Everyday, thousands of tourists stop in front of Paris department stores’ galleries, admiring French know-how through handcrafted puppets and Santa.
In the heart of Paris, between the sound of cars and the background noise of thousands of tourists, there’s this avenue where it seems like you are going to another world. Along Boulevard Haussmann, the famous department store Printemps has transformed its gallery windows into the magic of Christmas. John from Australia has never seen anything like this before.
John : « It represents both Paris and Christmas, the best Christmas, shopfront illuminations anywhere in the world« .
A few meters away, there is this 9-year-old girl, with stars moving inside her eyes, Andrea, looking at those animated dolls and this giant Christmas tree made of glossy paper.
Andrea : « To me, it represents the imagination and the happiness of, like, Christmas and coming to Paris. And it, like, represents a part of Paris« .
Five minutes walk away, we arrive at the magnificent windows of Galeries Lafayette, that Janice is looking at. This retired woman is observing the puppets moving from top to bottom. She proves that Christmas animations are not a matter of age, she came to Paris with her husband to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
Janice : « This one is absolutely beautiful. It’s so sparkly and twinkly and, well, just amazing the amount of effort that’s gone in to make to animate these, puppets. It’s wonderful«
Our Christmas shop window store continues at the famous Samaritaine department store. A few blocks away from the Louvre, Dennis stares at the gallery window, where a center made of crystal shines in front of dozens of people, and seems to analyze the work behind the show.
Dennis : « I think each individual has done a separate thing on their own ideas, and that is lovely on its own. I believe that every country has its own way of doing things, and we just like the way they do it here« .
Our tour ends with Béatrice, who comes from Switzerland. The absolute fan of Parisian Christmas windows has been visiting Paris for years and regrets a little bit the old times.
Béatrice : « I visited Walt Disney before, characters had big eyes, and now they are very modern, strict and cute, like humans. But it’s still nice that they do it. I mean, we don’t have it in Switzerland« .
Everyone agrees on this, if you need to take five minutes to dream and feel like you are living in another world, go to the department stores ! You won’t be disappointed.
Pierre-Olivier Dentan