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!
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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! |
Am off to the Garnier to-morrow for a private/guided tour and will be totally off the planet...So 'nite all...!
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