To kick off our series of reports about the 2008 Xmas illuminations in Paris, we went to the Printemps store around sundown (except there was no sun to be seen that day) to check out the great views over Paris, before going back down to street level and marvelling at their great animated window displays, always great…

photos: JasonW


Nightfall, late November. The Xmas decorations are already in place. Paris is sparkling even more than usual. The opera house and Eiffel Tower seem really close, the streets are colourful despite the grey weather. From the roof of Printemps the view is as amazing and the lights are everywhere…



A giant igloo has been installed for… what? Something to do with children? For us, it remained dishearteningly closed, so we go down and raise our spirits with the famous Xmas window displays. This year, the front of the building is being renovated, so no big son-et-lumière like there was last year. Remember?

This year the theme is black and the ‘fashion’ windows really work it to the max, whereas the animated displays still have a touch of colour. The kids we saw looking at them were amazed, of course…








You can see our photos in the mini-slideshow below, but to get the proper effect we advise you to take a quick look at the sparkling Flickr gallery!!!