A Night at the Opera

After hearing Lillian rave about their time at the Opera, we decided it needed to be added to our must-do-before-leaving-Paris-list. Turns out, it's not as easy as just buying tickets online when you please, but it was well worth the trouble for a fancy evening out!

After realizing tickets for the opera at Garnier only go on sale twice a year, Michelle and I promptly put the ticket purchase date in our calendars. As we got closer, we agreed on a date and price range {after advice from Lillian on where the good/not good seats are}, and since Nick and I were in the Dolomites the day sales went live, Michelle kindly agreed to buy all 4 together. Easier said than done! Poor Michelle, couldn't even access the site for several hours, and when she finally was able to, our date was sold out. Since we were in Italy, she couldn't get a hold of us for several hours to confirm a new date. Luckily, there were still tickets available at our price point on a different day, so all's well that ends well. The boys were very excited when the tickets arrived in the mail just a few days later.

And two months later, it was finally time for the night at the opera! After a few quick photos outside, we entered the beautiful Garnier Opera. I'd done the tour with my parents before, but this was the first time inside for Nick, Michelle, and Skee. It's still pretty awe-inspiring.

We found our boxes just in time to take our seats before the start of the opera. When we bought the tickets, we purposely bought seats in two different boxes because Lillian had told us that if you weren't in the front row of the box {2 seats}, you wouldn't be able to see anything. It worked out perfectly because our boxes ended up being side-by-side, so we were in a row right next to each other!

The opera itself was a bit bizarre. Since it was Hansel and Gretel we thought it might be easier to follow since it's a pretty familiar story. Well, this must have been a "new" take on the story, and while parts of it were familiar, there were a lot of parts that just left us wondering, "What???" Everyone had their own theory at the end of what happened, and we're not actually sure any of them are correct.

Mixed reviews overall, Skee gave it 4 out of 10, Nick only slightly higher. For me, it was still a fun night out for a once in a lifetime experience with some great friends. Sure, operas aren't really my thing, but I'm glad I went, and I was entertained!