When my sister said that we were going to go to a department store, I thought to myself "Oh great; another mall!" You have no idea how wrong I was. Galeries Lafayette is a department store disguised as a royal palace. Everything about it makes you think you’re in some kind of French mansion; starting with the decorative glass dome. The glass dome is simply beautiful; designed by Ferdinand Chanut in 1912. If you want to see what I am talking about, view the photos attached to this journal. The easiest way to get to Galeries Lafayette is by taking the Metro and getting off at either Havre-Caumartin or Opéra. For all you men out there who are tired and don’t want to spend an entire day following a woman inside the department store, I have the solution! Galeries Lafayette has a little bit of something for everyone. For example, when I visited with my family, the males and the females split apart. All the females in the family went off looking for shoes and makeup while the male members of the family went off to the sports section. To be more specific, the stores at Galeries Lafayette stretch from Adidas to Chanel. If you want to see the complete list of stores and a map of Galeries Lafayette you can do so by going to their homepage www.galerieslafayette.com, then simply just click on the Store Guide tab located to the left of the screen.

Hungry? Get a quick bite to eat at one of the many restaurants Galeries Lafayette offers. Galeries Lafayette provides many different choices when it comes to eating; they have something as simple as a McDonald’s to as fancy as a Japanese Restaurant. Although vacations are meant for relaxation, sometimes people get stressed out about visiting every little monument in a city; that’s what Galeries Lafayette is for, relaxation. In conclusion, Galeries Lafayette is an amazing experience from the artistic style of it to the services it offers; and remember if you ever need a break from all running around in the city; Galeries Lafayette is the perfect place to unwind.

Galeries Lafayette is the most prestigious and exquisite department store in Paris. Renowned for its jaw-dropping window displays, your hopes are fulfilled before even entering its doors.

Classified as an historic monument because of its 33 metre-high glass decorated dome, tourists and locals pile up to enjoy a taste of shopping heaven.

Inside an endless succession of fashion, shoes and accessories cover 10 floors. The ground floor, is a dream world of cosmetics, jewelry and handbags. One floor up and you begin your exploration of international women’s fashion, with brand names like Gucci, Chloe, Diesel, Zara, Ralph Lauren and a distinctive emphasis on upcoming designers. The store is well-known for its support of French fashion designers like Christian Dior, Chanel, Comme des Garcon, Tara Jarmon and Jean Paul Gaultier (who has his Philippe Starck designed concept store here).

The distinctive difference with this department store is that the apparel is segmented by the customer’s personality and not their age or buying power, they are made to feel comfortable on each fashion floor (basically, by the displaying of the more expensive brands next to the more affordable). The first floor is intended to show vibrant, ready-to-wear labels. The second, a more classic feel with sportswear and urban collections. The third floor introduces seductive fashion.

Keeping the entire family in mind, you will find children’s fashion on the fifth floor (look for Baby Dior, Petit Bateau and baby Bjorn), an adjacent building houses stylish menswear and sportswear. Directly across the street "Lafayette Maison" is 10,000 square metres entirely dedicated to home decoration and gourmet delights. With 12 restaurants to choose from, including Maxim’s and Le Laurie, the appetite you work up whilst shopping will be suitably filled.

No matter when you visit, there’s always something happening at Galeries Lafayette. From daily fashion shows at "Salon Opera" (on the 7th floor), to creative exhibits, designer competitions, make-up workshops and cooking classes, it truly proves to be a shopping Mecca.

As far as shopping goes, Galeries Lafayette is wonderful, especially in February and August, when European stores have big sales. This is the perfect place to buy the things women want to buy when visiting Paris, make-up and lingerie. The staff here is beyond helpful in French and English. Almost everyone who visits Galeries Lafayette leaves having found much more than they expected.

For the premier shopping experience in Paris, one must definitely head over to Galeries Lafayette. The Galeries has everything! No joke, you can basically find any designer you want, all in their store. During the holidays, the store is decorated nicely with Christmasy-type things. The store offers four types of shopping: very high-end luxury goods; men's clothing (high-end or average-priced); more urban, younger, hipper clothes found in Lafayette VO; and normal women's clothes. The store is incredibly huge, and just looking at things are interesting enough. Anyone interested in fashion should just look at all the designers' newest collections just to appreciate them. The men's store (which I shopped at) is not in the same building as the women's clothes; it has its own separate building, which has numerous floors. One has some high-end stuff, the next floor has food, and after that there is another floor carrying average-priced clothing. The final floor of the men's store houses the "shop-in-shop" stores. In here you can find incredibly rare designer stuff by Dior Homme, Dsquared, Rykiel Homme, etc. Overall, for anyone who has an urge to splurge on something in Paris, this could be your place. They make shopping easy too by doing currency exchange and duty-free affairs in the store, and the staff at the "shop-in-shop" stores is very helpful.

Au Printemps is a similar store, but carries other designer labels and has a somewhat different stock. It's basically the equivalent to the Galeries, but housed in a different building. The nice thing about Printemps is that you can pay in US dollars, and they do the conversion just in case you need to save some Euros. Printemps is divided into women, home, and men sections, all of which carry a plethora of goods. Both Printemps offer runway shows showcasing the newest fashions.

Just to inform people as well, there is an H&M right next to Printemps, and for anyone who is unfamiliar with H&M, they sell really nice clothes for really, really cheap, and most of it looks like designer stuff.

Avenure Montaigne is one of Paris' luxury streets. The Champs Elysees is famous as well but only has one really high-end boutique, Louis Vuitton, which everyone should actually go visit, as they redesigned the store and it is very posh now. Avenue Montaigne is where all the real expensive stores are. To name a few, there is Fendi, Chanel, Calvin Klein, Nina Ricci, Jimmy Choo, Dior, Dior Homme, Emilio Pucci, and many others. The street is very empty because everyone is on Champs Elysees, but if you're relatively interested in spoiling yourself, there is no better place to do it than on this street.

Keep in mind that everything is expensive. I saw a nice pair of Versace pants that were 6,000 euros--about $7,000 USD. Don’t expect to find U.S. mall staples like Dillards, Abercrombie, or a pretzel maker; this is the big time. Galleries Lafayette is not for the faint of heart or lack of funds. This place is for the uber-rich. It's for people who can drop a couple grand in a few hours. It was a great place to see, but because my last name is not Hilton, I had no intention of spending money here. Every brand of makeup you could imagine--shoes from every designer you’ve seen in Cosmo, personal shoppers, and there’s even a Build-A-Bear store on the fifth floor.

The mall also boasts a huge gourmet food store within it that has several restaurants, bars and deli/pastry counters, not to mention THE best chocolate croissants I’ve ever had. They also offer cooking classes.

Located in the heart of Paris’ shopping district, Galleries is a must-see. Even if you don’t purchase anything, it’s great for window-shopping and wishing.

The store clerks are mostly aspiring models, so they are a sight to behold as well. With everything from electronics to Chanel, it's a great day to spend a rainy day in Paris. It's like no other shopping on earth!