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I never heard of Galerie Vivienne until Hoa showed me these pictures. Galerie Vivienne is located between the Bourse and Palais-Royale. Home to interesting luxury shops such as Jean Paul Gaultier, the lovely tea room, A Priori, and to the and cave LeGrand, a wonderful wine shops. Originally, the Galerie Vivienne was a passage to protect pedestrians from mud and horse-drawn vehicles in the 19th century and then turned into indoor shopping center by the mid 1900. There used to be over one hundred passages but today only twenty or so of these passages and galeries remain. For decades they were left to crumble and decay, but many have been renovated and restored to their former glory. Their entrances are very small and easy to miss, but once you are in the Galerie it can be quite a surprise as you will below.

The entrance of the Galerie Vivienne from the 5 ,rue de la Banque.

Like I said above, it is really small and easy to miss.

The door step as you walking in the Galerie

A Priori Thé, one of the most celebrated tea rooms in Paris since its debut in 1980, is owned by U.S. expat Margaret Gilbert-Hancock. Open daily for breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea, the offerings are of the highest quality, and booking is recommended. There are entrances from the street as well as from inside the

Legrand Filles et Fils wine shop
Look for the bright red Belle Epoque facade of this renown wineshop. Inside the ceiling is covered in corks! Francine Legrand, the daughter of the late Lucien, has a passion for little known wines from the south of France. I was told not to hesitate to ask for her recommendations.

Close look at the lamps on the ceiling.

Stores and restaurants inside the Galerie. The walkway way is narrow because it was originally conceive as passage.

A quaint little bistro! so lovely to look at!

Another small restaurant... Interesting that they display empty bottles of wine on their window sill

Meeting up with Chi Thu for lunch in front of La bourse.

La bourse de Paris is the Paris stock Exchange or known as Euronext Paris from 2000 and onwards.

Hoa ordered a canard confit with French fries. Hoa was so disappointed that his canard confit was not crunchy and the fries was soggy!

Chi Thu ordered a fish dish but Hoa can't remember what it was.