In all honesty, I end up in Opera Quarter all because of Galleries La Fayette. See, I recently develop the fondness for LongChamp bags. To be in Paris simply means that I have to search the city upside down to get it. Besides the fact that it is at least half off compared to the price we have to pay in Asia, the most thrill comes from the opportunity to say, "I got it in Paris" ... so worth it. So before I left for Paris, I went to a few purse blog sites to check out where I should go and most of the people suggest to go to La Fayette as besides LongChamp, I can also find other French labels there. So, that's the story how I found myself in Opera Quarter.
Opera Quarter bustles with shoppers, sight seers, theatre goers as well as the local Parisians. Apparently this area is also a chic business address in Paris.
As a tourist, the most important sight which I happened to come face-to-face to is the Opera National de Paris Garnier. This is The Opera behind the story of the '
Phantom of the Opera'. I did not have the opportunity to catch a play here. But I did managed to capture some beautiful shots of this 1800s magnificient building. Pictures says it all.
So after shopping and taking pictures around Opera Garnier, the only thing left to do is to find a corner cafe, order a hot chocolat and just sit there and watch Paris move before us.
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| Viennese Chocolat in winter Paris |
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| See Paris passing by before us |
Just next to Tuileries and Opera Quarter is an area called Beaubourg. I came here to visit the Centre Pompidou. Centre Pompidou is an avant-garde assembly of vast pipes, ducts and cables. It is like a building turned inside out.
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| Front facade of Centre Pompidou |
The Centre Pompidou houses the Musee National d'Art Moderne besides a huge art library. If you are tired of the centuries old masterpiece or the Renaissance art, then this museum will present a refreshing genre of modern art. It represent the schools of Fauvism, Cubism and Surrealism. To be honest, I tried to understand the art but I just couldn't. So, here are a few of the art I happened to catch a shot.
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| Hmmm, I think my 6 year-old son will be able to do this 'art'. Can't understand. Sorry. |
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| Just a piece of navy blue canvas ... I kid you not. |
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| Warhol art. This art has of course turned mainstream now. |
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| A 3-D room with colour plastic pieces to create the effect. |
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| A baby image inside the glass / ice cube. |
Actually this museum is huge with apparently 50,000 arts but we gave up after walking through the Video Vintage section. There are about 12 lounges with 4 black and white tv in each lounge. The televisions showcase the video 'art' that I felt disgusted and unsettling after watching 2 or 3. I think there's a thin line between an Artist and a Nutcase. Although I can understand that a true artist is always a little bit different from non-artist but the art shown in this section is short of those scene you can see in a mental institution. I really can't find a reason and I also refuse to appreciate it.
Location : Opera Quarter & Beaubourg, Paris, France
Next,
Champs-Élysées
