Monday, December 22, 2014

Les Grands Magasins

(The Big Department Stores)...in this case Printemps and Galeries Lafayette.  There is an article about them here in today's New York Times. 



The display windows for Printemps were interesting …. if you were under six.  They featured lots of moving characters, appearing to be marionettes, and all wearing Burberry outfits.  They had small raised viewing platforms for the kids, and the kids were awestruck.  There were many adults with their cell phones raised.  We thought they were taking photos or videos, but the article says they were interacting with the displays.  Sadly, the reflections were so bright that photos were hopeless.  







We stopped in at Printemps for lunch in the dining room under the art deco dorm, which has become our go-to lunch stop when we are in the stores. 

Inside the store were giant Christmas trees with toy trains running through them, and scenes from London with moving figures.  







The Galeries Lafayette windows were even less successful to my eye, following their theme of Monstres Noel”, the Monsters of Christmas.  They featured mostly large furry muppet-like creatures involved in various Christmassy activities.  Again with the viewing stands, again with the awestruck little ones.  But not very interesting for the over-6 crowd such as us.  


Inside was the famous upside-down Christmas tree, suspended from the huge dome over the main shopping area.  We took it in from three floors as it turned color from golden to magenta to green. 





After doing a little shopping we walked back in front of Printemps, to see the lights outside the store, again featuring Burberry.   







 Then, fairly exhausted, we returned home to a special sunset glow of the city.  


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