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PARIS - Once upon a time there lived a stereotypical American tourist, who would come to Paris, dressed in polyester, clutching a camera and a Baedeker tourist guide, his wallet laden with crisp dollar bills.
With his haul of greenbacks, the visitor could go into a bank and emerge with a thick stack of francs or, latterly, euros, with which he could wine and dine and shop and party, seemingly endlessly.
Today, though, the tables have turned, and the people flaunting their cash these days are Europeans, who jet to New York or turn to the Internet to buy up America with the mighty euro.
"YSL [Yves Saint Laurent] Tulipe Noire nail varnish, ¬18 in France, $18 in New York," writes French shopping addict Walinette on her blog, thebeautyandthegeek.fr.
"With the euro at US$1.45, do the calculations yourself and believe me when I tell you I saved money."
Walinette stocked up on the goodies in a quick stayover in Manhattan while on the way down to Mexico for a holiday. She is just one of the masses of Europeans - as many as a million, according to US media reports - who headed to the US for a Christmas shopping spree. Others are buying voraciously online from US websites.
Electronic goods and clothing are the big buys. On the other side of the Atlantic, an i-Pod Shuffle costs $79; in France, it sells for ¬79. An i-Pod Nano costs about ¬210 in Europe, about $85 more than the $215 price tag in New York. Cashmere sweaters and silk garments are half the price of Europe.
CDs, DVDs, golf clubs, mountain boots, camping gear are typically at least a third less expensive than back home.
Shopping sites, travel companies and newspapers are stuffed with tips on how to wring out the best deal in purchases, flights and accommodation.
"To round off your trip on a high note, why not take in a Broadway musical?" suggested Le Monde, noting that the best seats were around $110 apiece, "and well worth it".
In the pre-Christmas period, before plane tickets reach their peak, shoppers from London, Paris and Berlin rushed to Manhattan, taking with them empty suitcases that, after a three-day splurge, are brought back bulging at the seams.
"The strangest manifestation of the weak dollar in Europe right now is the hordes of European shoppers coming to America (New York City, mostly) to do their Christmas shopping," says Chris Weigant of the popular US website huffingtonpost.com.
He adds, aghast: "Is this to be America's future? Bargain basement to the world?"
Indeed, it is hard for European shoppers to resist the temptation to gloat, given that memories are still fresh of the time just a few years ago when Americans could travel around Europe and live like kings, to the shame and resentment of the locals.
Since the euro was born on January 1, 2002, the dollar has lost a third of its value against the 13-nation currency. The decline over the past two years alone has been more than a fifth, peaking at just short of $1.5 to the euro. In the past seven weeks, it has stabilised at around $1.43.
As a result, the euro, once mocked by Americans, is becoming a powerful reserve currency, accounting for a quarter of all currencies held by central banks around the world. And its power is seeping into fashion.
Last month, US rapper Jay-Z released a music video of himself cruising New York in a Bentley, flashing a wad of ¬500 notes. Gisele Bundchen, the world's highest-paid model, is insisting on being paid in euros, not dollars, for her contracts to represent Pantene hair products for Procter and Gamble and a fragrance called The One for Dolce and Gabbana. Economists, though, warn of grave dangers to Europe's own economy if the dollar remains at this low level or plumbs even further depths.
Innumerable European jobs, from aircraft manufacturing and engineering products to cosmetics and tourism, depend crucially on the greenback.
So, gloating at the dollar's misfortunes may not last for long. But for those who grew up on memories of Americans who handed out candies to poor Paris children or who flashed a few bills to jump the queue at Maxim's, they are enjoying the pleasure while it lasts.
- REUTERS
