Window Shopping on the Right Bank

Look at that sky! Light grey with dark splotches - but high, too high for serious rain risk; but there are wet spots on the sidewalks. Umbrellas might be selling briskly.

Since terrace-lurking is unlikely to be rewarding today, I calculate that it is, in fact, a good day for window shopping. It is not too hot, it is not even barely warm, so strolling along getting a good look at the windows will keep a body warm, and if rain does threaten, there will be a door to pop into. Also, all of Paris' department stores have great fixed awnings over their sidewalks.

Right now I will confess that this is my first time in Paris with no other purpose than to look in shop windows - normally I am scurrying past them like a rat on skates - or like last December during the transport strikes, being in town at seven in the morning to report on the traffic chaos in the dark, and the only things lit enough to capture were the Christmas windows.

With high hopes for a low-grade treat I climbed out of the métro at the Louvre station on the rue de Rivoli and went to see what the department store Samaritaine was up to, window-wise.

From a short distance, I was a little surprised that there was no great crowd oggling Samaritaine's wares; on closer inspection the reason was clear: their building with the best-situated windows, still had the same 'C'était une fois en Amérique' display as last December. There were some other windows right on the rue de Rivoli, decorated mainly with blue plastic water bottles. I went around all the windows of all their buildings - there are four in all - and found only dining table accessories as a new feature.

I figured there must be in-store displays, so I went inside, asked for ladies clothes, and - this must be true - I think the mannequins must be on strike or on holiday in the Canaries; in short, there was not much to engage my eyes. The best I could do, without searching all four buildings from top to bottom, was find two displays in lingerie, and the one presented here is for La Perla, an Italian brand. The other display was too dim to capture.

Anyway, these stalls are placed on the sidewalks, between the windows. With the reduced sidewalk space and any number of pedestrians, the importance of the windows is decidedly secondary - although Galeries Lafayette has managed to change their displays since Christmas.

I was about to take a photo of the most 'colorful' boutique for you, when two things happened. A store employee appeared in my viewfinder and the digital camera's battery dropped dead. I was informed that I could take no photos of the clothes on display and I babbled on about dead batteries - in fear that store security might be anxious to confiscate the film - of which this camera has none. To reinforce the idea of dead batteries, I asked where I could buy some replacements.

I went there and bought some and went back to the forbidden area - but with fresh batteries and unused memory, I could not find the particular employee nor store security - to ask if there might be... anything at all... that I could capture. Nothing doing. I'll go back again some day; and get permission - but today I left without anything.

From the Christmas window search I can pretty well guess that the windows of the BHV on the right bank, and Bon Marché on the left bank, would not be much different, for they too have the sidewalk stalls. The interiors of all the big Paris department stores are all different from each other and have many interesting and intriguing features, so I will be going back for further reports in the future - but not for windows.

Who knows? Spring may actually come someday to the right bank - to la Rive Droite - and then I can forget the umbrella and just sit on a terrace to watch the ladies park themselves, after their real window-shopping.