The Rue de Passy

The Rue de Passy   The Metro La Muette spat me out right at the start of the long, commercial street, good for any self-respecting tourist who wants to be relieved of money, and also for anybody interested in checking out some Art Nouveau facades. I was tempted to head straight down Rue de l’Annonciation at Pl. de Passy, a short way along, because I knew that it would lead me straight to Balzac’s place, but I decided to check out this street first. I gawped through the windows of the haute couture boutiques and major stores and looked at the suckers inside. For women with money, this was heaven on earth; for the men linked helplessly to them, being dragged around and possibly paying for the privilege, it must have been similar to death by a thousand cuts. I turned on my heels and headed back after looking through a shop window and seeing a price list for some very ordinary looking faded jeans, whose collection was called ‘Citizens Of Humanity,’ and whose prices ranged from 186 – 245 euros. I stood there laughing, and the woman inside the store started laughing, too. “Citizens of the planet Gazump, more like,” I thought.