienna, I'll have 10Euro hostels, not 25E like here in Paris, so I'll be able to catch up and save and go from Vienna to Copenhagen later. It's a bit of an eye opener here before Xmas as nothing seems to be in low time mode except the ferry/ship from Ireland to Cherbourg!
This hostel is booked out and isn't too far from the heart of things.
It's only about 6 Metro/underground stations stop to the Garnier Opera House of Phantom fame and from there everything is just a walk away.
Can't get used to this dark mornings thing at 8 am. It was overcast and rained this morning and no one had to get up early, so everyone began waking after 10.30 am, missing breakfast and half the day!
Still, I guess the rest was good as it was a rough time crossing the sea and then walking in the dark behind the fish wharves to the train station in Cherbourg, then finding how to get someone to read my hostel directions in English here in Paris, then to point me to the right trains, jump on different train lines to get here...all after 10pm at night.
I need not have been concerned, as the hostel is right around the corner from Maccas and the neighborhood is a good one. Here are a few pics I took on a couple of hours walk in the rain this afternoon at 3pm....
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| The hostel coming down from the Maccas corner, 3 streets away...Short streets at that. |
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| The creamy coloured building up the end is where you turn into the hostel street...This pic taken from the hostel door entrance. |
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| The dorm room...This is a brand new hostel, purpose built/renovated and is quite smart. About $24 a night or so, with free breakfast, linen, even towels, WIFI, and many extras... |
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| This is a little corner in the room...little corner too, I might add! |
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| The stainless steel and laminate kitchen...very mod! |
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| One of the staff preparing soup for the staff lunch...smelt delicious too! We can use this kitchen and fridge... |
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| Two of the young kids from Quebec, who were in my dorm...having a real French breakfast...They went out and bought some French pastries, as we all rose far toooo late for breakfast this morning and made themselves a coffee! |
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| One happy camper here...Have my plunger coffee, computer, camera and am in Paris when it's raining...what else can a girl ask for! |
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| The all modern bathroom fittings...same floor in the bathroom as in the dorm rooms...Timber grain flooring even in the showers... |
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| All mod cons, hair dryers, heated towel rails, heaps of power points everywhere to charge all the battery contraptions everyone has...More like a hotel... |
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| Paris at 4pm on Friday in Nov. Crossing the road looking back to the Maccas store (will call in for a 30cent ice cream later on, hopefully)... |
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| Rotisserie chooks on the footpath...then they put these tiny little potatoes in the drip tray where the chicken fats go and add some sliced onions and they roast from the heat from the cooking chickens. A great way to add value and utilize otherwise wasted resources. 5 Euro for a roasted chook... they even have veal cooked in there too. This is a butcher shop, by the way! |
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| I bought a "tub of taters" for 2 Euro...absolutely delicious, walking along Paris streets, in the drizzling rain, eating hot roasted potatoes! I had eaten half of them before I remembered to take a pic for you all... |
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| Then, off again...hugging the edge of the buildings. there are no overhangs or verandahs here... |
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| Then I came upon a little French pastry shop...I can't eat wheat products, but did indulge in the apricot slice, as it was a custard tart with the thinnest pastry ever, so I figured it would be safe enough... |
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| Then next came all these shoe shops...So many shoe shops and these were all leather shoes. Amazing smell in the shop too from the leather... |
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| More leather shoes...ranging in price from around 25 Euro up to 79 Euro...They probably had more expensive ones, but I was fascinated to see just all leather...Well, that's what the English speaking attendant told me. |
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| The sign says "Populaire"...many places have that name after them. Even in Phantom they used it for the "Opera Populaire" |
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| There are a lot of Real Estate shops here too. In USA and Ireland, I never saw one in my walks, but here, this afternoon I saw 4. This one had a TV screen with a loop video running... |
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| I took this one as it's bright red and photographs well. Many apartments in Paris central from 150,000 Euro and up...from what I saw. They are bed-sitters or studio apartments as we'd call them, but never-the-less, an affordable home in Paris. |
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| These tables out on the street, in the rain...people sitting there, having a smoke and a beer/wine under the semi-protected areas. I went into 2 bars like this for a glass of bubbly, but they don't sell it! They sell the large bottle, but that's it. So, no French bubbles yet. |
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| More snack pastry specials...Check out the hot dog with all the real melted cheese! In USA they put this terrible squeeze "cheese"? on their food...here it looks like real cheese, melted down. |
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| Another little pastry bar on the street. The area we are in is just out of the city centre and off the touristy strips, so we see what the locals eat and buy. |
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| Off home now...it's dark and after 5pm...Will buy my weekly treat ice cream if I can at Maccas and call it a day. |
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| What a nuisance...they only have sundaes...With nuts and chocolate. |
Early to bed to-night to hopefully wake up at 6 or 7 am to get out and amongst it. Some girls from Venezuela, one studying in England and the other working in Champagne area of France, went out this morning and visited the Eiffel Tower, the Champs D'eEllyses and some museum...and they left at mid day and arrived back here just then, at 6.30 pm, so it's an easy day to get to see so much.
xxx
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