The exterior of the Palais Garnier

Earlier this month I spent a very busy week in the wonderful city of Paris.  While New York City was apparently scorching, the City of Light was having a heat wave of its own with absolutely no rain.  Fortunately, that boded well for sight-seeing, lots of walking, and dining outdoors at brasseries (one of my favorite things about Paris was that the sun didn’t set until about 10 PM, and it wasn’t pitch black until close to midnight!).

In addition to getting lost in the Louvre, boating on the Seine, praising the efficiency of the Metro (it puts the MTA to shame), getting mistaken for a particular dancer in the Paris Opera Ballet (!), biking around the Grand Canal at Versailles, admiring the beauty of Monet’s gardens in Giverny, eating delicious food, and drinking delicious wine, of course I took in some dance.  I’ll be sharing my reviews very soon, but for now, here are some photos from the Palais Garnier, also known as the Opéra Garnier or Opéra de Paris.  The David H. Koch Theater and Metropolitan Opera House aren’t exactly shabby, but the Palais Garnier is in a league of its own.  In bright daylight it was impossible to look directly at the gilded angels atop the building (in the above photo) without being blinded.

The ceiling of one of the lower lobbies

A lighting rehearsal was in progress when I visited

Marc Chagall’s stunning ceiling, which was painted in 1964

On the stairs leading up to the theater

One of the glittering lobbies

A model of the Palais Garnier in the Musée d’Orsay

The balcony

The view from the balcony