"Bath of crowd" at Galeries Lafayette

Paris

The kids wanted to buy souvenirs, so we foolishly headed off to Galeries Lafayette on a Saturday.  The grands magasins are places that remind you of the saying, "L'enfer, c'est les autres." Besides the loudspeaker announcements (nonstop) in Japanese and Russian, there is always some special sale going on: the Trois Jours J or the "Seven Days of Gold" or the "Bazar de l'Inde" or the Fêtes de fin d’année.

I believe the Galeries is now the biggest department store in the world (it includes a Lafayette Maison, Lafayette Sport, Lafayette Hommes, and the main store, and that's just at the main location). Next to it is another huge store, Printemps (including separate stores for Printemps Hommes and Printemps Maison). During the big sales, during the holidays, all summer, and on weekends, you have to push through crowds to get on and off the escalator, and sometimes you must wait in line three times to get your merchandise-- once to get the salesperson's attention, once to pay, and once to go back to the saleperson and pick up your things. So why go there? Because it's got everything you are looking for. But you are likely to  come out drained and bad-tempered. And everyone else there just wishes you'd go away, too.

I hadn't set foot there for probably two years. I had warned the kids that Saturday was not the ideal day to go, but they reassured me that it would be fun. They all wanted to see this great sight of Paris.

When we got there, not only were there more people than I dreamed of, but there were buses parked in front of the building , all with placards in their windows reading "Ni Pauvres Ni Soumis" and all from the provinces. It was a demonstration. As I later found out, it was a demonstration of handicapped people and their supporters from all over France, demanding a "decent" payment-- at the moment, according to one placard in this picture, handicapped people who can't work have to try to live on 628 € a month.

But their supporters in Galeries Lafayette were not in wheelchairs. I am not sure why they were in the store in a huge group, wearing green pinnies with the slogan and being shepherded on and off the escalators like children, but maybe it was to go to the cafeteria on the top floor, or the bathrooms, or the 9th-floor* roof terrace where there is a lovely (and free) view of Paris.

It was what the French call a bain de foule, or bath of crowd.

*8th floor French

Comments

[Doris]

That is still such a gorgeous and breathtaking picture of the Galeries, even if it is crowded and insane in there. This series of posts is so "french"! The vielle dame and her "Ho, c'est elegant!" I can just hear it. And the bizarre french insistence on never allowing you to accomplish a task (like buying an item) in one step if it can be spread out to two or three or possibly more...Thank you for this little bit of nostalgia.