Palais Garnier - live tour of the Grand Paris Opera House

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• published: 22 Mar 2014
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http://www.travelsignposts.com/Paris/sightseeing/opera-garnier-a-grand-paris-opera-house: You don't have to be an opera buff to appreciate the grandeur of the Opera Garnier or Palais Garnier, a Paris Opera House fit for an emperor. "Into the auditorium we go. There's the Chagall ceiling. Let's come down from the great chandelier (zooms out). Looking at the Chagall ceiling - very impressive, isn't it? Let's move down, via the auditorium and the proscenium arch. The curtain is down, I'll sweep across to show you how beautiful it all is. Impressive curtains, it actually looks better on the film than it does in real life because it's painted. The ceiling intrigues me. Here's a shot from the back of the auditorium, and we were sitting there in the front. So having come upstairs we're entering the vestibule (look at those bats, I've never noticed them before) and going into the main hall, looking to see whether we can avoid knocking against anyone. Oh, exquisite. And as you can see, or hear, there are quite a few people. OK, I'm going to walk down this main hall - sorry about the bumps, but I'll try to make it as even as possible - just showing you the magnificent scenes and decorations. Nothing like it, is there? You know, the acoustics may not be as good as in the new Bastille, but hey, look at the decorations in this one. It's got to be my favourite opera house in the world, and I live in Sydney! OK, I've reached the end. To the right, by the way, that's onto the balcony overlooking the square in front of the opera house. And this is where we've just come from. I'd just like to stand in the middle and give you a rollover pan of the paintings and the ceiling. You can hear the people walking past on either side. Now, that's what I call a ceiling of an opera house! Well, at first I thought these masks in the corners were the laughing/crying masks of normal theatrical decoration, but they're not, they're all yelling and looking rather unhappy. Now I've walked round all four corners and I can assure you that they're all looking extremely unhappy. You can check out this other one over here. He doesn't look too pleaased either, does he?! Well, there's more naked flesh, under oil, in this place, than in the Folies Bergere. Anyway, they all seem to be having a gay old time of it... While I'm at it, I'll just dash out quickly onto the main square, onto the balcony overlooking the main square. There you are, bit of a rubbish day, but...that's the view. Oooh, it's cold, let's get back inside! Well, here we are in the second lobby, on the way out of the hall. The centrepiece seems to be of lizards or long-necked dragons, or something...no doubt somebody will write in and tell us. Well, as you come out of the lobby, you get this quite magnificent gallery that runs round three sides of the main staircase. Check out this ceiling. All mosaic. Actually, I've seen this ceiling, mosaic ceiling, rather ignored before, and, looking at it, I've been guilty of that. It's really worth closer examination, let's look at one of the panels. It's really very well done. There's that mask again, can't mistake it. Here's a shot from the balcony. I'm on one of the balconies that jut out over the main staircases. You get some idea of the scale there with people walking down. Let's be honest, even with plenty of tourists here, it's an amazingly glamorous place, either for going to the opera, but certainly for being seen. Here we are, down, a long walk down there. Let's go and do it! OK, ladies and gentlemen, let's descend the staircase of the Palais Garnier, avoiding people posing, stopping at the staircase to pose so that Helen can take a photograph of me, and then walking down. I wouldn't like to do this in hard leather shoes or high heels. And here's another horde of people coming along, but we'll continue. You've got to say, it's impressive. We're being shepherded out of a side door, but I'll just turn round here, and show you where we've come from. And as Helen descends, we say "Goodbye" from the Palais Garnier." Get more details about the Palais Garnier in our post:http://www.travelsignposts.com/Paris/sightseeing/opera-garnier-a-grand-paris-opera-house" Opéra Garnier - A Grand Paris Opera House If you like our video, why not subscribe to our Travelsignposts YouTube channel?