So Paris is the fashion capital of the world, oui?
The weather wasn’t that good today either, with overcast skies, not worth visiting any major sites, not to mention I’m running out of sites to visit! Montmarte is worth visiting during a sunny day when you can get good photos of the city, and I’m going to be staying near Bastille at my next hotel, so there’s no point making a special trip out there. Shopping in the Latin Quarter would mostly be outdoors, and I had enough of getting caught in the rain already, so it was back to the Opera district to do some indoor shopping!
The French department store, Printemps seems to cater heavily to tourists. They sponsor the maps that every hotel gives out to their guests, and offer a 10% discount if you bring your passport. They also have easy processing for the 12% VAT refund, and have a special Takashimaya area for Japanese tourists! Printemps itself is pretty large, occupying three buildings, split into men’s, women’s and home furnishings. The store is actually a historical building, with marble signs and stained glass along the outsides of the building, but inside being a complete department store, about 6 levels in each building.
Interestingly, the French make it a point to display the brand names of all the brands on a level, making it easy for you to find things. Of course, Printemps was catering to the brand-conscious, so it was almost like visiting brand-name stores. There was one floor that was labeled "Designer Fashion" and every item there was at least 400+ euros… designed by famous designers? On the other floors, there were other, cheaper brands like Nike, Converse, and Levis. Those floors were more crowded with Parisians actually doing shopping, looking for deals. Interestingly, there was a floor dedicated to the "Classics", where it seemed that people over 50+ found clothing that they liked. The floors seemed to be divided up by function, with a "fashion" floor, a "city wear" floor that seemed to be full of office clothing, and a "urban wear" floor with casual clothing.
Parisians do dress up when they go shopping. Tourists were easily picked out from the crowd, the ones shabbily dressed or carrying backpacks! The Parisians were dressed neatly, hair combed, often in long-sleeve shirts, casual slacks, nice dresses, high heels, or with a sweater fashionably slung across the back. I did see a few sports jackets over shirts and jeans from some young men as well.
Along the side streets were smaller stores with much more reasonable prices, and a different selection. I still think this was a major tourist region, but there were more locals walking around and actually shopping around there. A brief walk from the Printemps shopping area was the Opera region, where a beautiful Opera house was… undergoing renovations >.< Oh well, didn’t take too many pictures, and didn’t bother going in. Along the steps of the Opera house, there were many people just hanging out, Parisians seemingly waiting for friends to show up, and lots of tourists standing around and taking photos. There were two, what looked like Indian girls running around barefoot trying to talk to tourists, asking "Do you speak English?", looking like they were begging. Most people ignored them. A tour bus stopped in front of the Opera house, and what looked like American tourists poured out of the bus, lined up neatly on the steps, took a photo, and got back onto the bus… It was the weirdest thing, and one major reason why I’d hate to go on a group tour. Oh yeah, and almost everyone on the tour was at least 50+.