The Opera

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Its leap day, a whole extra day of being 49. It is also our last full day in Paris before leaving for Versailles for the Big 50 celebration. The itinerary told us that we were going to start with the Louvre, the most overwhelming museum in the world. Our bodies told us we were sleeping. Bruce was still sick and wasn’t going to make it to the Louvre and we already decided to just meet him at the opera house at 2. When the alarm went off, we both decided that a few more hours of sleep and rest on my feet was what the day called for. It is vacation after all, so we can change our minds if we want to.

When we did wake up, we showered and headed for a creperie, we were not leaving Paris without having a crepe. We went to a creperie that had both inside seating and a window where you could order your crepe to go. We both had Jamon, Ouef and fromage. It was great, no fancy sauce like back home, just a crepe, ham, egg and cheese, do you really need more. We ate in a small park just outside the Tour-Marbourg metro stop.

After our crepes we continued on to the Opera. It is not the largest opera house in Europe that honor is of course reserved for Milan Italy. But the Paris Opera house does have the largest stage and seats about 1700 people. It was built by order of Napoleon III.

Today we had a guided tour of the Opera (PP). It was done in English by a young man that was either a music or history major; he knew what he was talking about. When the Opera was first built it was for both Opera and Ballet, in fact they would do both the same evening so patrons were there until after midnight. At some point they switched to just one show and today only Ballet’s are preformed here a new larger Opera house was built near the Bastille.

The Opera House is very beautiful and we have nothing like it in this Country, perhaps the closest I have seen would in fact be the Schnitzer in Portland. But of Course the Opera is done in Gold Gilt, and the Schnitzer certainly doesn’t have that. The Orchestra level was for the general public. The subscribers, aristocrats and royalty all had private boxes, which was the first through third balconies. And private they were, they each had their own door and the box holder often put their own furniture in the box. The Opera building is very large and the Opera Theatre only takes up about 1/3 of the space, the rest are foyer, large halls and studio space. In the 18the century, the subscribers got an added benefit; they got to meet the dancers back stage, the boxes connected directly to the dance hall behind the stage. This benefit was not all innocent, the dancer’s were not paid well and to have a rich patron was very helpful so they often went home with the male subscribers. Ah Paris art and love never separated by much.

Back in the day the public really didn’t go to the Opera to see the opera; after all it had probably been running for three years. It was in fact more about being seen and fashion. Paris has long been the fashion capital of the world. Just imagine that scene in Dangerous Liaisons” where Glenn Close has been undone by John Malcovich, her reputation reunion and the entire Opera house looked in to her box with knowing eyes.

Julia Part II

After our 1 ½ hour tour of the Opera we headed to the Les Halles area and specifically to E. Dehillerin Le Specialiste Du Materiel de Cuisine. In short this is the kitchen store to end all kitchen stores. It is where Julia Child purchased her cooking utensils and in the movie July and Julia there is a scene in the actual store. The store itself is not that big, two levels, but crammed and I mean crammed with every kitchen toy you could ever want. It was here I would find and buy my new toy the egg cracker or TOC Oeuf. I could have bought out the store (well not really I don’t have that much money) but they had tons of copper pots, sharp good knifes and real omelet pans.

Bruce left us at this point and went back to his hotel to rest and continue to recover from his over exposure to Foie Gras. Jerry and I continued on in the Les Halles Area.

Design & Foie Gras

Before continuing it was time for wine-thirty, we located a working man’s café just a block away from E. Dehillerin. We passed other places we could have had our wine, but they all were filled with American Tourists. The place we choose had only locals and only French was spoken. We had a bottle of wine and Jerry studied the map to see which direction we were headed. I rested my feet.

Wine-Thirty over we were back off, to Gallerie Vivienne, the first covered shopping street in Paris. It had several design houses and restaurants. To get there we walked through Place Victoire the center of which had a statute of Louis XIV. There was also a very happy Parisian man ripping down a sign from an apartment he just rented. It looked like a great area to live.

From Place de Victoire he headed to Rue Aboukir and the design shop of Alberto Pinto. Jerry knows who this is, but I cannot remember, other than he is a current top designer in Paris. Jerry had originally wanted to stop in to ask if there was a specific area of Paris dedicated to design. Unfortunately you could only get in the shop by appointment.

The next stop was Rue Montorgueil. This was a street much like Rue Cler, but bigger and busier. It had several restaurants, all which looked very good. We also found on of the old Foie Gras Shops, pretty much all they sold was Foie Gras and pate, it all looked good, but it wasn’t cheap. Walking the street made me very hungry, the smells of the various shops just wafted in to the streets.

Another Search for Dinner?

We got back to the hotel and checked in with Bruce. He was still not up to eating so Jerry picked out a couple of places in St. Germain-des-Pres. In smaller cities, we typically just walk around until we find something we like or looks interesting. Paris is so big; we rely a lot on Fodor’s recommendations. The choice tonight was Boucheri Roujliere. This turned out to be very easy to find and a very good choice. We actually got to go to the first place we had picked out.

The restaurant is owned by two guys that were butchers, or at least I think that is the story, so not surprisingly meat is the specialty. The menu did have several fish items, but the main deal here is meat. Upon first reading of the menu, I was excited to see veau or veal on the menu. It looked as my lamb streak would finally be broken, alas it was not so.

I started with 6 escargots, done in a really nice garlic pesto and in the shells. Jerry started with Salade Pousses Eipnards, a spinach salad with Roquefort. Both were very good. Jerry again had Filet of Boeuf and I had Cotes Agneau, once again beef and lamb beef and lamb. They were both cooked to perfection the lamb melted in your mouth and the demi-galze with Jerry’s Bouef was o la la. As a side I had the best green beans or haricots verte I have ever had, of course they were sautéed in butter, but oh so good. We enjoyed the house Bordeaux and I had a nice chocolate cake.

After dinner we strolled back to the metro station. This area had so many cafes, bars, brasseries and restaurants I couldn’t count them. One small street in fact had nothing but restaurants on it I think about twelve. Our night at an end we headed back to the hotel. The next morning would be packing and off to Versailles.

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Photos

At the Window
Deux complete si'l vous plait

Opera
Entrance

The Theater
Where did Glen Close Sit?

Our Box
The Emperor's Box

E Dehillerin
Look out Kitchen Kaboodle

Place Victoire
Louis XIV

Escargot
And I eat this?

Comments

[sams]

http://tbldevelopmentfirm.com/
Hi, Thank you four your nice writing on The Opera Thanks.

[sams]

Hi, Thank you four your nice writing on The Opera. Thanks.