I've been meaning to get a picture up of this year's Galeries Lafayette light display ever since I saw it two weeks ago. The picture, of course, in no way does it justice. Click on it anyway just to get a hint of how awesome it is.
I went back to Galeries Lafayette to do some last-minute shopping (aka all of it). They have set up moving-puppet window scenes for little kids all along the enormous storefront. Crowds of them stand entranced in front of each different scene while parents try to push them along to finish their Christmas shopping. Galeries Lafayette has put out kid-sized elevated walkways in front of the windows so that the little ones can press their noses against the glass watching the puppets at eye-level. Some parents, to avoid the crowds of enchanted kids, put their children up on their shoulders. Just like at a rock concert.
In general, the City of Lights becomes even more so at Christmas time. The Champs-Elysees is always guarenteed to look festive and - usually - beautiful (the exception was in '99, when somebody thought of putting what looked like mosquito nets over all the trees and then lighting them from the inside; the end effect was, well, a lit mosquito net-lined avenue). The department stores decorate in tune to the the Christmas carols and the Important Governmental Buildings show off their importance via their trees and light displays. The whole city is made over in a Parisian version of the friendly (?) competition between neighbors for Best Christmas Lights in American suburbs - particularly snowy ones.
But never have I been as impressed as I was by year's Galeries Lafayette. This isn't my picture. I was there again this morning (camera in tow) and you know what? Lights are more interesting at night. But the entire store is made into a church with stained-glass windows. It just doesn't come across on the screen. But if you want to see the full, complicated story - in pictures - of how they did it, go to galerieslafayette.com and click on the girl sitting on the moon. You can take it from there.