The wonders of Paris
As we enter the chic Hotel L’Hotel in the stylish St-Germain-des-Prés area of the Left Bank in Paris, an excited young woman dressed in a brilliant red dress whispers to us: “You’re just in time! Johnny Depp is at the bar.”
We pull our bags over the entrance, denoted by a pewter ram’s head above heavy wooden doors, and check in as quickly as we can. Just as we head to the bar, a male figure brushes by and slips out the door – Johnny Depp? Maybe. But it’s not surprising, as L’Hotel has been attracting A-listers for many years.
In fact, this was once the stomping ground of the flamboyant Irish playwright, Oscar Wilde, who lived in Room 16. He took up residence at the end of the 19th century and lived at L’Hotel (then called Hotel d’Alsace) until his death, famously claiming to “Live above his means”. A month before he died, he was quoted as saying: “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or other of us has got to go.”
Wilde died heavily in debt, owing 2,643 gold francs, plus the cost of 42 candles, 11 bottles of milk and three bottles of lemonade. The framed bill urging him to pay up is a feature of the hotel’s Oscar Wilde suite, which is decorated in traditional English decor and partly modelled on Wilde’s London dining room. It is the most requested room and features a peacock mural and private terrace.
In the past, L’Hotel was the haunt of Princess Grace, Frank Sinatra, Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, while today showbiz stars Sean Penn, Mick Jagger, Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino often drop in, alongside old mate, Johnny Depp. However star appeal aside, the hotel is in a great location to explore some of the best attractions in Paris.
For starters, it’s not far from the Louvre, the world’s biggest museum and home to Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous Mona Lisa, and the Museum d’Orsay, which was originally a railway station, the Gare d’Orsay. It houses the largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world, with works by Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, and Gogh. One thing is for sure — with more than 130 museums in Paris, you won’t run out of places to visit.
Notre Dame is also nearby, as well as famous cafes, Les Deux Magots and Cafe Flore — which are great for people watching.
For us, a food tour in Montmartre is top of the list, and we hope the light rain deters some tourists so it’s not quite as crowded as everywhere else. Our Parisian guide Pierre tells our group of eight how important good food is to the French, and this is only possibly surpassed by good wine.
“We don’t shop like others – the true French buy baguettes daily. Freezing is a no-no, and we try to shop at markets for fabulous fresh produce,” he says.
First stop is a chic chocolatier salon with black and white striped awnings. It’s home to tiny chocolate treats that look like works of art, displayed in elegant glass cabinets.
A specialised macaron shop with attentive staff is the next stop, and we are each invited to select two rainbow coloured macarons. “There is a great art in making macarons, and it is very competitive these days,” explains Pierre. “Patissiers are always experimenting with flavours. For example, one of the latest is olive oil with mandarin, orange and cucumber water.”
For me, it’s the salted caramel and raspberry flavours that win, and they are carefully packaged up and handed gently over.
As the sun shines, Pierre explains how a fresh daily baguette is part of daily French life. We see locals munching on them even before they leave the boulangerie. “True Frenchmen and women would never consider eating a day-old baguette, and at meals they are not usually eaten with butter,” he says. “Ahh, there’s nothing like a fresh baguette,” he says, almost swooning at the thought.
And then there was cheese. Pierre’s favourite fromagerie, which exhibits cheese from across France stacked high on the counters, we enjoy small pieces of Camembert de Normandie, Brie de Meaux and Chevrotin. Wine tasting follows — some new drops and older vintages — before heading to a cosy creperie for a savoury crepe with ham, mushrooms and cheese.
Back at L’Hotel, I can’t resist ordering a Born to be Wilde cocktail in the bar where so many legends have sat and sipped before me. It’s a delightfully fresh and punchy concoction of rum, citron vert and Tabasco, and it seems appropriate to imbibe the heady mix as I sit back in a plush velvet armchair, gazing at a photograph of Wilde. He took his final breath here on November 30, 1900.
Written by Sue Wallace. Republished with permission of Wyza.com.au.