
Paris stimulates the senses, demanding to be seen, heard, touched, tasted and smelt. From romance along the Seine to landscapes on bus-sized canvases to the pick-an-ism types in cafes monologuing on the use of garlic or the finer points of Jerry Lewis, Paris is the essence of all things French.
Lavinia is Europe's largest wine and spirits store, with a deadly choice of 1000 spirits and 2000 wines from 43 countries, including 3000 French wines. Founders Thierry Servant and Pascal Chevrot have chosen to open their biggest venture yet in Paris, after testing the water with smaller stores in Madrid and Barcelona.
Napoleon's grand symbol of military victory has ironically been used twice as a shaming ground for crushing French defeats: in 1871 by the Prussians and in 1914 by the Germans. Nonetheless, this grandiloquent marble arch proudly crowns the Champs-Elysees and sits on the city's most important axis, La Voie Triomphale.