Shopping Capital
I am not a morning person, and in that way Fran and I are totally well suited. After a lazy start, as usual, we trekked our way past the Louvre, when I glimpsed it for the first time! I felt extremely stupid, but I have to admit I had not realized they didn’t keep the whole gallery in the pyramid part. I’d never seen a picture close enough to show quite how big the thing actually was. I didn’t realize that was just the entrance! Heh, my bad.
From there we walked through the Tuillerie gardens, which were much less green than expected. Perhaps because it’s still not exactly spring yet? I don’t know. It made me giggle to see the birds sitting on top of their frozen pond haha! Poor things, though. Got me to thinking whether they ever slide about. Have you ever seen a bird take off on ice? Not that us in Auckland have much experience of these things. It would be hilarious to see though, no? Imagine that! I duck doing the kind of going-no-where run that you usually only see in cartoons! Bahahaha!
Gosh, they do use a lot of gold in Paris. It seemed trying to look rich and powerful was more than just a distraction, it was an obsession! As we left the Tuillerie gardens I saw a lamppost that had gold filigree running up it, and a model of a boat forming the arms where lamps were mounted. The boat was gold. Why do you need a golden lamppost?! All I can say is, if that was in Narnia, stuff going to war! They could have just taken parts of the lamppost and sold it back in England and made a killing!
We found one of the main fashion causeways and in doing so found ourselves in one of Paris’s many small but ornate arcades. In this one we found a simply amazing shop! If I could have I would have spent so much money there! It mainly sold prints and posters, but of so many things! Musicians, artist’s posters and paintings, of places in Paris, of cats or dogs or actors. There were millions! Tacked to the ceiling were upside down hats. Now that’s just cool. There was cheap jewellery glittering in the corners of the shop, and the walls were completely covered in posters. Tres cool.
As we wandered we also found a memorial that I don’t remember the name of at the moment. It recorded all the names of places where French soldiers fought and were killed. All the walls were covered in names. On the ground there was a continuously burning fire with garlands around it. Below it was an inscription which Fran translated to me, although it has also left my mind for the time being.
That day we also visited one of the main department stores. A department store like no other I remember seeing! On the ground floor was perfumes and beauty things, all in the centre of the building, and if you looked straight up you could see a massive domed glass ceiling. There was gold there too. Each of the other levels were mezzanine floors around this massive space. The building was so beautifully decorated. It would be amazing to work in a place like that, for a short time at least. As it grew dark we found some other small arcades which Paris is so wonderful for. Each entered into a dream reality where life is stuck in some point in history and time has no sort of influence. You can tell that sort of thing by looking at the lights, you can see when they glow like that it’s not 2010 you’re seeing.
Lastly, I will tell you about this one florists shop which just made my jaw drop. I saw it at night two or three times, and each time was stunned. In the window was what looked like a white light box shining light into glass instruments that looked like fancy chemistry equipment. They were each filled with pink water, and each had a single pink orchid, except for one which had a white orchid. They glowed! It was incredible, so simple but so beautiful.
