Day 18: Paris

Breakfast in the lobby is wonderful. No buffet here, a tray was brought to me. Coffee in a French press with warm milk, fresh orange juice, a bowl of fruit, yogurt, a hunk of a very stinky cheese and a basket with a half baguette, croissant, and pain au raisin, a buttery snail shaped pastry.

I didn’t eat the baguette, one has to have some control. But the croissant was the best kind. When you pull the end, the middle comes out.

I took a very expensive taxi ride to a women’s store I had read about. The only things they had were from summer. And not many of them. What a bust! I look in a lot of the stores and it doesn’t seem as if they have enough stock to cover their nut.

It was in a lovely neighborhood, though. I walked a few blocks and was in front of the Four Seasons, not far from the Arc de Triumphe. I got a taxi when I reached the Champs Elysées. Wow! The sight of it gave me chills. That’s how you know you are in Paris! We drove past FIVE GUYS!! And now you know, we have a bit of Paris in State College. I think the whole drive down the CE is loaded with stores just for tourists.

I got dropped off in front of Galeries Lafayette. I walked into pandemonium. The ground floor is a series of expensive boutiques and makeup kiosks. The boutiques for Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci and a few more had lines of mostly Chinese people waiting at a velvet rope waiting to be admitted. And they had shopping bags with the logos of the most expensive shops slung around their shoulders.

It was like Christmas shopping at Bloomingdales on steroids.
I just couldn’t stay. The best thing about the store is the atrium and ceiling. That is spectacular. There is an overlook on the third floor that is cantilevered over the atrium with a line of people waiting to get on it to photograph both above and below.

Then I went over to BVH, a department store that had been likened to Target. It wasn’t at all like Target. It might have started out that way, but now it is luxury boutiques, too.

I did see a Longchamps bag I liked in their new autumn color of Cassis, but they were out of the style I wanted.

So I went over to the Longchamps store near my hotel. And there it was. The bags are about 25% cheaper here than in the US. I am now a proud owner of a cassis bag.

I dragged myself back to the hotel and had my afternoon Coke Light with a (small) bowl of chips.

I read for awhile in the lobby, then came upstairs and decided that tonight would be a good time to have a Kind Bar for dinner and call it quits. Enough is enough!

I have a friend coming on Saturday from the Netherlands. We met when I took the medieval history class at Cambridge University and have remained friends.

I’m sure we will be doing a lot of eating so don’t feel bad for me!

I think I’ll have some Netflix time and relax.

Love,
Lynn

Responses

We had lunch on the terrace of either Printemps or Gallerie Lafayette – forget which!
Barbara

What about Printemps? And its observation café? Totally different!
Love,
Amy