A bit of excess

Walk #18  Grands Boulevards...

I can see after doing this walk, along with the ones yesterday, why people talk about coming to Paris to shop.  I just don't know where these people get their money!!  Wow!

This walk starts with these instructions:  Walk out of the Metro Station and be sure you look up and down the boulevard, so here you are

Looking right....

....looking left!!  That probably did as much for you as it did for me!

But this window display stopped me in my tracks.  I've made it bigger so you can see the flower heads, they were so unusual, but sort of creative that they totally caught my attention.  The store is called Printemps, and the sign says "La Fête du Printemps," or "The Celebration of Spring."  I'd say those are pretty springy, and there were three other windows in the same style, just different colors.  Loved it!

Okay, this is probably the most amazing mall I've ever been in.  

This is my attempt at a vertical panorama (can you even say that?) But I have no software, so it's really not, but start here at the bottom and move up and try and merge the pictures in your mind.  The glass dome is stunning.  It's excessive, but you have to be impressed.

This is the steps of the Opera House on a Saturday.  There is a band playing on the sidewalk and hundreds of people just enjoying the 15 minutes of sun Paris was having right then.  

Nearing the end of the walk, this obelisk was made by Napoleon to celebrate a victory over Austria, and he melted over 1200 Austrian cannons to make it!!  That's a little in your face don't you think?  Of course that's him on the top!

The picture doesn't show it very well, but the square is ringed by shops that say Dior, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, etc. 

This just caught my eye,,,they really do have attorney's here, and some of my favorite people are attorneys 

I considered going in here to shop for my granddaughters, but decided these were neither practical or affordable, but they were cute!

One more church, but I'll save it for tomorrow because the best discovery there was an Organ Concert to be held tomorrow.  They'll be playing Bach, Beethoven, etc!  I'm as excited for this as I have been for anything since I got here.  Can't wait.

And finally we meet Joan of Arc.  You hear about her all the time here, she is a real live (but gold plated) heroine, even today.