Day 123
The Musee Carnavalet, the History of Paris, is housed in two enormous, never-ending mansions. We enjoyed the beautiful courtyard with the manicured maze bushes, and the models of early Paris. There were also many pictures and artifacts of early Paris, and Proust’s bedroom. Even with all the interesting street and building signs, paintings, and eclectic antique paraphernalia, we didn’t stay long. No reflection on the museum and its ancient treasures and bobbles, somehow we just couldn’t get fully invested. Cali studied the French revolution last year and was therefore, “sick of hearing about it.” She was more in the mood to shop, perhaps we all were, and what better place than the Galeries Lafayette, the largest department store in the world.
This is a shopping extravaganza that is overwhelming, in a good way. This ostentatious store is located on the Boulevard Haussman and sits on three corners of an intersection. What makes this shopping experience unique is how they have small boutiques with the best of different designers all located in one place. The women’s clothing alone covers three floors with over 350 brands, over half of them internationally based. The lowest level has the largest shoe department in Europe, and the French women love their shoes. You never have to leave the one building, it will take you all day to go floor by floor. But by the time you get to the top, you are rewarded with a floor of souvenirs, stationary, chocolate, and food–four of my favorites. There are fourteen restaurants in the building, one of them Japanese (all is well). After we finished a delicious meal of salmon and chocolate mousse, we went up to the roof terrace to enjoy the view, which due to the central location in the city is among the best in Paris.
