Bonjour!

Today we had our first walking tour assignment presentation by Corinna, Bannesa, and Janice. They presented the Palais Garner, Opéra House, located in the 9th arrondissement.

Right to left: Janice, Bannesa, Corinna

They spoke about the history of the Opéra house built from 1861-1875 and seated 1,979 people at that time. They told us that the 1979 Opéra house had the largest seating capacity in the world. We were told that this site was the inspiration for Phantom of the Opera. There are many restaurants in this area, as well as Jazz clubs. The restaurants in this area are known for the best seafood and meat.

Front of the Opéra house

After this tour presentation, we walked to the Hotel Ambassador, which is a Marriott owned hotel. This hotel opened in 1927 and at that time it had 1,000 rooms and took up a whole entire block. Today, the hotel now has 297 guest rooms, 34 executive rooms, and 8 suits. The hotel is 8 floors, as are most hotels that are located in Paris.

Outside of Hotel Ambassador

This being one of the oldest hotels in Paris, was taken over by Marriott about 5 years ago. The restaurant located near the lobby is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but not open to the public for breakfast. We were told by the staff that since they now have a larger Asian market, they have now added a Asian breakfast corner. This hotel also has 11 meeting rooms, the main and largest one being on the lobby level.

View from the 8th floor executive meeting room

After the hotel tour, a group of us walked around the area and found a cute souvenir shop and grabbed a bite to eat. Some of us also got fresh crepes, which was absolutely delicious. Today was a fun day and I look forward to the next days in beautiful Paris.

Crepe with peach jam