Day 6 in Paris: Opera, Perfume and Fashion!

In the 2nd arrondissement, there are many covered passages. Within these passages, you will find a variety of shops selling food, souvenirs, antiques and so forth. We started off by exploring Passage des Panoramas, Passage Jouffroy and Passage des Princes. In these passages or covered arcades, you will find lots of small shops selling all sorts of unique goods which would make good souvenirs. However, our favourite was definitely the Village Joué Club which is located at 3/5 Boulevard des Italiens. This village consists of 15 different shops with toys catering to all ages. Even adults will enjoy visiting this place!

From here, we then headed towards Opéra Garnier, which is most famous for the story of the Phantom of the Opera! You can pay to watch a show here, or just pay for a tour. At the side entrance, you can enter a shop selling CDs of opera or ballet performances and other memorabilia. This shop is open to the public and from here, you can get a glimpse of the interior of this majestic opera house.

Although Lafayette is very close to the Opera, we did not head there yet. Instead, as it was still early, we ventured to the Theatre-Musee des Capucines instead. Look out for the signboard with its name as the shop or museum itself is located deeper inside the alley. Here, you will find a small shop dedicated to fragrances.

Once we opened the doors, we were hit by the strong, fragrant scents. At the top floor, you can see exhibits on scents, just like the one in my photo above and a distilling apparatus for making perfume. Close by, is the Fragonard Museum, which is also dedicated to perfume. However, we did not have the time to visit this museum.

A few weeks before coming to Paris, I had sent an email to Galeries Lafayette in order to book places for their weekly fashion show. It was a chance that was too good to miss as it is free and Paris, is well-renowned for la mode (fashion in French). The fashion show starts at 3pm every Friday and lasts for about 30 minutes.

As it was our last day in Paris, we decided to splurge by having high tea at Angelina Cafe. There is a branch at Jardin des Tuileries too. However, we tried the one within Galeries Lafayette. We ordered hot chocolate which was plain awesome. As we were a group of 3, we also decided to order a few different types of macalons (long versions of macarons as shown in the photo) instead as we would then be able to try the different flavours.

After high tea, we then visited Printemps which is another departmental store located nearby. To continue shopping, you can also proceed to C&A which is located in the same area too! If you are looking for unique souvenirs, you can purchase macarons from Laduree. After a tiring last day, it was time to rest as we had an early flight to catch the next day. We said "au revoir" to Paris for now but we will be back again someday!