June 10

Madame had said that we would meet downstairs at 8:30 on Wednesday morning. Jeanne, Melissa, and Stephanie were up at 7:30 and downstairs by 8:25. At 8:40, Cate, Madame, and I still weren't there. The other girls came upstairs and found us asleep. Oops...no one had set an alarm. We apologized repeatedly, and the others went to get breakfast while we showered and got dressed. They came back with pain au chocolat and a bottle of apple-orange-passion fruit juice. As we ate, we also commented on Madame's blog, though Madame insisted we keep the comments short.
When we got downstairs, we discovered that right outside the hotel was a market, which we walked around in for fifteen or twenty minutes. Then we went to the Opera Garnier. When we exited the metro station, we expected to immediately see the amazing Opera, but instead were surrounded by a crowd of people. Oh yeah, it was that protest Madame had heard about on TV!
Once we got inside the Opera, we bought our tickets for the unguided visit. Madame stayed on a bench near the ticket window while we spent an hour walking through the building, which is absolutely gorgeous.
We walked down a hallway to the grand staircase. Melissa later mentioned imagining a ball, and she's right. It's easy to picture a girl sweeping down those stairs in a large dress -- Cate said a prom dress; Melissa and Stephanie imagined quinceanera dresses.
Melissa and I went a little bit ahead of the others (they were taking pictures of each other). We could have walked around for a while before going into the theater, but we went in immediately. I remembered how gorgeous the place was -- as I nine year old I had told my mother that "it would mean something" to dance on the Palais Garnier stage.
The first thing you see when you go into one of the boxes is red velvet. The boxes and seats are covered in it, with gold detailing. You look across the theater and see more of the boxes and seats; you see the columns and railings, and they are in gold and so intricate. Then you see the ceiling. The small white lights are all in a circle, against the intricate gold, and then there's the colorful almost childlike paiting, with yellow, green, red, blue, white, and smaller but just as colorful characters on top of the color splashes. It is modern and yet ancient, held by no formal rules.
And then you can see the chandelier, which is gold and of many white lights, bigger than any photo demonstrate.
The place is magnificent, exquisite. I cannot imagine being a dancer on that stage of the red velvet curtain.
Oh yes, the stage. There were stage hands doing something; I couldn't tell what. The set was a white-gray, all big doors, pipes, and columns. It had a modern feel to it, but I later found out it was the set for a little performed, 18th century opera. Hmm. There was one large window on the set, looking onto onto blackness and one half of what was implied to be a full moon.
Melissa and I then got the other girls and took them into the box. They were amazed, especially Jeanne, who is a Phantom of the Opera fan. Seeing the setting for PotO was especially exciting for her. We then walked down into the museum, which has paintings of dancers, actors, different plays, operas, ballets, and audiences. There were also models of sets for scenes in different plays -- those were very cool to see.
After we finished at the Opera Garnier, Madame gave us 1.5 hours of shopping time at Melissa and Stephanie's request. I walked all the way around the Opera and looked into the Swatch shop, then went into a cafe where Madame was. I ate a croque monsieur and read Petit Nicolas, and Madame had soupe a l'oignon then a main dish. At 1:30, Jeanne and Cate came back, having finished their shopping. They had looked forever for a perfume shop and had finally found one, where Jeanne had selected a perfume for a friend who had given her $100 and said, "Buy me something cool." They then went to a small sandwich shop and ate.
Stephanie and Melissa came back at 2:00, Stephanie with a sandwich. They both complained that the shopping had been better in Amiens, but they had saved their money for Paris. Oh well. Melissa had bought a large black purse, and Stephanie had bought jeans. We got on the bus and went over to the Musee Cluny.
On the bus, Jeanne discovered that her Paris Visite ticket was missing. Therefore, she had to pay for the bus. she then came and sat beside me and asked if I had known that the five of us were paying for Madame's museum tickets. No, I'd thought it would just be transportation, as had Jeanne. This was a problem for her, because she had not been given much spending money. The other girls complained, too. Not Cate, who argued that Madame was being our tour guide, but the others, who said that sure, Madame was being our tour guide, but she wasn't always doing a great job of it.
I thought that Madame was trying to get us to see what was considered important and not consulting us, though she insisted many times that it was our trip, that she would be back in Paris the next year and we might not.
In the Cluny, Madame rushed us through the museum except for a few rooms where she allowed us to browse. She immediately led us to the room of the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. They are intricate and well done, as opposed to busy, and in the appealing mille fleurs style, but I didn't find them very interesting, even after Madame explained how each one is related to a sense, and then how the sixth is about obedience and love. They are excellent tapestries, the best examples from the time, but not what I want to spend much time looking at...
After the Cluny, we took the metro to the Louvre, where some people did miniscule shopping -- Cate bought candy for her sister and Madame sent a postcard -- but most of us spent the majority of the 45 minutes hanging in the Starbucks. We all reimbursed Madame for what she had spent on museum entrance that day.
Then we went into the Louvre. Madame immediately led us to the Winged Victory of Samothrace. It is a beautiful statue -- I prefer it to the Venus de Milo. After that, we made our way to the Mona Lisa, called La Joconde in French. I tried to take pictures, but couldn't get a decent one. Besides, she hasn't exactly changed in the past five years. I know it's an amazing painting, but I'm not very interested in the period of style. Then we saw The Wedding At Cana, a huge painting that again, I couldn't get a decent picture of.
Crowing of Napoleon was next, and I managed to get an okay picture of it. Finally, we went and saw the Venus de Milo, whom I actually got a good picture of! Amazing! Then we left the Louvre, after seeing six major works and walking through the rooms that just happened to connect them.
After the Louvre, we went back to the hotel, stopping at Chatêlet to buy groceries that Cate and Madame wanted tot ake home. AT the hotel, Madame looked up the times for the Bateaux Parisiennes. We were going to try to make the 10:30 boat, but later didn't -- we called the taxi too late. Grr. Anyway, for supper we went to the Italian restaurant where Madame and I had eaten on Monday night. We all ordered pasta. I got a four cheese penne which wasn't great.
That night, we all hung out in room 405, so at 11:00 everyone got to see the Eiffel Tower dance. Stephanie got photos, and we all watched the Eiffel Tower perform as it does four times every night.