A wonderful day in Paris
Our plan was to walk back towards our hotel from Notre Dame. There were a few places we wanted to see along the route, the first being ‘La Samaritaine’.
The original building first became a store in 1870, and over the following years additional buildings around it were purchased and converted into retail space. By 1910 the store had grown, and Frantz Jourdain had been commissioned to redesign the new store, it was to have a steel roof with glass panels in the art nouveau style of the period.
In 1926 Henri Sauvage was commissed to design the tiered Art Deco design which is built overlooking the Seine. At this time, the revenue in the store had surpassed one billion francs.
In 2005 the building was ordered to be closed down, as it was deemed unfit by the prefecture police. The decision made, by its then 55% owners LVMH, was to explore renovating the building. By 2010 LVMH had acquired 100% of it, and with the survey of the works complete they pushed ahead with full renovation. Work started on restoring the glass and steel roof, painted frescos, the iconic sweeping staircase that spirals up the center of the building to the glass roof, and the spectacular ironworks throughout the building.
The store finally reopened in spring 2021, and is filled to the brim with designer brands. This is the first Christmas the store has been open for more than 15 years.
They have four Christmas characters that are bold and charismatic welcoming you into the store to explore its delights. It was wonderful to see such a beautiful building brought back to life and flourishing.
From there we strolled along past the Louvre, where we once again could glimpse the majestic sight of the Eiffel Tower. We didn’t go into the Louvre this time, but enjoyed watching the many people embracing the social media fad of seeming to hold up the glass pyramid by its tip. It’s bizarre watching everyone finding just the right spot for their particular photo.
We had planned to visit a chocolatier called Angelina, but the queue to get in was about 45 minutes long! So we decided to keep that treat for another day. Instead we wandered up to the beautifully decorated Place de Vendome, and admired the sunburst on the outside of the Louis Vuitton store.
Before long we had made it back to Montmartre where we stopped for a late lunch to give us some sustenance for the climb up the steps of the Sacre Couer. There’s a lot of steps, and there were a lot of people, but strolling around the side streets, stopping to listen to the buskers, peering in the little galleries and enjoying the artists square made for a pleasant end to our day, before returning to our hotel. We took a rest before dinner, which we enjoyed in a small pavement brasserie in the heart of Montmartre. Such a wonderful day in Paris.
