Historic Shop

This is an old and famous shop near the grands magasins in the boulevard Haussmann. I believe it originally sold articles actually made from tortoise shells (tortue means tortoise). It changed hands a number of times and was recently left empty for several years. Now a bakery store, part of a chain of fairly good bakeries called Paul, has moved into the premises. The facade has been left largely untouched; I suspect that the location is a national historical site, but I haven’t been able to locate any information on it. In any case, the facade is a pleasure to look at.

The little loaves of bread in the window displays are shaped like tortoises, although that is hard to see here.

Click directly on the photo to see a larger version (twice this size). Photographed on July 13, 1999.