Paris, Day 5

Our fifth and final day in Paris took us to Musee d'Orsay and Palais Garnier.  Musee d'Orsay is another art museum housed in a former train station.  It still has a train station look to it when you enter.  d'Orsay was smaller than the Louvre, but I liked it better.  It was less overwhelmingly huge, and I liked more of the artwork it contained.  It had about ten of van Gogh's paintings on display, and I LOVED those.  Those were my favorites by far.  They also had paintings by Degas (my second favorite), Gauguin, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Rodin, and Picasso.  Also, while a lot of people were at d'Orsay, there were far fewer than at the Louvre.

I didn't photograph much of the art in either Musee d'Orsay or the Louvre, even the pieces I especially liked.  I photographed their labels, so I could look them up later.  I photographed a couple funny pieces that amused me.  But I withheld from snapping many pictures of the art.  I wanted to enjoy viewing it and not worry about preserving it for later.  I saw a lot of people rush up to a piece, snap several photos, and rush off to the next one.  I didn't want to do that to my museum experience.  That's why I don't have a ton of photos from inside the museums, especially d'Orsay because it had more paintings I liked and thus wanted to enjoy sans the camera.

Metro sign

After Musee d'Orsay and a bite to eat, A and I rode the Metro to Palais Garnier.  Palais Garnier is one of the two theaters in which the Opera National de Paris performs.  The other is the Opera Bastille (not the same as the Bastille fortress).  Palais Garnier used to be, you'll never guess, a palace!  So it was a breathtakingly grand building.  Just the room with the grand staircase in it could probably hold three houses.  

The grand staircase

The grand foyer was absolutely gorgeous.  It looked like exactly like something you'd see out of a historical movie.

The auditorium

It thrilled me to think that maybe, somewhere in a backstage rehearsal room or something, the company's professional dancers could be practicing right that very minute, and I tried to imagine what it would be like to perform in such a gorgeous theater.

Costumes from the Opera's Nutcracker

Palais Garnier was stunning and grand.  It made me want to break out in a waltz right there in its grand foyer or do an arabesque on the grand staircase.