Just rows upon rows of chairs that extend from one wall to the other. When you pull the chairs out and swivel them to face the front, there goes the aisle! There is no emergency exit, and definitely no way to get to the bathroom without creating a stir. However, when it was time for the ballet to start, the people still standing in the aisle pulled out the folding chairs attached to the end of the aisle and sat down. Rows that quickly fill up with the opera-going crowd.Īn elaborately painted screen for the curtain.Įverything was arranged to charm. For another thing, the aisle is soon swallowed up. For one thing, (and I assume it’s like that even in the balcony), the 1875 auditorium has rows of seats that are squashed one against the other so that your nose is in the hair of the person in front of you (and the seat is directly in front of you and not spaced so you can actually see anything).

I think that’s normally good seating because you’re right up close, but there were a few problems with it. We had seating in the orchestra section, or … le baignoire. My mother-in-law went with her godfather when she was a teenager and she saw Charles de Gaulle there and was introduced to his prime minister. There are people elegantly dressed and those less so, though at one time you couldn’t enter the Opera if you didn’t have a suit and tie. There are statues and gilded facade everywhere you look. Wait in line to go through the metal detector? Check! Selfie in front of the famous facade? Check! Drive up to the opera and find a good parking spot? Check!Įat dinner in an over-priced for mediocre food in an Art Deco restaurant that caters to the opera crowd? Check! We booked the first date we could that corresponded with my in-laws being able to take the kids.

It’s all done officially so there’s no threat of losing your money to a scam. Of course everything was sold out for that month, but I discovered that the website has a classifieds section specifically for people who want to buy and sell their opera tickets. So when we went to our marriage retreat and got the little jars to fill out with date ideas, I stuck a slip of paper with Opera Garnier inside.

If I had a bucket list, this would be on it. I have always wanted to go to a concert at Opéra Garnier.

Paris opera house 2013