Opera Garnier, Paris
 

I noticed on their site that it states tours until early Sept. We'll be there in late Sept.-early Oct. Will we be able to tour the opera house?

I just looked and it shows dates when there are NO tours.

http://www.operadeparis.fr/cns11/liv...x.php?&lang=en

Thanks kerouac. That is a much better site than the one I was looking at. It appears we will be able to tour before Oct. 1st which gives us several days to choose from.

so gorgeous....enjoy!

I literally just got done sorting my Opera Garnier photos from my trip a week ago. Here are a few, hope you don't mind me posting them here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skywalk...agarnier/show/

I tagged the photos Opera Garnier so a few were from my April trip as well (same tag).

Love your pictures. Makes me want to go to Paris again. Thanks for posting.

TPAYT, hope it works out for your visit to the Opera Garnier. I definitely have it on my radar when I visit Paris in late spring (if all goes well).

Flygirl, thanks for sharing those great pics of the Garnier.

Historical note, if I may – immediately after the French surrender to Germany in WWII, Hitler took a three hour whirlwind tour of Paris on the morning of June 23, 1940. His first stop was the Garnier whose layout he had studied in detail. He was overcome with the beauty of the opera. After a quick stop at Les Invalides and a few other sites, he departed, fortunately never to return to Paris.

You tube contains many old film clips of this creepy event….

Lovely photos flygirl.

Beautiful pictures, Flygirl, thanks.

Loved the photos---can't wait to see the real thing.

TPYAT - It looks like the guided tours in English ended Aug 31st. Is that what you confirmed?

Do you know about the apiary on the top of the Opéra Garnier? Not sure if it's open to the general public, but a friend of mine who is a certified tour guide in Paris took me there once and it was fascinating.

do people sell tickets outside of the opera the day of the perfrormance? I really want to go but all of the good tickets are sold out.

Lateday, something you may not have known was that Hitler's trip was scheduled for a different time. An assassination plot was put into the works, but alas, by the time he was supposed to be at the point of attack, he was long gone from Paris.

There were actually over 3 dozen attempts on his life, but through sheer luck or timing changes, he missed them all.

dave

There are always ticket scalpers around major theaters, Paris is no exception.

We booked an English tour on Wed.,Sept. 28th at 2:30 from the site below for $18US per person. Maybe we could have got a lower price, but this looked good to us. We have been confirmed for this date.

http://www.getyourguide.com/en/tours...rnier/?id=3633

StCirq---the apiary sounds interesting. We'll have to check it out.

I'm pretty sure it's only daily tours which end in late August; then the schedule shifts to a Wed/Sat/Sun one for the school year. Am sure I'll be corrected if in error!

Thank you all, it really was a sight to behold. I might have a real trip report up soon, too.

TYPAT - were you planning on a guided tour? they don't seem to be available. Only an unaccompanied tour is available. I guess they sell headsets in English if you go on your own.

I am planning on doing this too, but would have preferred a guided tour.

From their website:
The great staircase, the foyers, the museum, the auditorium (for artistic or technical reasons, it may not always be accessible) can be visited unaccompanied every day from 10:00 am to 5:00p m (last admissions 4:30 pm).

I went on a guided tour last summer on a Sunday about 11:30 I think. It was fantastic - not only is the Opera House beautiful but I learned so much about the history and the opera goers at the time it was constructed. Our group was lucky - we were able to sit in the hall and watch a rehearsal in progress and then - voila - on came the lights and behold - the painting on the ceiling showed in all its glory. I highly recommend the tour.

KeppieAngel---it says in the website where we ordered the tickets, listed above, that there is an English speaking tour guide. Maybe I'm wrong, but I took that to mean a person, not an audio guide. I guess we'll find out when we get there.

Daveesl, thank you for the historical tidbit. I knew that many assassination attempts were made on Hitler’s life, but I did not know that one was planned so early in WWII. Unfortunate that it did not work.

I am now re-reading IS PARIS BURNING? by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre (1965) which describes Hitler’s fanatical command to destroy Paris before the Germans retreated in 1940. A series of events, including the refusal on the part of General von Choltiz to execute the order, saved the City of Light…

Oh I see - it is by a tour company and not the opera staff. Still that is great to know. thanks for sharing. enjoy!

Tours given by the Opera staff are indeed available.
We took the Sunday 11:30 English tour on October 23. €13.50
It was superb.

ttt