Chocolates, gifts and art books at the bicentennial Galerie Vivienne

Among the most intriguing galleries in the French capital, located in the second arrondissement, the jewel, a glitter of ornaments and stuccoes, of the Galerie Vivienne, designed by François-Jacques Delannoy in 1826, while Giandomenico Facchina created its celebrated mosaic floor, has been shining for two hundred years. The traditional glass roof and iron decorations protect and embellish this national monument in which to find shelter from the cold and let yourself be pampered at the tables of the historic Maison Boissier, the chicest patisserie in Paris where the technique of icing the legendary marron glacés was invented, to be enjoyed in abundance, perhaps interspersed with the equally sugary fruit bonbons Boule. At Vivienne, above all, you can buy and exchange Valentine's Day gifts, perhaps choosing from boxes of chocolates, clothes in its fashion boutiques or art books to buy in the elegant bookshop opened here by the Acamedie des beaux-arts.