Paris Shopping

Anyone who’s lived in Paris during the month of December knows what a nightmarish experience Christmas gift-hunting can be. The city’s hot and crowded department stores all have mile-long, stressful queues. Fortunately the Internet is about to change some of that. Xmas 1999 saw record numbers of Americans opting for a saner way to purchase presents, and that trend is expected to impact this country beginning this year. As our lifestyle shifts from one century’s “physical presence” to the new millennium’s virtual encounter, we take you on a short online tour of cyber yuletide shopping, all the while remaining aware that many “low tech-ers” still prefer the cash and carry experience.

ONLINE
’Tis the season to pig out and be merry. Almost anything you can buy in a brick and mortar store is available in an e-boutique, starting with gourmet food and drink. Hypergourmet.com proffers a plethora of goodies ranging from Valrhona dark chocolates and foie gras to truffles, caviar and exotic vinegars. In addition there are holiday suggestions including a variety of gift baskets. At foiegras.fr you can order pâtés and potted meats, preserved duck stuffed with foie gras, duck in orange sauce and braised quail with grapes, plus a Sauterne wine to wash it all down. As if that weren’t enough, a hop and a skip away is Parisian candy store, roy.fr where you can choose from handmade chocolates, florentines, chocolate-coated orange strips, crystallized fruits, soft candied chestnuts, nougatine, truffles, Jordan almonds and much more. If the recipient lives in Paris, the delivery is made inside four hours. Order any one of 220 wines, champagnes and spirits from your favorite wine store’s website, nicolas-wines.com, which delivers within 48 hours.
Shopping for non-perishable gifts is just as easy. Log onto fnac.com where you can order records, books, CDs, electronics, computers and gadgets. Hot this year are three megapixel digital cameras: in particular the award-winning fully-featured Nikon 990 (9,900F). It takes incredible photos, and its manual modes and optional lens provide greater control over the digital picture-taking process. The two other award-winning cameras “in the news” are the Kodak 4800 (7,990F) and the Olympus 3030 (8,990F). Internet music channels are hot and so are digital audio players. Music buffs will be dreaming of Sony’s NWE 3 system (2,790F). It’s the size of a Bic lighter and runs 74 minutes of downloaded music. Surcouf also has an online store (surcouf.fr) where you can order a broad range of computers including the gorgeous Graphite edition G3-466 Powerbook (15,990F), peripherals, phones, software, consumables and, of course, computerized and electronic gadgets and gizmos. Darty.com sells 4,000 of its products online. For instance, stereo equipment and computers.
At jouetonline.com there are 1,500 toys and games for sale, for children of all ages: from CD Roms to electronic games, box and card games, generation Y clothes... to dolls and cuddly animals. The same thing holds true at ellitoys.com where the selection is large and you can also select categories according to the type of toy you’re looking for (blocks, educational games, arts & crafts and puppets, even outdoor equipment such as swings and slides). Odile de Langalerie’s 123famille.fr is both an online toystore and a magazine with reviews of children’s films and books. Featured here are 250 toys in the 100F price range. Laredoute.fr offers one-stop shopping for the whole family and the home. From togs to toys...

OFFLINE
The coolest gadget of all times is the Casio “Camera Watch” (1,950F) and it’s available at L’Homme Moderne (Passy Plaza, 53 rue de Passy, 16e). Enough to make Dick Tracy turn green with envy, this little wonder has a 2 x 2cm screen and takes up to 100 black and white photos before you need to download them into your PC. While it doesn’t rival anyone’s megapixel digital camera (picture quality is somewhat grainy), it will light up the eyes of any gadget guy or gal. You can also name your pictures, or add phone numbers to the photos.

A Cultural Experience
Situated within in the Carrousel du Louvre (99 rue du Rivoli, Paris 1er), La Boutique du Metropolitan Museum has numerous items sure to please any art lover. There are books, jewelry, posters and small gifts often inspired by past exhibitions... Particularly worthy of notice are the items from the “Tiffany lamp” collection including a 10 by 15 inch-square stained-glass panel (from 995F) and a scarf with a similar hand painted pattern (about 690F). Nearby, within the Carrousel, is Flammarion 4. a store also filled with a multiplicity of tasteful items with an artistic connection. A T-shirt with a printed image by a mainstream painter costs only 145F (children’s sizes, 125F). What about a colorful Niki de Saint-Phalle bandana, a Monet mouse pad or an address book with a Magritte print on the cover?

Exotic Christmas
Getting into the holiday spirit is easy when you step into a Cèdre Rouge store (par exemple, 25 rue Duphot, 8e.) A very oriental ambience... There are two floors, filled with gift possibilities, as well as all kinds of terrific items to help you prepare your home for Santa. Starting at 110F, sparkling tabletop Christmas trees are on display alongside frosted crab apple garlands (70F), wreaths (145F) and gold-wrapped candles (15F). There are lots of colorful and exotic decorations (beginning at 35F for an Asian brocaded bauble) as well as tableware, glassware and furnishings. (790F is the premier prix for Venetian lamps.)
Climb the stairs to L’Entrepôt (50 rue Passy, 16e) and suddenly you’ll feel transported to the Far East. You could spend all day weaving your way through the store’s treasures. Among these: fancy frames (from 90F), unusual greeting cards (from 15F), Christmas ornaments (starting at 35F), gold-rimmed glassware (60F per glass) and dishes, along with glittery chunky silver serving forks. All of this amid alpaca (1,150F) or hand knitted sweaters, old-fashioned flannel bathrobes (1,545F)... And, a profusion of dainty bed linen, such as comfy silk-quilted bed throws (1m90 x 2m), for a mere 1,950F.
Kid’s stuff
The French counterpart to Toy’s R Us, La Grande Récré (Passy Plaza, 53 rue de Passy, 16e, tel: 01 42 30 52 02) has two levels, positively choked with toys and games, beginning with Sony Playstations, Game Boys, Nintendo and CD Roms for the computer. Downstairs is paradise to a small child's eyes, as the aisles are stacked from floor to ceiling with nearly every toy, doll, game, car, robot and box game in town.




		cybersitings \| shopping

				Online, offline by Carol Mongo New millenium Xmas shopping... Anyone who’s lived in Paris during the month of December knows what a nightmarish experience Christmas gift-hunting can be. The city’s hot and crowded department stores all have mile-long, stressful queues. Fortunately the Internet is about to change some of that. Xmas 1999 saw record numbers of Americans opting for a saner way to purchase presents, and that trend is expected to impact this country beginning this year. As our lifestyle shifts from one century’s “physical presence” to the new millennium’s virtual encounter, we take you on a short online tour of cyber yuletide shopping, all the while remaining aware that many “low tech-ers” still prefer the cash and carry experience. ONLINE ’Tis the season to pig out and be merry. Almost anything you can buy in a brick and mortar store is available in an e-boutique, starting with gourmet food and drink. Hypergourmet.com proffers a plethora of goodies ranging from Valrhona dark chocolates and foie gras to truffles, caviar and exotic vinegars. In addition there are holiday suggestions including a variety of gift baskets. At foiegras.fr you can order pâtés and potted meats, preserved duck stuffed with foie gras, duck in orange sauce and braised quail with grapes, plus a Sauterne wine to wash it all down. As if that weren’t enough, a hop and a skip away is Parisian candy store, roy.fr where you can choose from handmade chocolates, florentines, chocolate-coated orange strips, crystallized fruits, soft candied chestnuts, nougatine, truffles, Jordan almonds and much more. If the recipient lives in Paris, the delivery is made inside four hours. Order any one of 220 wines, champagnes and spirits from your favorite wine store’s website, nicolas-wines.com, which delivers within 48 hours. Shopping for non-perishable gifts is just as easy. Log onto fnac.com where you can order records, books, CDs, electronics, computers and gadgets. Hot this year are three megapixel digital cameras: in particular the award-winning fully-featured Nikon 990 (9,900F). It takes incredible photos, and its manual modes and optional lens provide greater control over the digital picture-taking process. The two other award-winning cameras “in the news” are the Kodak 4800 (7,990F) and the Olympus 3030 (8,990F). Internet music channels are hot and so are digital audio players. Music buffs will be dreaming of Sony’s NWE 3 system (2,790F). It’s the size of a Bic lighter and runs 74 minutes of downloaded music. Surcouf also has an online store (surcouf.fr) where you can order a broad range of computers including the gorgeous Graphite edition G3-466 Powerbook (15,990F), peripherals, phones, software, consumables and, of course, computerized and electronic gadgets and gizmos. Darty.com sells 4,000 of its products online. For instance, stereo equipment and computers. At jouetonline.com there are 1,500 toys and games for sale, for children of all ages: from CD Roms to electronic games, box and card games, generation Y clothes... to dolls and cuddly animals. The same thing holds true at ellitoys.com where the selection is large and you can also select categories according to the type of toy you’re looking for (blocks, educational games, arts & crafts and puppets, even outdoor equipment such as swings and slides). Odile de Langalerie’s 123famille.fr is both an online toystore and a magazine with reviews of children’s films and books. Featured here are 250 toys in the 100F price range. Laredoute.fr offers one-stop shopping for the whole family and the home. From togs to toys... OFFLINE The coolest gadget of all times is the Casio “Camera Watch” (1,950F) and it’s available at L’Homme Moderne (Passy Plaza, 53 rue de Passy, 16e). Enough to make Dick Tracy turn green with envy, this little wonder has a 2 x 2cm screen and takes up to 100 black and white photos before you need to download them into your PC. While it doesn’t rival anyone’s megapixel digital camera (picture quality is somewhat grainy), it will light up the eyes of any gadget guy or gal. You can also name your pictures, or add phone numbers to the photos. A Cultural Experience Situated within in the Carrousel du Louvre (99 rue du Rivoli, Paris 1er), La Boutique du Metropolitan Museum has numerous items sure to please any art lover. There are books, jewelry, posters and small gifts often inspired by past exhibitions... Particularly worthy of notice are the items from the “Tiffany lamp” collection including a 10 by 15 inch-square stained-glass panel (from 995F) and a scarf with a similar hand painted pattern (about 690F). Nearby, within the Carrousel, is Flammarion 4. a store also filled with a multiplicity of tasteful items with an artistic connection. A T-shirt with a printed image by a mainstream painter costs only 145F (children’s sizes, 125F). What about a colorful Niki de Saint-Phalle bandana, a Monet mouse pad or an address book with a Magritte print on the cover? Exotic Christmas Getting into the holiday spirit is easy when you step into a Cèdre Rouge store (par exemple, 25 rue Duphot, 8e.) A very oriental ambience... There are two floors, filled with gift possibilities, as well as all kinds of terrific items to help you prepare your home for Santa. Starting at 110F, sparkling tabletop Christmas trees are on display alongside frosted crab apple garlands (70F), wreaths (145F) and gold-wrapped candles (15F). There are lots of colorful and exotic decorations (beginning at 35F for an Asian brocaded bauble) as well as tableware, glassware and furnishings. (790F is the premier prix for Venetian lamps.) Climb the stairs to L’Entrepôt (50 rue Passy, 16e) and suddenly you’ll feel transported to the Far East. You could spend all day weaving your way through the store’s treasures. Among these: fancy frames (from 90F), unusual greeting cards (from 15F), Christmas ornaments (starting at 35F), gold-rimmed glassware (60F per glass) and dishes, along with glittery chunky silver serving forks. All of this amid alpaca (1,150F) or hand knitted sweaters, old-fashioned flannel bathrobes (1,545F)... And, a profusion of dainty bed linen, such as comfy silk-quilted bed throws (1m90 x 2m), for a mere 1,950F. Kid’s stuff The French counterpart to Toy’s R Us, La Grande Récré (Passy Plaza, 53 rue de Passy, 16e, tel: 01 42 30 52 02) has two levels, positively choked with toys and games, beginning with Sony Playstations, Game Boys, Nintendo and CD Roms for the computer. Downstairs is paradise to a small child's eyes, as the aisles are stacked from floor to ceiling with nearly every toy, doll, game, car, robot and box game in town.
		Powerbook



		Kodak's 4800
		Nikon's Coolpix
		Sony's MP3 player