Walk 9: Follow the Money: Palais Royal, Bourse, Covered Passages

Imagine a nightmare that consists entirely of you, walking past rows and rows of windows, each filled with beautiful, precious, antique, and extraordinary items, all of which you want, and none of which you could ever hope to be able to buy. Welcome to window shopping in Paris.

Le Louvre des antiquaires is one of the most expensive collections of antiques in Paris, and I had to go there for this walk and be tormented by all of the exquisite pieces. Sigh.

On to the Palais Royal, just outside the Louvre, where members of the royal court were housed under Louis XIII. The columns were added in 1986. They remind me of the Audrey Hepburn version of "My Fair Lady."


It was shortly after this shot was taken that Richard, Chelsea, and I happened upon the filming of an Angelina Jolie movie that will be called "The Tourists." We stayed and gawked for several minutes, trying to see through the gobs of cameramen and extras. I'm pretty sure I saw her arm... Then, crossing the street, we were stopped by a news crew and interviewed about being tourists in Paris. C'est cool, non?

The Bourse (Paris' version of Wall Street) I had to save for another day because, after our Jolie/newscrew shenanigans, we were running out of time to get to class.

Let me just say this: Paris is full of surprises. Here, you can turn a corner, innocently, only to find that you're less than a block away from the Eiffel Tower, or get lost and end up coming across something better than you were originally trying to find. It is a beautiful, mysterious city and, in it, you can't help but feel like a beautifully mysterious person.