A Garden, A Fragrant Factory, and a Tower

Monet's waterlilies greeted us at the beginning of our tours today!  If I were Monet, I would have lived in Giverny, too.  It's all pastoral and quiet and picturesque--literally--I took about three dozen pics of his gardens and pond (which housed, by the way, a fish surely the size of the Loch Ness monster, by the looks of its splashes...) and house.  It's lovely there--lazily buzzing bees, the scent of the flowers (and mulch; ugh), the gentle breezes.... So now I'm going to need a French garden complete with willow trees and hollyhocks to go on the outside of my castle with a throne room.  Obviously.

After that, we drove back to Paris to go to a PERFUMERIE!!  A factory that makes PERFUMES.  French parfums FROM FRANCE.  Pretty sweet tour--no pun intended.  The lady who was our guide showed us the machinery that makes the essential oils that create the scent--primative vats and tubes, really; they've been used for hundreds of years.  She told us that the name of the factory, Fragonard, is the *only* perfume that is authentically French; made in France, sold in France.  Never exported.  Well, well, well.  So now mom and I are proud owners  some Fragonard perfume--I chose a scent called "Etoile," which means "star."  It has lovely light tones--summery and sweet.  The lady also explained how to wear perfume:  two spritzes to your pulses at the wrist, a quick bump together with the other wrist, then rub behind your ears and back of the neck, and if you are on a date, behind your knees.  So the scent follows you when you walk.  "All French women do zeese," she tells us, "to make zee men follow zee lovely ladeez."  I shook my head no to my lovely teenage ladeez; the last thing we need is for zee young men to follow.  Oy.  ;-)

Next, Michaelann's daughters and some other travelers and I chose to go to the Paris Opera House instead of a too-quick shopping moment.  Holy cow.  Ticket money well spent.  It's the setting of the Phantom of the Opera, and inside is fancy beyond fancy.  Marble.  Statues.  Sculptures. Velvet curtains.  I'd try to describe, but the pictures will do more justice.  Rumor has it that an excavation project revealed a lake underneath--just like in the play.  We didn't tour under the opera house, but we did sneak into a balcony to snap some pics of the stage and the chandelier  over the audience seats.  So impressive!  Except the Chagall painting around the chandelier.  Weird.  Out of place... dare I say... ugly...??  I have pics.  You be the judge.  Anyway, on the way out (which is just beyond the gift shop, of course), I spied some other items  I'm going to need for my home--there were TIARAS for sale.  They were hundreds of Euo, but what else can I wear on my throne??

Off to the Eiffel Tower!  Pics from the deuxieme etage (second floor) to follow, but none from the top!  Too crowded to have time to get up the elevator and back down in time for dinner.  Bummer!  Kids were disappointed--and me, too--but my belly was wanting dinner more than the selfie at the top.  Also it was very windy.  And cold. "Brisk!" "Refreshing!" claimed the girls I stood in line with.  Hmph.  FREEZING, more like.  Dinner plans won out over getting up to the tippy top.  Next time!! Next time we get to the summit.

Well, time for  to get to bed!  Wake-up call at 5:00 am!  Gah!  Pray for my roommates.  Cannot guarantee a sunny disposition that early....  :-)