Historic Sites, Art, and The Ballet

Like any person during their first visit to Paris, I wanted to take in as much as possible. There is so much art, fashion, historic sites to see, music to hear, and food to eat! I did the best I could with the time I had, but there was no way to see it all in one trip. Here is a sampling of some of the places I went and the sites I saw inside Paris.

The Arc de Triomphe, a 10 minute walk from my hotel. It was a drizzly day in Paris.

Looking up into the arch.

No one told me this was the only way up! Man, I have to work on my cardio strength!

Another view from the top! The overcast day made for a such a neat photo of the city. See the Eiffel Tower out there? It's doesn't quite look real.

It didn't take me long to get to the shopping! A rainy day = lots of shops. This was the amazing holiday decor in the Galleries Lafayette.

The Louvre. I faithfully followed the advice from my Rick Steves' tour book. He said to get to the Louvre early and he was so right! When I was done with my tour, the lines were insane!

Look closely in the center. Yes, it's the Mona Lisa! I took some close-up photos (allowed with no flash), but I wanted you to see the crowd at 9:00 AM.

From the inside out. Isn't it an interesting combo of old and modern?

Crossing the Seine to Ile St. Louis. I ate some yummy Creme Brulee Ice Cream.

Cathedral Notre Dame

The gorgeous Christmas Tree sitting in the exact center of Paris.

I went to see the ballet at Opera National de Paris Garnier. It was designed for Napoleon III in 1862.

The foyer of marble.

The view of the stage from my seat.

Isn't this incredible? The ceiling was done by Marc Chagall. There is even an underground lake, the inspiration for The Phantom of the Opera.

The ballet I saw was actually 3 separate, short performances. All by different choreographers, one was an American. The intermission was between the 2nd and 3rd ballets. This photo came out a little blurry, but the staff was placing and smoothing out dirt (yes dirt) on the stage for the dancers to perform upon. I'm not 100% sure US audiences would have been OK with the last performance. The female dancers were basically wearing sheer dresses... and got rather muddy. The men were in sweats (not sheer, maybe that would have been overly distracting? Ha, did I say that?) Amazing talent though, they were all beautiful athletic performers.