[ Dec.2018 ] On the next morning of ‘Yellow Vest’ demonstration, it was very quiet in Paris.
We went out for breakfast to a different cafe to try a Croissant and Cappuccino again, but they were not good either.
Not only that, but also two cappuccino and one Croissant cost as much as almost €13．
We know that any of the touristy places would rip you off, but it was a very bad taste experience as well.
We went towards Bastille, as we were going to see ballet ‘Cinderella’ at Opera Bastille.
First, we went to see the market, which stretched from the station area along the street, called rue Richard Lenoir.
They hold this market every Sunday and our guidebook recommends this market saying that “If you want to see just one market in Paris, come to this one”.
Because we did not have much time, we just walked around the beginning of it, but we saw lots of fresh seafood there.
The bread looked good, too.
After that, we met our friends living in Paris whom we could not meet the day before and although it was a short meeting, we had a lovely time together.
It was the next day of the demonstration, so our topic was mainly on French politics as well as Brexit and a bit of Italian politics, too.
We do not know when the turning point in history will be until the time passes and the people in the future look back, but I think this can be the turning moment now.
We were chatting at one cafe, and when I noticed the weather had changed into a storm.
From the morning the wind was strong and now the rain had started and it became very strong.
We had booked a restaurant near there, but our friends recommended we take the metro.
Unfortunately, we got a bit lost after getting out of the metro station, so we had to walk around and by the time we arrived finally we were soaked.
We were not very lucky this time in Paris.
The restaurant we had booked was called Chez Paul.
The reason we chose it was that it said that they were a traditional French restaurant on the internet, but the first impression I had was an old pub in the suburbs.
The tattoo of the waiter caught my eyes.
I wonder if this was the meeting place for French Hells Angels.
But the food was good.
I chose the rabbit dish and my husband ate duck.
We had a glass of wine, too.
With the desserts, the bill was less than €70, which I thought reasonable.
After lunch, the rain was a bit lighter, so we walked to Opera Bastille.
It was the first time for us to see anything here.
This opera house is a former president, Mitterrand’s, project, completed in 1989.
It is very modern like the Royal Festival Hall in London and various concert halls in Japan.
Maybe because it was a Sunday matinee, there were many children as if it was a kindergarten.
The location of our seats was very good, but they were auxiliary seats.
They were exactly the same as the auxiliary seats in a bus and we had to open the seat with the backrest.
I think it was the first time for me to experience this kind of seat in a theatre.
This ballet ‘Cinderella’ was choreographed by Nureyev, but I did not know that he created the modern version of the old story.
The first act’s stage set was very nice and I did not feel odd, but the second act was very different from the traditional ‘Cinderella’.
Instead of the dance party of the prince, it was the scene of a film shooting and even a gorilla appeared.
I felt it was too messy and did not like it very much.
Because a couple of people made a long speech before the performance started, the actual performance started late and we started worrying that we might be too late for the flight, so we left the theatre without seeing the last act.
