With just a morning left of our Parisian adventure we did what AI had outlined for us and went shopping.
Marks & Spencer this is not
Galeries Lafayette was just a short walk down from our hotel and we arrived slightly before opening time at ten. At two minutes to ten, what can only be described as bouncers, opened the doors and stood guard until the clock struck ten and we were allowed in.
As we walked to the middle of the ground floor it immediately became obvious why it had been suggested that we visit here – look up and you see a stunning glass ceiling. Not only that each floor has arches that look out over the open space in the middle making it look at little like boxes at the theatre. It really is a beautiful place.
Jutting out from the third floor, looking very much like a diver’s board, is Glasswalk a cantilevered glass bridge that you can book to go onto to see both the roof above and the shop below. Unfortunately, I found out too late that you could book for this and so could only reserve one space. However, when we got to the entrance the bridge was empty apart from another couple and they allowed us both on. It’s a great view, even if it did make me feel a little queasy looking down. Oh, and unlike the toilets in Galeries Lafayette, this was free!
Just Enough to be Dangerous
What this trip has shown me is that my French really isn’t up to much. I have remembered quite a bit of vocabulary, certainly enough to order a croissant and an orange juice, but not a great deal more. Also, as we found in Rome, if you try and speak any of the local language a little sign appears above my head saying “ENGLISH” and the other person magically switches to perfect English. I guess that if we went somewhere slightly less cosmopolitan than the capital we might learn more. To that end I watched La Gloire de mon père on the return journey to complete the duo.
