From my the first Apple Store I ever visited in Hamburg, the second one I went into was the one inside the Louvre Museum in Paris. Yeah, I know — this little Eurotrip is already becoming an Apple Store pilgrimage.
It wasn’t really intended but a my quick tour at the Louvre greeted me with this huge Apple logo at the lobby, just under the glass dome (you can also see that 6-foot tall white iPhone 4s on the wall).
I thought I’d get me the new Apple iPad here as a souvenir but it turns out the price of the tablet here is even more expensive than in Germany. The 16GB WiFi-only model retails for 489 euros or roughly Php28,000 at current exchange rates. The 16GB WiFi+4G model sells for 609 euros or close to Php35,000.
I think prices in Europe are just generally expensive. I will try my luck again when I go to Amsterdam after France but I guess I’ve already come to the conclusion that you don’t buy gadgets in any of the European states. Still the best place I’ve gone for gadget shopping so far is Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia (in that order).
Prices are so high in Europe because of the taxes. A friend’s sister who was based in the UK for some time never bought CDs there, waiting instead for a trip to the PH to get them. Yes, they were much cheaper here than in the UK.