Le Bon Marché and Paris's Department Stores

**Le Bon Marché**

It's time to pick up a few snacks at La Grande Épicerie de Paris, Le Bon Marché's food hall, and enjoy a picnic in the Luxembourg Gardens. Hefty guards stand at the door, which can feel intimidating, but they're actually very friendly, so take courage.

Le Bon Marché is the world's first modern department store, not just Paris's. Despite a name that means "good market" or "cheap shop," it's the only upscale department store on the Left Bank. It's owned by the group famous for Louis Vuitton, which explains the standout fashion hall across the street. It's known for its diagonal escalators and enormous glass ceiling, and Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame, reportedly took part in its construction. It collaborates with many artists and uses its floors like exhibition spaces, making it a leading venue for contemporary art projects. It also appears in the work of Émile Zola.

It runs La Grande Épicerie de Paris, which sells regional specialties alongside luxury brands, making it a good place to experience local wine and food culture. These days, more people come for the upscale food hall than for the department store itself. Butter, cheese, wine and chestnut jam are especially popular. For the picnic, we'll buy a little bread and fruit: a flat peach, a bunch of grapes and some chocolate, for example. And one very important thing: the restrooms are free and clean, so use them even if you don't need to.

**Galeries Lafayette**

Paris's department stores are appealing for their buildings and ornate, distinctive interiors alone, not just for shopping.

Galeries Lafayette is Paris's largest department store, famous above all for its large Art Nouveau dome and its Christmas tree. It carries everything from high-end luxury to mid-range brands, so it's an easy place for visitors to walk into. It runs various events; we recommend the mini fashion show, where you can play celebrity for a moment. There's also a free rooftop terrace with views of the Eiffel Tower and the Palais Garnier, though the tower looks about the size of your pinky nail.

**Printemps**

Printemps also has a rooftop terrace and restaurant with Eiffel Tower views and is popular as a free observation deck. More famous is its elegant, ornate Art Deco dome and window decoration. If you get the chance, compare its ceiling with Galeries Lafayette's: similar, but different.

**Buying fruit: the primeur and the marché**

You can't run to La Grande Épicerie de Paris every time, so here are two places to buy fresh, tasty fruit in Paris.

- **The primeur**: A small green fruit stand on the street. It's a bit pricier than the supermarket but much tastier, so buy your fruit here. Afterward, wash it at a water tap in a park. - **The marché**: Unless you're staying right in front of the Louvre or the Champs-Élysées, a morning market is held in your neighborhood once or twice a week. Besides fruit and vegetables, there's cheese, meat, fish and even simple meals, all fun to browse. Markets generally run from dawn to late morning. Eggplants and other produce in unfamiliar shapes and colors are fascinating and so fresh they make you want to buy, so even just looking is worthwhile.

**Directions**

Next is the Paris Foreign Missions Society chapel, which has close ties to Korean Catholicism. Follow the photos on screen and the in-app map. Head toward the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and keep going straight until you reach an intersection, then cross in your direction of travel. Obey the signals and cross carefully. The corner building is your destination, and the entrance is the second one in the direction you're walking. It takes about two minutes.