It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

My mum was in Paris last week. :) She has been here many times but never during Christmas time. I can tell you that in Helsinki the Christmas decorations are beautiful but simple and modest, we have illluminations on our main shopping street and the biggest department store decorates one window in Santa Claus style that children can admire. But it's nothing compared to Paris, that's why my mum wanted to come here (well I guess she also wanted to see me). In Paris Christmas is everywhere and we, the perfect tourists, made the most of it.



Starting from our favorite shop, Sephora in Christmas style. My mum loves Sephora as much as I do so no suprise that once again we came out from the shop with a big bag full of little something we found...

This time we bought mostly Christmas presents, for exemple for me. :) Santa is bringing me the perfume I was hoping for and so that I'd be able to wait until Christmas, the nice salesman gave me a small sample and this bag.  

Galeries Lafayette is amazing this year. One side of it's windows are decorated in "Disney Princesses" -theme with a big shop window for Snow White, Belle, Cinderella and Rapunzel and inside you'll find a big Cinderella's carriage. It's really magic, I was thrilled and I'm sure little girls are going crazy.

The other side of Galeries Lafayette shop windows are decorated by Louis Vuitton. The animations were impressive with a giant dancing panda, drummers, cancan-dancers and much more. In one window they have even created a winter ball with dancing dolls in beautiful dresses.

And the most unbelievable of all, something that amazes me every year: the giant, sparkling Swarovski Christmas three. I wonder how they have managed to hang it up there...

Printemps was not as spectacular as Galeries Lafayette but they had smaller Christmas threes everywhere, decorated in light pink, really beautiful and classy. Their shop window theme is "Ispirations Parisiennes", created by Dior.

We walked from Opéra to Place Vendôme and spotted for example Tiffany's Christmas lights that were so bright and sparkling that I didn't get a good photo. This area is full of luxorious five star hotels so we peeked into some of them and seriously, the entrance lobbies have been transformed into Christmas wonderlands.

Shopping on Saturday was almost impossible. We tried to be early and started from La Défense (I'm so happy I didn't have to work!) but when we got to rue de Rivoli in the afternoon, there we so many people that even walking on the street was a challenge not to mention going into the shops. So we gave up quite soon. But I liked BHV's decorations too.

Paris has really gone crazy, even some metro entrances are decorated. I think that's maybe a little too much..

This is from Belleville where went for dinner

Saturday night we did one more touristic thing: Champs Elysées in Christmas style. It was like being in an amusement park with all the attractions, lights and music. There is a Christmas market where they sell anything you can imagine (related to Christmas or not) and even an ice skating rink.

"La Roue de Paris" at Concorde

In almost every corner you can buy "vin chaud", hot wine that is a bit like Glögi, a Finnish hot drink we drink during Christmas time.

Avenue des Champs Elysées

I decided to have some Christmas decorations on my own too. And what would waiting for Christmas be without an advent calendar (with chocolate of course)...

Happy Christmas time everyone! if you're in Paris and want to do the "absolute Christmas tour", now you know where to go. But remember, wherever you go, you're never alone (exept if you go see the shop windows at 5am like M did...) so be patient and don't even try to do shopping after 3 o'clock in the afternoon. ;)

xoxo: Emi