We are on the move again!! It has been far too long since we did any International traveling and we missed it terribly. So time to remedy that situation.

The flights over were uneventful, thank goodness. We arrived in Paris at 7:30am, got to our hotel (and our room was not ready yet) so we walked around the area and had our first Parisienne cafe sidewalk experience.

Our hotel is the Hotel Maxim Opera in the 9th arrondisement. A charming boutique hotel with a total of less than 20 rooms. The owner is jovial and did his best to get us in a room earlier than 3pm. At 1:00 we got the room key, hopped into bed and took a 2 hour nap. Thank goodness because I had not really slept for 48 hours and I was beginning to not feel my face!!

Our dear friends, Robin and Neil Nemser from Maryland were meeting us in Paris. First stop, Opera Garrnier.

The Opera Garnier is a stuning piece of architecture. Built in 1875 by Charles Garnier who won a contest for the privilege of building it for Napoleon III. It is an absolutley stunning building….now. Apparently it was first built of wood and lit with candles. It burned. They rebuilt it….a wooden building with candles/gas lighting. It burned. They rebuilt it, you guessed it! This happened 10 times according to our guide, Rita, before they said “DUH!” and rebult it with marble and stone.

The Grand Staircase was the place to be seen. The stairs were low so woman could walk up them without having to hitch their skirts high enough so their ankles would not show. Yet they wore very low cut dresses. Go figure!!

The ornate Grand Foyer was inspired by Versailles. This room was used for the gentleman to gather and do business during intermission. Women were not allowed in this area until the Queen of Spain insisted she wanted to see it in 1875. This broke the taboo of women in the room.

There really is an underground lake below the building! A small river ran underground and the builders were afraid that the water pressure would damage the structure so they made a small “lake” whose purpose was to even out the pressure from the river. The story of the Phantom of the Opera used this fact as the background for the deformed man who lived below the opera house. His private Box #5 sells out for every performance at the opera. The Phantom has never been a favorite musical of mine but now that we have become acquainted with its setting, I may have to give it another try!

Galleries Lafayette Hausmann sits right next to the Opera so that was our next stop: up to the roof to get our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. It seems that every country I am in, I have a “moment”. This was my moment. The wave of emotions becomes a little overwhelming: the beauty, the appreciation of the fact that we were actually there (especially with the world as it is today) and the wonder of no matter how much ugliness is around, the imagination and dedication of man to improve his world still shines through.

Right after this, my friend texted me and asks if we are ok with everything that was going on. I told her I had no idea what she was talking about and she informed me of the Pro-Israel demonstrations, etc. Turns out that this was happening 10 minutes from our hotel but life went on uninterrupted for us and all the tourist and Rugby fans in Paris (Rugby World Cup is happening now).

A lovely dinner at a streetside cafe and to bed by 10 was the perfect plan. Tomorrow, a walking tour for us, a bus tour for Robin and Neil and a tour of the Louvre for all!!!