Today, Mom and I met boulevard Haussmann, home of two famous department stores, Le Printemps and Galeries Lafayette. Both opened at the end of the 19th century, during La Belle Epoque. This is a favorite neighborhood of mine, my old hunting grounds, in fact. I spent many productive (and costly!) lunchbreaks there while I worked for American Express France in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Christmas is the perfect time to visit this neighborhood. Children line up and watch the amazing window displays, mesmerized. Store façades compete with sparkling lights. Inside, the decor is decidedly Art Nouveau: The Galeries Lafayette neo-Byzantine stained glass dome is simply stunning. Mom and I had a great time shopping for Christmas gifts and navigating among tourists. Later on, we enjoyed a very French lunch at a local café: fluffy omelet with green salad on the side; a pichet of Côtes du Rhône, and for dessert, two cappuccinos. It snowed again this morning and even though things remain iffy at local airports and in the suburbs, Parisians do as they have always done when merde hits the fan, they simply go on... Les boys, you ask? Le Parisian Husband took Junior on a marathon visit of his old hunting grounds. I did not get too many details, but they hit the Right and the Left Banks and walked for miles. Hopefully big bad jet lag finally gets defeated tonight!
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| Jocelyne, a.k.a. "Maman" - Galeries Lafayette |
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| Galeries Lafayette |
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| A favorite window display... "Les Chiens" |
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| The Chanel display... Classy, what else? |
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| Mademoiselle Chanel... Where do I get one of these? |
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| One last one... just because! |
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| Meanwhile, Junior zooms all over Paris with Le Husband... |
Vero We are loving the blog posts. Have fun
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