My BFF and I are in Paris to celebrate a milestone birthday so I’m going to attempt to throw a few posts up while we’re here. That’s us outside the Pigalle Metro station, one of many designed by Art Nouveau master Hector Guimard around 1900.
The Pigalle is widely known as the City’s red light district although we saw little evidence of that as we ducked in and out of vintage clothing and decor shops, happily ambling with no tourist agenda other than finding a decent vegetarian lunch (no luck).
Our walk took us down toward the Opera and we stopped into the venerable Galeries Lafayette, a grand, grand old department store celebrating its 100th anniversary this year with an over-the-top display of elaborate windows and a striking Swarovski christmas tree. The store is laid-out as a series of galleries surrounding a soaring atrium topped by a magnifcent stained-glass, domed ceiling. Unlike in Canada, department stores remain a big deal in Paris (below is the nearby Au Printemps).
As night fell the streets teemed with people leaving work, shopping, heading into restaurants. With yesterday’s flight behind us, today we’ll hit the ground running and hopefully I’ll have more to share tomorrow. Until then . . .
November 9th, 2012 at 7:41 am
Bonjour Chris!
Lucky you.
Enjoy.
Thanks for the little bit of Paris with my coffee this morning!
November 9th, 2012 at 11:51 am
Bon anniversaire mon ami!
All I can say is enjoy yourselves.
If you’re in Pigalle and need a little treat stop in Etoile D’Or and Mme. Acabo will be happy to help you with some delicious chocolat.
I also really enjoyed the flea at Porte de Vanves on Saturday morning.
November 9th, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Bon anniversaire, Chris!
Have a lovely time! Can’t wait to see more pictures.
November 9th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
happy BIG birthday Chris!!
What a great way to celebrate.
Safe journey,
Tina
November 9th, 2012 at 5:21 pm
How beautiful! Now I’m feeling a little Christmas spirit! Looking forward to more of your photos. Have fun!
November 9th, 2012 at 8:30 pm
What a fun posting thanks for sharing and a happy birthday.
Enjoy.
November 9th, 2012 at 9:26 pm
Good luck with finding a vegetarian lunch. About as easy as finding a smoke-free café, I suspect.
Birthday greetings to whichever of you is celebrating.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:33 am
Epic chapeau! Happy milestone to your BFF!
November 12th, 2012 at 12:29 am
OH my CHRIS Paris, so terribly cool…Gayle of happy birthday and you sure know how to do it right
November 12th, 2012 at 2:30 pm
Never been across the pond…thank you for sharing!