A Dream Come True: Visiting Opera Garnier

Since watching the movie The Phantom of the Opera it has a been a dream of mine to see this opera, especially in the opera house it supposedly took place in. Le Palais Garnier was built from 1861 to 1875 by Charles Garnier, under Napoleon III instruction.

Monsieur Garnier built a separate entrance for the emperor, at the time Napoleon, who never got to use his own entrance.  

The Grand Foyer is where guests would go during intermissions. It was frowned upon for women to join the men here until a visiting queen decided there was no reason women.

The Great Chandelier

The great chandelier in the opera house is famous for the story it inspired in the Phantom of the Opera. The hurt one person and was then replaced by what now rests in its place. It did not burn the opera house down.

The Grand Staircase was beautiful, amazing, and breathtaking! It reminded me of the staircase in the Titanic.

Currently the opera house hosts more ballets and for operas one attends the Opera Bastille.

Le Palais Garnier was everything I imagined and dreamed of. I would have loved to have seen the lake underneath that is the setting for much of the Phantom. I sadly was not able to attend an opera in my time is Paris, so until next time mon Paris.

 

The Moment I Fell in Love: the Seine River

After my first three days I was barely getting over jet lag and was disappointed. Paris was not as I remembered it, this amazing city that I wanted to return to. My roommate, and now very good friend, convinced me for us to go out exploring. So we went to Notre Damne. It was horrible... tourists everywhere!  I knew there was no way I could deal with tourists so we decided to go to the park adjacent to the cathedral.

On the way there we heard a musician playing the violin beautifully. I finally started feeling like I was in the Paris I had dreamed of returning to. Being in the park was wonderful since being there brought back memories of high school when I visited Europe and had lunch in that park. 
 

Jovana and I went ahead and proceeded to the bridge full of love locks. I had never seen that before and I found the bridge beautiful and very romantic. It was my first moment experiencing the romance behind Paris. 

View of the island where Notre Damne is

Walking under the bridge and parallel to the Seine river made me realize I'm in Paris! How many people would kill for this opportunity and I am so lucky to be here and experience it. I loved walking right by this river and seeing so much beautiful architecture and history around me. This is the moment I fell in love with Paris! 

As we are walking by the river Parisians are relaxing on the grass reading books or sitting by the water and chatting. All of a sudden we come upon these kids skateboarding and doing tricks right by the Seine! I sat down and watched them just amazed that I was sitting by the Seine river with a view of Notre Damne and the Pont des Arts (the most romantic and beautiful bridge in Paris) watching these kids do these amazing tricks on skateboards. I was just awestruck and really enjoyed the moment. 

 Hotel de Ville, Paris' neo-renaissance city hall was built in 1873. The building was decorated with French flags and ready for a heritage event. 

Long Time...

Hi,
I know I haven't written in a long time, my apologies, there's just so much I want to say and not enough time! I will be sure to post up some stuff for sure this week. Hope you guys are all doing great, miss you and think of you all!

-CM

First Post

Hi everyone!

Welcome to "My Semester in Paris!" Creating this blog has been long overdue so I apologize for barely starting it now but I will try to post entries from previous days, as well as new ones.
I hope you guys enjoy my blog and share in my wonderful experiences in this beautiful city that has captured my heart.

Paris, je t'aime! 

Food: my Weakness

As you all know I LOVE food! So I thought I'd share pictures of food I have taken and eaten so you had a visual image of the heaven my taste palette is in!

Escargots with olive oil and garlic, it just melted in my mouth! Lots of work to get the little guys out of the shell but nothing good comes easily.

I love bleu (raw) burgers! Most amazing stuff ever when your burger "moos" at you!

My French "mom" is an amazing cook and I am so lucky and spoiled to have four home-cooked meals a week! 

Tartare au Saumon: it's like Salmon sashimi with herbs, so good!!!

This guy makes his own chocolate and it is just wonderful. The chocolate fountain was delicious!

My French "mom" made this GREAT salad; it had so many unique flavors that combined were wonderful! 

Did I mention I'm in cheese heaven? This is a dream come true for cheese lovers, like me. After each meal we have an array of cheeses with a baguette. I have tried so many different cheeses and the smellier the cheese the tastier it is. J'adore!

Tartare au Boeuf. Raw beef. Tasty stuff.

Dessert that melts in your mouth- cream puffs filled with vanilla ice cream and chocolate on top! But cream puffs is an inaccurate description. Great dessert!

I am just loving all the food I am eating out here! 

Visiting My Friend from 5 Years Ago

So I had an amazing day yesterday, I would have to say it was one of my best days here in Paris!
So what was so exciting about yesterday you may ask?
Well it was a special day because I explored the Latin Quarter (it is named so because it is the home of the Sorbonne University where Latin was the main language taught in) and tried amazing food, but most importantly spent most of the day with a very special friend. My friend is from Mauritius (a tiny island east of Madagascar) and is currently studying Aeronautical Engineering in Southampton University. He was visiting some family here for the weekend and dedicated most of yesterday to me. :)
We met at a conference I participated in summer of 2007 in New York City and Washington D.C. called GYLC. My group became like a little family and we all had a very special connection. So getting to hang out with my friend Irfaan was a blast from the past!

We met up and had an amazing lunch at Le Relais de L’Entrecôte, the choices are steak or steak, and the supply of golden fries are unending (http://parisbymouth.com/le-relais-de-lentrecote/). 

It was the best steak I have ever had! They serve you the meat between the beef ribs and it is oven cooked and extremely tender (one of the most tender meats!) and they take the bone off after it's been cooked. It is soaked in an amazing sauce with butter parsley and other spices and herbs. "!Es para chuparse los dedos!"

I can't describe just how amazing it was. Since they only serve that you just order how you want it done (and in Paris I order everything rare or "bleu" because it is so delicious that way. They keep bringing you a supply of meat and fries. It's perfect! I had a great dessert: these little puffs in circular shape filled with vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup all over on top.

Had a great dinner as well! We went to Le Wok Saint Germain, also located in the Latin Quarter on Saint Germain. It was a wok bar, meaning: you choose whether you want rice or noodles and then you choose all your toppings (veggies, meat, and seafood) and then cook it in the wok and add whatever spices, sauces,and garnishes you choose, and then voila- it's ready for you to eat and amazing!

Needless to say, I had an amazing day and was so happy to be able to meet up with Irfaan after over five years and laugh so much and get to meet up in Paris.  

Disneyland Paris

I had an amazing time in Disneyland Paris! I felt like a kid again and had so many good memories that would come flood back to me from previous Disneyland trips (with my family when I was really little and with my high school speech team).A
Of course had to get my Minnie ears or my Disneyland experience would be incomplete. Went to Adventureland, Frontierland, and Discoveryland. Leaving the best for last, Fantasyland for this weekend along with Walt Disney Studios. I think my favorite rides were Star Tours and Space Mountain: Mission 2. Disneyland Paris was smaller than the one in Anaheim but it was unique. It was a really neat experience to attend the park here.
Oh yeah, did I mention almost everything was in French? Hahaha it was a wonderful!

Since it's Disneyland Paris' 20th anniversary they had an amazing show consisting of fireworks, fountains, and images/videos of characters: "Disney Dreams." It was beautiful and a perfect way to end my magical evening! Can't wait to go again this weekend (got an amazing deal on Park Hopper 2-Day tickets!).