September 8 -- not Rouen, Paris

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On the eighth, we thought we'd go to Rouen. We stopped for bread along the way to the gare, and, when we got to the station, it was one minute before the train would leave, and we had yet to get tickets......

Sigh.

So -- we were stuck in Paris. Wait ... "stuck" in *Paris*. Hmmm. Ok, what shall we do? Let's console ourselves with some light retailing, shall we? There were a few things we wanted to purchase, and a rainy day is good for shopping......

Strolling away from the Gare.

I have it on good authority that McDonalds in France serves up *much* better food than it does in the USA. Not up to the standard of "good food in France," but much better than we get here at McD.

This one is certainly in a much more interesting building than one sees here in the USA.

Seems like maybe it should be Burger King (which I do not recall seeing in France....).

You'll recall that a passage is a glass-roofed street or alley, with shops lining the walls.  Proto-malls, as it were.  Passages are still being built.  This nice garden was at one end of a new passage.

I have no idea what any of this is, but love the display.....  It makes me think of an art-supply store.

"It's beautiful, it's new, I have to have it."  Not an attitude that is healthy for one's bank account...........

Au Printemps ("in springtime") is a big department store chain.

This is the back of the Palais Garnier, which houses L'Opéra.

We are now inside Galéries Lafayette. This has got to be one of the most heavily embellished structures I've ever seen.

Imagining the cost of all this work is mind-bending.  I can sort of see it, in a religious structure -- "for the glory of God" -- but here ... it's for the glory of ... glory?  That I can see, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it is largely for the "glory" of ... money.  And/or commerce -- "It's beautiful, it's new, I have to have it".............  So many people jeopardize their futures to buy Stuff (stuff they do NOT need, just stuff they want)...........

Ah well.  I can enjoy all that decoration without contributing to its upkeep...............



Here are some of stores in the Galeries Lafayette, with a few of the shoppers who keep it ticking along.

I needed this bit of astringency, after all that excess..........  (advertising picture, seen on the street)

Not sure what the point of this was, but there was a lot of it, and I thought it was interesting.  These are the outside walls of the Galeries Lafayette.

See my daughter's take on this morning here.


In order to facilitate chronological traverse of these posts, here is a link to the post that comes after this one.

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