Galeries Lafayette

Here I am, late with the weekend summary again. It's August...even my motivation is understaffed.

Friday, August 3

Friday night we went to Parc Montsouris (mouse mountain?), on the southern side of Paris for an outdoor showing of Marie Antoinette. We didn't have a big blanket, so we brought along an old futon cover and stretched out on the grass with our picnic bag. We ate baguette sandwiches and salad in the twilight and packed the remains of our dinner just in time for the movie.

Neither of us liked the film much, but the experience was pretty cool. The temperature was perfect, there weren't any bugs, and the Eiffel Tower spotlight swinging overhead gave the evening a dramatic effect.

Saturday, August 4

In preparation for my friend Lindsay's wedding this weekend, I went on a hunt for a strapless bra. After making plans to meet Dave in Parc Monsouris again (we were drawn to the park because it's one of the few in Paris that allows people on the grass), I decided to visit the infamous Galeries Lafayette.

I made the choice because I'd heard so many good things, and I'd never been there. I was wary at first, because I'm not a huge fan of department stores at home. But as it turned out, Galeries Lafayette is certainly not my grandmother's JC Penny.

Instead, it's a collection of some of my favorite boutiques, all conveniently located in one building. Sounds like trouble, doesn't it?

Aside from the boutique sections, it also has impressive line of its own stuff. Being a true French store, the lingerie section was enormous. I soon learned that the entire staff speaks English, and they had a choice bra in my hand within minutes. I was scooted off to the fitting rooms, which were attended by a demure hostess who directed me to a heavily curtained room.

What's to blog about a fitting room in a department store? Mood lighting. Next to the mirror was a switch to change the the bulbs in my little room between day and night lighting. So I could evaluate my new underwear under both. Trés sexy.

After the lingerie section I wandered around the rest of the floor and found a few dresses that I liked on sale. Ah, there was where the trouble started.

Anyway, shopping aside, Galeries Lafayette is housed in a beautiful building. In the center of the store is an amazing glass ceiling that could rival a Las Vegas casino. Apparently I'd underestimated the touristic pull of the store, because the place was packed with foreigners. All announcements and ads were in at least three languages.

I finally met Dave in the park and read Harry Potter while he kicked around his new soccer ball. We left around 6 and drove up to Taverny, which is north of Paris, for dinner with Gil and his wife.

Gil's wife Danielle made an excellent gastronimic meal and even promised to teach me how to cook others. After dessert we watched a few tapes of Danielle and Gil's appearances on French game shows, including Family Fued and the Weakest Link (which Danielle won handily). Only on a French quiz show would you hear the question: "Which of the following nouns is masculine?"

Sunday, August 5

We had plans to spend the First Sunday of the Month at the Natural History Museum, but the weather was so nice we decided it couldn't be spent indoors. After chores we drove out to our favorite spot at the Bois de Bolougne. We laid the futon cover half in the sun, half in the shade, and were forced to move it every 30 minutes to keep Dave's half shaded.

I read, David played with his soccer ball and made a new friend. I keep telling him that kids like him more than me, but he claims it's only because he had a ball.

She had a little Barbie ball we rolled and back and forth with her, but her favorite thing to do was bounce it off David's head. Eventually her parents confiscated the ball and dragged her back to their blanket, but she kept coming back. I took this photo just seconds before she started pulling up fistfulls of dead grass and throwing it at him.

That night I finally finished the Harry Potter book. I suppose that will lend to my productivity.

This Friday I leave for the US for a few days, so I might be absent from posting for a while. Maybe I'll come back and write about how weird Michigan is.

Maybe away from Paris I could write about Paris as in Paris I could write about Michigan. I did not know it was too early for that because I did not know Paris well enough. But that was how it worked out eventually. -Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast