David's Diary: Thursday, August 16, 2001

Shopping In Paris

Having successfully navigated our way into Paris by car a few nights ago, we decided to have a shopping day in the big city. We once again braved the streets of Paris, avoiding one or two close calls including almost going the wrong way down a one way street, until we arrived at the parking garage of Galeries Lafayette. Galeries Lafayette is one of the largest department stores in Paris. Located on blvd. Haussmann, the store occupies two buildings connected by a walkway. The main store is based around a central core with a spectacular circular roof.

Our main goal in shopping was to find a Provence-style tablecloth as a gift for our hosts Pierre and Pascale Senant. We found a helpful sales lady, who didn't speak English, but who did help us find what we wanted. With our main goal complete we went upstairs and had lunch with the thousands of other tourists in the store -- all the French people appeared to eat elsewhere.

Kevin and Allen Wait Patiently

We then did some clothes shopping stopping at The Gap store inside Galeries Lafayette so that Jocelyn could look for blue jeans. It took some time to interpret the metric measurements, since clothing in Canada is based on inches and not centimeters. Jocelyn didn't find anything that fitted or that she liked enough and the boys were pretty good about waiting patiently.

The Madeleine

Since we were in the middle of the Opera Quarter we decided it would be a good time to take a walk. We left Galeries Lafayette and walked to La Madeleine. We are starting to get our bearings in Paris and as we rounded the corner of La Madeleine we recognized Place de la Concorde a few blocks away and the street where we had parked a couple of nights before.

La Madeleine is the name everyone uses for the Church of St. Magdalen. Its Greek-like appearance make it a landmark in Paris. It took three tries before the existing church was finally consecrated in 1842, but not before being considered as a possible train station. We took a short tour of the inside then stopped on the top of the steps with its view towards Place de la Concorde for a snack.

Our walk then continued through the Quarter passing many high-end shops (e.g., Cartier). We then passed through Place Vendôme with its elegant buildings lining the square and the column with Napoleon depicted as Caesar splitting the traffic that drives through the square. We completed our walk at The Opera, Paris' first home of opera, whose towering facade faces Galleries Lafayette. We reclaimed our car and successfully navigated our way out of Paris and back to the countryside.