The summer sales have begun. From June 25 to August 2, all of Paris’ department stores and clothing boutiques will be slashing prices form 30% on to 50% as the sales drag on. Of course with the euro already almost double the dollar, this just begins to even things out.

Serious shoppers can try a one-stop survey of their favorite department store, keeping in mind that Printemps (www.printemps.fr) has recently renovated their woman’s store, adding exclusives like the Yves Saint Laurent ready-to-wear line. The stylishly modern 2^nd floor of Printemps is for top designer brands and has a great mix, but if you head up to the 3^rd floor you’ll find some of the same designer’s lower priced lines, like Vanessa Bruno Athé and See by Chloë. And don’t miss the shoe department – always mobbed during the sales. And the separate Men’s store.

Galeries Lafayette (www.galerieslafayette.com) won’t be finished reorganizing their woman’s fashion floor until October. You’ll find 500-euro blouses squeezed into racks, and a confusing jumble that personally did not make me want to spend any money. However, they have a lot left over for the sales, so if you like a challenge, this might be the place for you.

Finally the Bon Marché (www.lebonmarche.fr) is always the most ladylike department store. I love the handsome Men’s store, perfume section on the entry floor and the Dooobar counter for coffee and dessert, right in the middle of the designer clothes (first floor), with a view to Céline. Try the selection of sablé biscuits, either lightly sweet, nutty, or with a touch of rosemary.

They seem to have more dresses at the Bon Marché, must be a Left Bank chic sort of thing.

Happy Shopping.

With the high euro you might be tempted to skip shopping in Paris. But then you’d be missing out on so much of what makes Paris tick – a culture of well-made, traditional products, beautifully presented in small, stylish boutiques.

One great, and central street for finding authentic French products, for cooking, home and beauty is Rue Vignon. Running from just east of the Madeleine, north towards Boulevard Haussmann and Printemps department store, this narrow street includes well known brand boutiques such as L’Artisan Parfumeur (at no. 22) for perfume and candles, to the more affordable The Compagnie de Provence (No. 16, www.lcdpmarseille.com) specialists in “savon de Marseille,” or traditional, hypoallergenic soaps from Marseille, like their “extra olive” soap. Here the packaging is contemporary, and while the pump bottles look great on a countertop, they are heavy to carry. You might want to stick with their travel kits, excellent hand creams and of course, the soaps.

Beginning from Rue de Sèze, near the Madeleine, you have a pharmacy to your right selling coveted T.  Leclerc face powders, and to your left the gift shop of the Pinocothèque (for your art-loving friends). Moving up the street you’ll pass Les Ruchers du Roy (no. 17, www.lesruchersduroy.com) specialists in fine honey, as are the people at the Maison du Miel (no. 24, www.maisondumiel.com). Both honey shops sell a variety of products less dangerous to carry in a suitcase, like soaps and candles. Foodies should check out the boutique Pierre Oteiza (no. 13) who sells cured hams, oils and jellies from his native village in the Pyrénées Mountains. Mr. Oteiza was instrumental in bringing back native livestock to the region, and is passionate about quality, local produce.

You’ll also want to stop at Durance (no. 24, www.durance.fr) a traditional boutique selling products made in Provence, from aromatic oils in apothecary-styled bottles, to rose and lavender scented perfumes, and sachets.

Then there’s the fun of bringing home a bit of France, all nicely gift-wrapped for free, as is the tradition in small, specialized Paris shops.

I actually walk up this street fairly often (I like the healthy sandwiches and salads at Cojean, on Rue de Sèze, and get my haircut in the courtyard next door at Edgar, no.4/6 Rue de Sèze, Tel: 01 47 42 74 13) and never tire of checking out the windows and yes, succumbing to temptation now and again.

The city of Paris might be getting a Frank Gehry designed museum and sculpture garden in the Bois de Boulogne (to house the LVMH Foundation), but there is already a fine sculpture garden in Paris - the Tuileries - made even better through November 2008 with the addition of Richard Serra’s  “Clara Clara.”

Clara-Clara has been to the Tuileries before, in 1983. Then it was moved to the burbs, got covered with graffiti and became a sort of windbreak for homeless shelters. Perhaps not the worst of uses, but in 1993 it was put into storage, only to come back to the Tuileries in May to coincide with a Serra expo (just ended) at the Grand Palais.

Serra’s sculpture, at the Concorde entry to the park, takes the form of two inverted “c” curves, each 3.7 meters high and 33 meters long. They are positioned back to back with just enough space left in between to let visitors stroll through and capture a perfect axis view of the Louvre, to the Egyptian Obelisk on the Place de la Concorde.

Put don’t stop here. Sculptures by artists from the 18^th to 20^th century including Rodin, Aristide Maillol and Henry Moore are permanent residents of the Tuileries. Rodin’s sculptures, including the  “Kiss,” surround the Orangerie museum, and viewing them is free.

For children (and adults) sculpture is always a good way to slip in some art while enjoying a day in the park. Be sure to look for a sculpture of the “Chat Botte” or Puss N’Boots, from the classic French tale by Charles Perrault, and a beautiful lioness bringing a peacock home to her cubs from Auguste Cain (1873).

The Tuileries also has cafés under the trees and those classic French park attractions like donkey rides, a carrousel (buy a ticket from the adjacent booth), and of course  green-metal chairs scattered around reflecting pools that you can  squat for hours, just reading or enjoying the sun.

I am all for new architecture, but for ambiance and simple, precise beauty, the Tuileries is hard to beat.

For Yves Saint Laurent, who died this month, the romance of Paris is best expressed with roses. Roses, in his famous fragrance “Paris” are joined with violet, sandlewood and geranium because no fragrance, as I was about to learn, is as simple as a single rose.

On the same day as Mr. Laurent’s funeral service, I was at Cinquième Sens, near the Eiffel Tower, where they offer classes in perfume composition and creation. Private individuals can sign-up for an initiation class, using the giant “perfume organ,” featuring rows and rows of small scent bottles, basically a dream come true for anyone who loves perfume. Prices start at 210 euros for a 3-hour course. See www.cinquiemesens.com.

Then it was off to a “Scent Dinner” with the New York Times perfume critic Chandler Burr (a dinner that was open to anyone with an interest in perfume). The setting was Lapérouse, the 18^th-century restaurant overlooking the Seine (51, quai des Grands Augustins; www.laperouse.fr). Chef Samuel Benne designed a six-course menu around the same  “gourmand” scents that Burr would be testing our knowledge of throughout the evening. From mullet fish in a reduced carrot and ginger stock, to duck filet with peppers (matched to the Artisan Parfumeur’s  Poivre Piquant fragrance)  to an excellent dark chocolate dessert with crème brulée and a strawberry cotton candy surprise,  my senses were tested to their limits.  In fact, at mid-point in the evening, Burr sent us out to get some air, giving our untrained noses a break.

Not only did Mr. Burr teach me a lot about perfume, but the one time science writer, author of The Emperor of Scent and The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris & New York, turned out to be amusing host – and a nice guy. I guess I’d been a bit worried that a N.Y. Times critic (whose writing I read avidly) might sneer at my attempts to differentiate lime from vanilla, but the evening turned out to be a lot of fun.

The evening was organized by CONTEXT travel (www.contexttravel.com). Context runs guided walks in Italy and France. They’re a great outfit – I have worked for them myself leading the visit to “Gothic Paris”  - mostly because the groups are small with less that six people on walking tours lead by relaxed but expert guides. But they also organize special events that get you into a building, or a dinner with Chandler Burr, that you might not have access to otherwise. Not a bad way to get more out of a visit to Paris.