A Memorable French Purchase

So what would I choose to bring back with me as a reminder of this trip to France? Would it be a beautiful Hermes scarf (discounted in the city where Hermes is located - Lyon)? Or perhaps it might be a fanciful pair of shoes. Oooo, la la! Well, let me tell you about my dark glasses named Jim.

Maui Jim. You've heard of this brand. I actually started the trip with my relatively inexpensive pair of polaroid glasses from Costco but accidentally left them in a bathroom while visiting the Roman acquaduct in the city of Nimes. Being light-sensitive, all I could think of, besides how stupid I was to leave my glasses behind, was "I gotta get another pair to wear in all this sunshine!"

Our next stop was the city of Lyon. Bingo! I should find something reasonable there. So Clay and I went out to shop. Notice I include Clay? If you know his shopping style, it's like this: Think laser beam seeking out and zeroing in on its target. ZAP! Gotcha. Well, that's pretty much how it was. We were walking and looking for places that sell dark glasses.

In the US, you can find dark glasses in drug stores, in department stores, in boutiques. France is another story. Drug stores sell...drugs (the legal kind). I never did see a department store, even in France although I'm sure they exist. All that left were the expensive optician stores. These are the kinds that make and fit you with custom lenses and frames while selling higher end dark glasses on the side.

I tried explaining that to Clay who had already zeroed in on the dark glass display. Don't worry about the price; just get it and let's go. So who was I to argue? The first pair I tried on, the MJ's, fit like a glove. I started to ask about the price but was again waved off by Mr. Let's Get Outta Here. So, one of the employees started fitting it to my face, twisting the earpieces and tweaking the nose pieces. She asked me, "Do you know about the Maui Jim brand?", to which I replied, "Huh?" and Clay more intelligently answered, "Yes, we have them in the States." That seemed to please the gal who I now think was really asking if we realized how much it was gonna cost us.

After running his credit card, signing the slip and gathering up the fancy case with glasses, we left the store. I think we were probably inside for all of 20 min.

Later on in the hotel, I heard Clay chuckle. "How much do you think the glasses were?" he asked casually? "I don't know. How much was it?", I replied. "Well, the receipt says it cost (and here I don't have the exact figure so I'm gonna make something up but it'll be close) 340 euro which translated to $450 or something like that. I just about gagged but Clay was a good sport about it, acknowledging that he did say to not worry about the price. We just didn't think it would cost THAT much.

Moral of the story: God created a head for the express purpose of holding things like glasses so they don't get left behind on trips.

Oh, and these glasses are now stored away in a safe spot where I don't have to worry about losing 'em.