Shopping

---

Well today was another late start to the day. We had every intention of getting up early but somehow it didn't seem to happen (not setting any alarm clocks could have had something to do with that). We decided to skip breakfast and head straight to Boulevard Haussmann and start our shopping. Our first stop was a large C&A store. Bev and I have visited a number of C&A's it is one of our favourite European stores. Since we were all a bit hungry, and it was already 11:15 we decided to keep the shopping to a minimum and meet back together in 45 minutes. Having decided on our game plan we split up to do some serious shopping. Bev and I had brought back some dress shirts for Mike the last time we were in Europe so he knew that they were nice, and made that his first stop. What he didn't realize was that opening the shirts to try them on is not allowed over here. Of course it can be a bit scary when someone comes up to you and starts ranting at you in a language that you don't understand. Eventually a salesperson who spoke Engligh was able to explain that there was a rack of samples with all of the different sizes, styles and fits for trying on and once you find the one you like you can choose your pattern/colours of that style. Undeterred Mike also found a few pants and socks to complete his outfit. Bev and I didn't have any troubles, unless you count running out of time to try on all of the clothes that we found. They had a huge selection and we bought tops, dresses, scarves a bathing suit, leggings and then one more top for good measure. Even Ed found a stunning sweater!

Quite a bit past noon and supremely hungry we went to Printemps (a large department store), where they have a few different eateries. We opted for the store's formal restaurant, Brasserie Printemps. It was a fancy restaurant under a beautiful glass dome originally built in 1923, removed in pieces during the war, and restored using the original plans in 1973, it was a lovely piece of opulent architecture. Our meal was very delicious, Mike played it safe with a burger and fries, Ed had the duck special, Bev had French onion soup (because if you don't get it in France it is really just onion soup) and I had salmon. Mike got a bit anxious and wanted to check out if they had a few types of jeans, so he left and the rest of us ordered a 'revisited lemon meringue pie' for dessert. It was the lemon filling in a glass, a graham type crumble topped with a swirl of meringue. Mike came back and we made our way to the 9th floor where you could go out onto the roof and get some nice views of Paris. Mike got his first good view of the Eiffel tower and we took a lot of pictures. We had a peek in a few of the departments but since time was marching on we also marched on...well down the street to Galeries Lafayette.

We walked into the first building and grabbed a map of the store, looking at it we realized that this department store was so large that there was not one, not two but three separate buildings! There was a Men's building a Women's building and across the street was the food and furniture building. We had walked into the Men's building so after agreeing to meet at the department stores Starbucks, we split up once more. Bev and I went to the women's building and had a look around. This was really a very high end department store, there were a few things that were affordable, but there was also 1,000 Euro baby dresses! It was interesting to look but you didn't really need much time. This building, just like Printemps had some wonderful architecture and domes so most of the time was spent taking photos. We met the boys for our coffee and I was surprised to see that they had a new package! Ed had found some nice Mephisto Dress shoes. Bev feeling left out wanted to go to the Birkenstocks store to see if she could find some nice Birkenstock shoes. Since we already had quite a number of packages we split up, Mike and Bev to St. Paul's to find some shoes and Ed and I to take all of our purchases back to the apartment.

We separated to the metro station (Havre-Caumartin) which was also an RER train station. With 4 different metro lines and 3 regional train lines it was a large and somewhat confusing station. After going through the ticket machine, down the hallway, down the escalator, around the corner, and down another hallway we came to...another ticket machine. We had to dig out our tickets again to get through (which we did, although there was a moment of panic because not expecting to need it again I could quite remember where I had put mine). Down yet another hallway we came to an elevator which took us up a level, then we traversed a hallway that had been taken over by a few homeless people, up one more escalator, through one more hallway and we finally arrived at the tracks for the line 3 metro! With no time to spare since the train was already there we hopped on board and rode it back to Parmentier, the station right by our apartment.



Mike and Bev got back about an hour later, unsuccessful at finding any nice Birkenstock shoes. After giving them a bit of time to rest we went to a fondue restaurant a few doors down from our apartment. It was an interesting experience, we weren't really sure what to expect so we took a chance and each ordered a special which included a starter salad, a main course and a dessert. We all got a nice salad with walnuts, apple slices and prosciutto pieces. There were two different main courses to choose from, a platter of raw meat (to cook) or a selection of deli type meats and cheese. We got 2 of each to share. The meat was not a fondue style (where there is hot beef broth and you stick in the raw meat to cook it) but rather you place it on the small grill in your table to cook it. It was quite good, although you did have to keep a close eye on the meat so it didn't burn! We didn't quite get the hang of the cheese tray, where the cheese is supposed to be melted in the little frying pan they provided and then poured on the meats and potato that accompany it. The meat trays were so filling though that we barely got through a cheese platter and ended up getting most of it to go. For dessert we got a couple of chocolate fondues and some ice cream. To make things interesting we got a scoop of French Vanilla (which yes is just called vanilla here), Toffee salted butter caramel & chocolate ice cream as well as Pear and Passionfruit Sorbet. It was a great meal, a late one too it was after 9:30 by the time we left!

---

Photos

Brasserie Printemps
Lunch at Printemps

Brasserie Printemp
The dome

Printemps
The view from the top of the Printemps

Eiffel Tower
A view of the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Printemps

Galeries Lafayette
The dome in the Galeries Lafayette

Galeries Lafayette
A view of the Galeries Lafayette from the Starbucks

St. Paul's
Bev (and Mike) at a church in St. Paul's