Christmas in Paris 2011

 

At Printemps, shoppers can find special offerings from Chanel.

Richard Nahem, an ex-New Yorker living in Paris, leads private insider tours showing visitors the Paris most of them never see on their own (www.eyepreferparistours.com), and also writes a popular insider's blog www.eyepreferparis.com.

It’s holiday time again in Paris and the city is decked way out beyond the halls with boughs of holly. Blazing light displays, Christmas markets and fairs, ice skating rinks, and special holiday concerts are just a few of the joyous activities happening around the city. Here is a selection of the best and brightest for the month of December and beginning of January.

 

Galeries Lafayette offers rock-and-roll themed displays.

Holiday Store Windows

Galeries Lafayette is mad about rock music and this season the theme is called Noël Rock ‘n’ Mode. Animated dolls designed by New York artist Alexander Wang are fashionably dressed in rock n roll garb and strum away on their guitars and beat their drums furiously. Next door at Printemps it’s all about the eponymous fashion house Chanel. Noel Reves d'Evasion (Dreams of Escape) pays homage to Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel, and the windows have miniature Karl dolls prancing about with his camera and alternate windows show Chanel’s global locales Moscow, Los Angeles and Tokyo with clever and imaginative sets and animated dolls. On the Faubourg St. Honoré, Hermés just drips with over the top luxury with a Moroccan inspired theme including crocodile Kelly bags, ostrich motorcycle helmets, and a set of shiny gold boxing gloves.

Galeries Lafayette
40 Blvd. Haussmann, 75009

Printemps
64 Blvd. Haussmann, 75009

Hermés
24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008

Ice Skating

Sharpen those blades and put on those skates so you can cut up the ice with your fierce figure eights in the rinks of Paris. Every winter The Hotel de Ville/City Hall offers free skating on the plaza. Nothing could match the sensation of ice-skating high above the city in the Eiffel Tower with the breathtaking views. 

Hotel de Ville Rink –Till February 27
Open Monday to Friday 12PM to 10PM, Saturday, Sunday, and Holidays 9AM to 10PM
Admission free, skate rentals 5 euros

Eiffel Tower Rink- Till January 2
11AM to 9PM daily
Free for tower visitors

 

Holiday displays at the Place Vendome

Christmas Markets and Fairs

Shop, shop, shop till you drop and eat, eat, eat, till your tummy hurts at the fabulous Paris Christmas markets. Starting at the base of Place de la Concorde, the Champs Elysees has the largest market in the city brimming with great gifts, hot wine, Christmas ornaments, cotton candy, and much more. Inside the Grand Palais is a grand fair, Jours de Fetes, much like an old fashioned amusement park with a giant Ferris wheel, games of chance, and a carousel.

Champs Elysees Christmas Market till January 2
Jours de Fetes till January 2

Holiday Concerts

No Christmas holiday in Paris would be complete without classical music pouring out of the famed churches.
 
At Notre Dame
Tuesday, December 20, 8:30PM, Admission free - Christmas concert with organist Olivier Latry
Thursday, December 29, 8:30PM, Gregorian Chants Tickets 18 euros

At Saint Chapelle
December 17 to December 30, concerts at 6PM & 8PM
Various performances including Christmas Carols, Bach, Vivaldi, and Schubert

At Saint Sulpice
Thursday, December 29, 8:45PM –Mozart Requiem
http://www.classictic.com/en/Search/France/Paris/2011-12-15/0,0,0/page1.html

Christmas Magic in Paris

 

Christmas decor at Hermes in Paris

 

 

Richard Nahem, an ex-New Yorker living in Paris, leads private insider tours showing visitors the Paris most of them never see on their own (www.eyepreferparistours.com), and also writes a popular insider's blog www.eyepreferparis.com. 

From the fabled Champs Elysees to the Grand Magasins to the white neon Ferris wheel towering over the Place de la Concorde, Paris holds numerous holiday delights for all the senses.

The department and luxury stores have pulled out all the stops this year with glittering, gorgeous, and glorious window displays. Printemps transports us to Russia and its windows conjure up Russian fairy tales with a folkloric ball with dancers and musicians, a ride inspired by a carousel, and a game of hide-and-seek with giant matryoshka dolls that open and close. Fashion windows use giant Faberge eggs to reveal mannequins wearing evening gowns and crystal headdresses inspired by the crowns of tsarinas.

Next-door at Galeries Lafayette, happy and busy animated teddy bears, dolls, and rabbits in outfits by top labels and designers Jean Paul Gaultier, Kenzo, Marc by Marc, Maje, Manoush and Zadig & Voltaire are preparing for Christmas.

BHV department store has tapped avant-garde designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac to spice up their windows this year. He’s created a dramatic light show of fluorescent colored tubes changing colors second by second, along with the brightest neon sculptures.

Hermes never ceases to amaze us with its decadent, pure luxury. This season the windows are a tribute to Turkey with backgrounds of colorful ceramic tile walls from Isnik. The most sumptuous, print silk scarves, travel trunks made of ostrich, the famed Kelly bag in hot pink suede, and a tie made of crocodile are just some of the fabulous fashions adorning the voyage to Turkey.

 

An Eiffel Tower ice sculpture at Champs Elysees

The Champs Elysees tempts you with three special treats not to be missed. The largest outdoor Christmas market in Paris boasts over 150 festive stands with Christmas ornaments & decorations, gifts, ceramics, toys, jewelry, and hats, scarves, and gloves to keep you warm. You can indulge your appetite with hot mulled wine, home made donuts, cotton candy, and tartifllete, a most delicious French peasant dish of potatoes, cheese, and bacon. A very chilly exhibition Ice Magic has hand-carved ice sculptures of all the famous French monuments and icons including the Eiffel Tower, Rodin's Thinker, Notre Dame and its hunchback, Mona Lisa, the Hotel de Ville, Sacre Coeur, Django Reinhardt and of course, Santa Claus. Make sure you bundle up- it’s about 15 degrees inside.

Last but certainly not least is Le Grande Roue (the big wheel) covered in bright white lights, standing 197 feet above the Place de la Concorde. Climb on board for the ride of your life and see Paris from a whole new prospective.

 

 

The Le Grande Roue near Place de la Concorde

Printemps
64 Blvd. Haussmann,9th arr.
Metro: Havre Caumartin
Tel: 01 42 82 57 87
http://departmentstoreparis.printemps.com/index.aspx

Galeries Lafayette
40 Blvd. Haussmann, 9th arr.
Metro: Chaussée-d'Antin
Windows are lit from 9 a.m.-1 a.m. daily
www.galerieslafayette.com

Hermes
24 rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré, 8th arr.
Metro: Concorde
www.hermes.com

Paris: Shopping Tips from an Insider

Richard Nahem, an ex-New Yorker living in Paris, leads private insider tours showing visitors the Paris most of them never see on their own (www.eyepreferparistours.com), and also writes a popular insider's blog www.eyepreferparis.com.

Christmas in Paris this year seems more festive than usual. From the Champs Elysees with its trees dripping silver lights to the giant ferris wheel towering over the Place de Concorde, the city is awash with dazzling lights, magical window displays, and divinely decorated trees.

At Printemps this season, Karl Lagerfeld, the king of Paris fashion design, has transformed the windows into a Chanel fantasy. His theme is an animated marionette named Coco who dresses in a Chanel quilted suit and strolls through a garden with mystical flowers and plants. Hannah Macgibbon, head designer for Chloe, architects Jakob and Macfarlane and furniture designer Herve Van Straeten have also created windows with the theme of earth, air, and fire.

Down the boulevard, animated bunny rabbits dressed in red velvet jackets, babies floating on pillowed mushrooms, and hot pink furry chicks scaling wild rose printed trees grace the windows of Galeries Lafayette. Fashion windows have girls in white dresses, not so innocent as the ones in The Sound of Music, made of tulle trimmed with black velvet ribbons, instead of blue satin sashes.

Hermes, the ultimate luxury retailer, is ignoring the recession blues with its windows this holiday season. An India safari is the theme with rich oil paintings of crocodiles, elephants, and Bengal tigers, which are the perfect backdrop to show off the gray pearl-encrusted Kelly bag, copper high-top sneakers, espresso brown shearling overcoat, a juicy orange crocodile Birkin bag, and most decadent of all, a silver ostrich horse saddle.

Behind those fantasy facades, some bargains are lurking. French law states that stores cannot advertise sales before the official sale date of January 7. However, many stores get around this policy by having private or unannounced sales. At the chic specialty store Le Bon Marche, customers were sent an invitation to get 40 percent off most of its designer clothes. Many other popular boutiques such as Zadig & Voltaire and L’Eclaireur have already marked down selected merchandise 30-50 percent off. When you go into a shop, ask the sales staff if there is a private sale going on or any reductions and chances are the answer is yes.

To help you navigate the storm of the official sale on January 7, where shoppers will be practically breaking down the store doors, there’s an official site called Don’t Miss the Winter Soldes— with five itineraries designed for serial shoppers to best scoop up les bargains.

Happy bargain hunting and may the best shopper win the biggest bargains.

Store	Address	Telephone	Website
Printemps	64 Blvd. Haussmann, 75009	08 92 68 68 91	www.printemps.com
Galeries Lafayette	40 Blvd. Haussmann, 75009	01 42 82 34 56	www.galerieslafayette.com
Hermes	24 rue Faugourg St. Honore, 75008	01 40 17 47 09	www.hermes.com
Le Bon Marche	5 rue Babylone, 75007	01 42 22 05 63	www.treeslbm.com