Time to return to my Europe series... I think this is going to be a long and recurring theme at this point. I did so much, it's going to take a while to finish blogging about it!
For this installment, we take a visit to the Au Printemps department store, beginning with the observation deck on the top of their tallest building. The department store consists of 3 entire buildings for Women, Men, and Children/Home/etc. It has numerous restaurants and sub-boutiques for more luxury brands than I even was aware existed! My friend Estelle clued me into the awesomeness of this place, and I'm very thankful to her!
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The architecture of these buildings is fabulous. |
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Tour Eiffel in the background |
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Yours truly enjoying the sunshine and traveling :) |
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It's a long way down! Oh look... that's the metro entrance! |
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See... here's a closer look... Paris Metro |
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At the other end of the patio, here is the view |
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Closer up! |
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One thing I noticed about Paris is that they really managed to do a good job with integrating buildings, trees, traffic, and people. |
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The spires you see at the other end of this picture are where I was originally standing |
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There was even an AstroTurf lawn with deck chairs up here on top of the building! An outdoor patio seriously called for ice cream, which I had while being blinded by the sun, lol. |
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In case there was any doubt as to the scale of this... check out the floor plan! Those are three entire buildings! |
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This is the plan and list of departments for one floor in context! |
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Some of the buildings seen from one of the bridges |
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Yet another angle showing the buildings |
What is a shopping trip though, without shopping? I wish I could have taken pictures of everything... it was amazing what they had. However, I did find something that I liked enough to buy on the spot. I found a bow tie from Alain Figaret. The real kind, that you actually tie yourself (not the childish clip-ons that are so often sold)! Plus, as an added benefit it was handmade in France!
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Wearing the Alain Figaret bow tie recently (January 2012) |
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Close up of the bow tie... it has a woven pattern of dots within circles, here I have paired it with a navy blazer and ecru shirt. |
I love Printemps!
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