020. Chaos in Fashion Paradise.

(Courtesy of MSN)

Just found this on MSN Travel. This is a picture of the Galeries Lafayette in Paris during the holiday season. Now, let's forget for a second that I have no idea how they got that tree into a building (if indeed it is a real tree, not many small trees glued together to form a contiguous whole). Can anyone explain to me how they fit it into that area?

I don't know if any of you are familiar with the Galeries - it is one of the most famous department stores in Europe - but what you are seeing in the picture is the central area where the cosmetic kiosks are situated (I believe you can make out the words "LANVIN" faintly in the bottom left-hand corner). What kiosk(s) have been completely obliterated to make way for this monstrosity of a Christmas decoration? And more importantly, where did they get a ribbon that huge? I am impressed at the extravagant inventiveness of the French!

Well, the one thing I do know is that the Galeries will probably be getting a lot less traffic this year. The exchange rate for the US$ is currently abysmal, so Europeans are getting much of their shopping done in America. I hope the trend reverses itself soon - even last Christmas, when I was in London, I kept seeing flight discounts to NYC emphasizing the benefit of shopping abroad. You know the exchange rate is bad when you still save money with the additional cost of purchasing a plane ticket from London to NYC.