Parisian boulevards are the epitome of the rich and exclusive French lifestyle and walking down them allows you to experience yet another face of the complex city: one of wealth, luxury and good life. Wide streets milling with people, both elegant Parisian locals going around their usual daily business and fascinated tourists walking around and standing in awe in front of world famous Parisian cultural centers and department stores.
One of the most iconic of these stores is the Galerie Lafayette situated in several buildings on boulevard Haussmann. We entered the store as clueless tourists, trying to ignore the fact that we don’t really belong among the opulent luxury and wealth, searching for the iconic glass dome that is the symbol of the building in which the store is situated. While strolling down the complex, we took some time to enjoy the Lafayette’s vinoteque, perfumeries and delicatessen stores with exclusive cheese and chocolate goodness from different parts of the world.
Since this was our last day in Paris (the following day we would continue towards Normandy), we decided to spend it enjoying our favorite parts of the city. We toasted my mother (since it was her birthday that day) with a bottle of wine in one of the cafés in the Champs-Elysees (where we also did some last-minute shopping). We enjoyed people-watching and observing the Parisian life passing by, soaking up the atmosphere and trying to memorize whatever we could – to take the details, the images and the feeling back with us as most precious souvenirs, and remember them until our next visit to the beloved city.
We also decided to repeat the unmissable photo shoot in front of the Tour Eiffel. Because what is a visit to Paris without at least twenty photos taken in front of the tower, ones that include jumping, pushing, measuring, and generally acting silly in front of it?
For the very end of our Parisian adventure, we went to my mom’s favorite part of Paris: Montmartre, the historic centre of French bohemian and artistic lifestyle.
Strolling down the narrow streets of Paris’ most iconic hill, last-minute souvenir shopping and a memorable birthday dinner in a lovely restaurant with live music performed by a young pianist (so Casablanca-like, something that I always wanted to experience!).
We toasted my mom, our family, Montmartre, Paris and France, promising that this was definitely not our final visit to the city that leaves you speechless over and over again. À bientôt, chère ville!
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