Our last full day in Paris. We are both starting to flag out now as we are up to 37 days and the trip has been pretty full on the whole time. We hadn’t organised much for today except to go down and have a look at a couple of the old established department stares that we have read are worth visiting for their architectural value.
Galeries Lafayette Haussmann is a renowned department store in Paris, France, known for its impressive architecture and vast selection of brands. Located in the 9th arrondissement near the Opera Garnier, it’s a popular destination for both locals and tourists, according to the Paris tourist office. The building is famous for its stunning Art Nouveau dome and offers a panoramic view of Paris from its rooftop terrace.
It has got to be one of the most magnificent department stores we have ever been in.
We certainly felt it was out of our pocket book capability.
The business originated around 1893 and from there grew. What is sad to note here, is the Hudson Bay Company, which is iconic to Canada , and whose charter was signed by King Charles II in 1670 closed this year. It was the oldest company in the world. Their stores were synonymous with 🇨🇦. Their stores sat on some of the most valuable real estate in Canada.
Right across the road was the Paris Opera which is undergoing extensive external renovations. This was a side view of the opera house.
We then went around the corner to Printemps which is another luxury department store which was founded in 1865.
It also had a magnificent glass dome but you could not see this from the ground floor. You had to go to the sixth floor where you lost the true majesty of it. This store did not look to be doing as well as the previous one and there were certainly not the crowds.
It had all the same high end name brands but something wasn’t quite working with it.
We did think this display was very clever by Louis Vuitton-a Vespa made out of suitcases.
We went up to the roof of the store where they had an outside café so had our last lunch dining out, looking at the view of Gai Pari.
We made our way back to the apartment to do some very mundane housework like clean the kitchen and bathroom and pack our bags and do the washing.
Not a lot of time tomorrow morning as we have to be up at 4.30am which neither of us are looking forward to. We need to maneuver the bike box and luggage downstairs where a rather large taxi has been organised to pick us up at 5.30am to take us to the airport.
Our trip to Paris has exceeded our expectations and we have only but scratched the surface of what it has to offer. It is certainly a city to visit if you have not already done so.
Steps – 10,011
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