Sing once again with me our strange duet...

If you are a fan of Broadway musicals, you probably figured out our starting location today, based on the title of this post.  That's right, we began our day at the Opera Garnier, which is the setting for Phantom of the Opera. I first read that novel in high school when I was studying abroad in Japan. I fell in love with the story and it remains one of my favorites today.  Dan took me to see the musical when I was in college and I have passed down my love for this story and musical to my children.  Hadley can sing most of the score and wanted to be Christine Daae for Halloween last year.  Needless to say, the Opera Garnier was a big hit with our family.  I have pictures of us on the Grand Staircase and in front of Box 5, which was the box that the Phantom requested remain open during performances.  I am also posting a picture of "the chandelier" that actually fell during a performance in the 1800s, prompting Gaston Leroux to write his novel.  It all still gives me chills just thinking about it.

To top it all off, they had a temporary exhibit focusing on ballets performed at the Opera. The girls had a chance to see real costumes used in Swan Lake and Giselle among other ballets.  The adore studying ballet, so this made it extra special.











The Opera is close to Harry's Bar, which is an establishment that Dan wanted to see because it was frequented by many famous American authors.  Unfortunately it was closed until 6PM, but I took his picture with the kids underneath the sign.  He and I will sit and have a drink there...someday.

We made our way to Le Grande Epicerie, which is a famous gourmet take-away food market. We picked up several items for lunch and took them to a park across the street for a picnic.  The kids were able to have some playground time after lunch, so we all were satisfied.

After a little shopping, we headed to Notre Dame.  There was quite a wait to get in to see the inside of the cathedral and the wait to walk up over 400 stairs to the roof, gargoyles and bell was over an hour.  Since we experienced such a wait yesterday and couldn't figure out how to get Jack up 400 plus stairs, we opted for just waiting to get in the actual cathedral.  The line moved more quickly than we expected and it was absolutely beautiful inside. We also toured the Treasury at Notre Dame, which houses lots of relics, such as bone fragments from martyrs.  They have the crown of thorns that Jesus wore when he was crucified, but they only display it on Fridays during Lent.  I can't imagine the wait on those days.

We didn't make it to Sainte-Chappelle or back to the Louvre to see the Venus de Milo, along with a few other places.  We will add them to our to-see list the next time we come to Paris.  We board a train to Dijon in the morning, where we will spend the next 5 nights.  Goodbye Paris!   It has been more fun than I could have imagined.