Blue sky this morning...The girls and boys split up today. The boys started up the Eiffel Tower. Even though Grampa is an old hand having been to Paris several times before, the tour was still exciting. Peter and Andrew loved it. There's even a skating rink there and you can rent skates... Next they headed off to the Bastille. Peter was hoping to see a remnant of the wall, or some other leftover from the revolution (where did he think he was? England? they don't do that here), but didn't find any. Found a good spot for lunch though. Then they walked (pause for effect) to Montmartre and the Cimitiere Pere LaChaise, the cemetary where many famous people are buried. They found Oscar Wilde.
The girls started Elizabeth's shopping day at the fabled Galleries Lafayette, a department store with so much in it, there are 3 separate buildings: Mode femme, mode homme, maison. GL is a magnificent building crowned by a stained glass dome. The first 3 floors ring the building, each with railings overlooking the dome and the central part of the main floor. It's very civilized: each floor has a waiting space with comfy couches and a coffee machine for those brought along with the shoppers to sit if they don't want to tag along. We found a lot of beautiful things from every designer you've ever heard of. Elizabeth and I were particularly taken with Red Valentino. It all begs the question though - who has a lifestyle where you'd actually dress in that stuff? Next we went "next door" to Printemps, hoping to find lunch and some clothes for Elizabeth. Found lunch and more designers and another beautiful art nouveau stained glass coupola. Somebody really knew how to build a department store... Next stop rue de Cambon, #31, Chanel's original / flagship store. We took pictures outside on the sidewalk at the front entrance, amusing the security guard and we saw the famous staircase where Coco used to sit at the top and watch the fashion shows. Eventually, we ended up back at the Champs Elysees to return to a couple of stores we'd seen yesterday. Shopping wasn't overly successful but I think that's because we were looking in the wrong places.
Dinner was a short walk from the hotel at a restaurant opened in 1908. We went not only for the food, which was great, but mostly for the art nouveau architecture and design, and walked back in the rain.
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