Trip 43

September 23,2023

It’s a quiet Saturday. Our only real plans are a hoped for appointment at Hermès for a handbag. They instituted a process where you have to request an appointment (only) for the next day. If the gods of luxury leather goods deem you worthy or you’re just lucky, you’ll be notified of your time (they decide), which doesn’t, in any way, guarantee that you’ll get a bag that you want in the size, leather and color that you want. So un-American like 😉, you can’t just go into the store and buy any purse/handbag they have on display. The purpose is to limit sales (esp to resellers) , but it certainly put more order into buying, than in the past, which meant how long you had to stand in line to be disappointed.

Walking in the direction of Hermès, we passed by the Gallerie La Madeleine, a small shopping arcade and Le Village Royal (small boutique shops and restaurants). There are a number of other “passages” in Paris, forerunners of modern shopping centers. We explored several here on a previous visit.

The gods of luxury leather goods didn’t smile on us today, so we’ll have to try again. We still visited the Mothership and the scarf counter, but that wasn’t the hoped for result today; only a “small” purchase.

LaDurée is one of our favorite tearooms and though there was too much of a line for the tearoom, we went next door for some of their delicious macarons (not macaroons).

There’s a lot of restoration work going on, some of it seemingly perpetual (old buildings need a lot of maintenance) and some in preparation for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. La Madeleine is one of the former. Its (front) facade is the cleanest we’ve seen in years, but it’s undergoing restoration of its columns. There was a benefit concert about to start when we went up the stairs, so we could not see the interior at this time. This project (€10m) is supposed to be completed this year, but has been underway for three years.

The Opéra Garnier is completely obscured by a trompe l’oeil curtain and it too is undergoing restoration, but it’s not on as large a scale (at least in cost, €7.2m, or expected duration), but lasting for a year and a half, until the end of 2024.

There’s all sorts of transport modes in Paris from walking, Tesla taxis, scooters (for now), cars, motorcycles, rental bicycles (Velib’ Metropole), le Metro, and the quintessential 2CV.