American Woman in Paris: 2006-11-12

American Woman in Paris

This is about my unique view of a unique city and from a unique life perspective. To see more of my photos go to www.flickr.com/photos/81362812@N00

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Parislog 78
November 15, 2006

The famous Christmas windows of the big department stares opened this weekend, or at least I assume so. I went on Monday just to get out of the house and found them. I have heard a lot about these windows and was intrigued and excited when I could see all the Christmas lights as I was walking in that direction. At Galerie Lafayette, the buildings were decorated in Christmas lights that looked like ornate mid-eastern fretwork. It came changed into different patterns and was very beautiful.I came to the first windows on the side of the building and saw a bunch of very boring displays of toys from movies. At the end of the row was one window that was pretty cool however. It was for Swiss Co. and was an amazing maze of activity created as a ball rolled through the system. Watching it was very amusing.

I then returned to the main street torn between thinking that so far it was boring and the possibilities that could unfold. I walked along and saw very elegant windows with dresses from the fashion runway shows. They were impressive but not what I had heard about. Then I came to a window that had a crowd around it and sounds coming out of speakers overhead. In front of the window was a raised platform for the kids to see better and in the window was an animated display. It was pretty and kind of cute but I must say that I wasn’t overwhelmed with it. There were some kids being cute and looking through the windows but not that many. The parents were standing behind them letting them have their fun.I went from window from window to window looking at every display and wish I could tell you that I had found my bliss but I didn’t. Maybe it has to carry the nostalgia of going there as a kid to get the full effect or this year just isn’t the best one. Oh well.