Ladies Day Out

One of the days we were in Paris, on our recent trip. I planned a day out for the ladies.

We started with  lunch at The Brasserie on the 6th floor of Printemps Department store. As you can see, there is a huge colorful dome overhead.The food was delicious, the service friendly, and the tables had mirrored tops, so that you could see the dome without looking up! Following lunch, we continued to the ninth floor where there is a 360 degree roof top view of Paris.

Next stop  was a block or so away at Galeries Lafayette, another huge department store, where we had reservations and scored front row seats to a fashion show.

They were all casual clothes and very wearable...well maybe not for everyone! A lot of white.

After that, we headed across the street with  tickets in hand to tour the famous Garnier Opera House,
 commissioned by Napoleon III,

with the famous ceiling that was repainted by Marc Chagall in 1964. Actually, it is just attached over the old one. Chandelier designed by Garnier himself.

Every one's favorite though was the Grand Foyer, which  rivals the hall of mirrors at Versailles.

A bit of trivia about the Opera House:

There are six honey producing bee hives on the roof.
The upper tier where the cheaper seats are, use to be called the chicken coop. They had to actually put chicken wire in front of these seats to keep those folks from throwing food at the wealthy patrons below.

Mostly Ballet is preformed here today, as the Operas are preformed at a new Opera House, Opera Bastille (since 1989).

Sadly Napoleon III was ousted in the Franco-Prussian War, sent into exile in 1870 and never attended a performance here.