Paris Je'Taime

To contrast my last post, here are some images from our hotel in Paris. It is so different and unique, and nice, that we could barely remember the melamine fixtures from Avignon if it weren’t for our thorough photo record.

We are staying at the Maison Souquet, which from 1905-1907 was a “pleasure house.” Ooh La La! We are just down the street from the Moulin Rouge, and the neighborhood is “racy” if you turn a certain direction. Back in the day this was the red light district. Our Hotel has been beautifully remodeled and decorated, but has cute touches of what it once was: red lanterns outside the front door. When someone is inside the rooms there is actually a little red light outside the door, the rooms are named after ladies; ours is Cleo. The whole place is draped and sort of dark, and the layout has been somewhat preserved as far as we were told. If these walls could talk! They’d probably say something gross? But our current digs are gorgeous and cozy.

As you can tell from the photos, most of the hotel is dark. Motion detectors activate lights in the hallways.

We were able to reserve the pool for one hour each day, although we only have been able to fit it in once. We don’t have photos since it was pretty dim and humid down there, but it was really cool: a long, skinny pool, with deep purple mosaic tile covering the whole room. On the ceiling in the steam room, tiny lights poked into the surface to look like stars. We may have our circadian rythms out of whack from this hotel.  The steam room and pool were a really nice change of pace for the mostly-city type activities we have been doing.  The pool area was definitely too small for a group to hang, so we figure that’s where the reservation system came in. We reserved it mid-morning, after venturing out for award winning baguette from Grenier Le Pain, and before heading out to a reservation for lunch.

I had read on trip advisor about this fromagerie, and made a reservation in advance. We were glad we did… several people were turned away while we were seated there.

It was a good find. Although we could have taken some more adventurous (read: stinky) cheeses, we still enjoyed the “Tour de France” plate. We told the owner that we like everything and never met a cheese we didn’t like, hoping to have some seriously weird stuff show up. Through our trip we have realized how great our access to really unique and interesting foods has been not only in Austin, but Chicago, LA, NYC, San Fran, and all the cities we have been lucky to live in or visit. So cheese in Paris was not as challenging as Antonelli’s in Austin, at least our particular plate. The stand out was a basil flavored cheese, which was bright green. I know: pics or it didn’t happen. Oh well.

Fueled purely by cheese, bread, and wine, we were off to wander around and explore for the afternoon before a 7 pm dinner reservation at Ellsworth. This was a recommendation from my friend Adam, film maker, world traveler, and college buddy. When we told our hotel concierge where dinner plans were, he seemed impressed that we were going somewhere “totally not touristy.” Thanks to Adam for the long list of foodie-approved spots in Paris and London.

So that sums up our wonderful first full day in Paris. Or was is the second??  One of the best things about a trip this long: I’m never sure what day it is. 😉

xoxo

Kelly