The poor ratio of dollar to euro has put a damper on my shopping in Paris. I did a lot of pre-looking in NY before leaving.

Designer items like Chanel, Prada, Dior are just about the same price in the US. However, some European brands like Longchamps and Furla handbags are still a lot less here. Petite

Bateau tee shirts are still a big bargain - sure they're up to $14. when they used to be $10. but they're still $30. in the US. In Galeries Lafayette, they are having a 3 day promotion where many items in the store are 20-30% off.......that's extremely unusual. Parisian business is down and since the introduction of the euro, prices are up 10-20% for Parisians too, so they're not happy either.

However, I'm not letting it sway my eating or other activities like museum going. The weather here has been glorious so I'll walk a little more and save the metro fare and spend it on another coffee, which has gone up in price since my last visit 10 months ago. It's now averaging 3.50 euro ($4.40 approx) from about 2.75 euro last spring.

Spring in Paris.......I can't complain. :-)

Candice, Paris this week