Shopping on the Champs Elysees

Car showrooms with concept cars in the window, block-buster cinemas and a Hagen Daas Café have slightly lowered the tone of what I used to think of as the world’s most glamourous street. The view and the bright lights are just as dazzlingly perfect but some of the most wonderful stores have been driven out by companies who can pay higher rents – but don’t worry – the classy stores have just moved further down towards the Tuileries. Sephora, mecca of parfum is a highlight for the girls but it’s not like the boys will feel let out – as long as they like cars. The fashion is your standard blend of Gap upwards and people certainly aren’t dressing for the cinema or to sit in the sidewalk cafes as I hope that would in Paris – but maybe they’re just some of Paris’s many guests. Even so taking a stroll along the Champs Elysees still makes you feel, if not a million Francs, at least a million Euro, especially at night if you’re coming down from the Arc de Triomphe and you have the long wide road in front of you.