Department stores were invented here in France, so today we went to one of the original ones in the world. The one we visited was called Le Galerie La Fayette and it was absolutely NUTS. The architecture of the building alone was crazy enough, let alone the fact that you entered the store from floor -1 (if coming from the metro). -1 was the best floor because it was entirely comprised of shoes. Chuck’s face of horror juxtaposed the three of our faces of wonder and excitement.
Right off the bat we stopped at the first section and found Barbs some shoes that didn’t make her look like a grandmother and a toddler, all at once.
The store was so insane and crowded that we practically ran around for an hour and a half just trying to get our bearings. We didn't stop and shop after the shoe floor, and we went up and down approximately 20 escalators by the end of it. An attempt for some long-missed Chinese food went sour when they hid us behind a wall and didn't give us any service. Little do they know how much Asian food this family can consume. Their loss.
This entire trip, Barbs has always pointed out macaroons and wanted to buy them. We realized that she has an obsession. They’re all she thinks about, dreams about, and talks about. When she sees them she just HAS to buy a couple, especially when they are creatively displayed. We know that she loves them because whenever we see a store with the little guys, (which is on pretty much every corner), she is practically pulled by a magnetic field towards the display. She has to stop and if we look into her eyes we see macaroons in them. It’s that bad. That said, we have had our fair share of macaroons this trip.
Tomorrow morning head to the airport at the actual crack of dawn (5:00 AM) to catch a flight to Madrid, then back to the states.
Until then,
--Hannah and Cedar