I Prefer Paris

Door of the Month March 2019: 21 Rue de l’ Université

My photo exhibition at the Pont Royal Hotel is close to the rue de la Université. Years ago I discovered rue de l’Université had a treasure trove of fabulous doors. 

 At #21 is a red lacquered door with lovely details. It was a hotel particulier built in 1639 for Thomas de Bragelongne and was acquired by Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès, Arch-Chancellor of the Empire. It was known as Hôtel de Cambacérès and owned by the Duke and Duchess de la Salle. 

One of the most unusual details of the hardware of the door is at the bottom right and left hand sides. These structures were built to help slow down the horses arriving, so the wheels wouldn’t scrape the limestone, leaving marks. This is the first one I’ve ever seen with a face on it. I can’t quite figure out what the face is –Is it a ram because of the horn, or is it a fish? Also, is that a tassel hanging from its mouth? Perhaps you have some clues. 

21 rue de l”Université,  75007

Metro: Rue du Bac 

Last two weeks to see my photo show. 

Partnership with Tablet Hotels

I am happy to announce a special partnership with Tablet Hotels, the top website for booking the best boutique and luxury hotels around the world. 

Tablet has an extensive list of great hotels in Paris, many that I have personally recommended to my clients. Paris hotels include Le Bel Ami, L’Hotel and Hotel Montalembert in Saint Germain, Hotel Duo, Pavillon de la Reine, and Les Bains in le Marais, Crillon, Le Bristol, Royal Monceau and the Lancaster in the 8^th arr. plus numerous hotels in other areas of Paris. 

From budget-friendly urban boutiques to haute-luxury palaces, from medieval castles to avant-garde design experiments — each hotel listed on Tablet is a chance to escape the everyday and experience another world.

Click here for a full list of their Paris hotels.  

My partnership with Tablet hotels includes exclusive discounts, upgrades, and value-added amenities not available on the website. 

If you are interested in booking hotels in Paris or anywhere else on the Tablet website, please email me directly at r.nahem@gmail.com and I will be happy to assist you in choosing the right hotel for your needs. 

https://www.tablethotels.com/?depDate=2019-03-17&arrDate=2019-03-16&nR=1&nA=1&nC=0

Le Pavillon des Lettres https://www.tablethotels.com/en/paris-hotels/le-pavillon-des-lettres

Hotel Adele & Jules https://www.tablethotels.com/en/paris-hotels/hotel-adele-jules

Le Saint Hotel A Paris https://www.tablethotels.com/en/paris-hotels/le-saint-hotel-a-paris

 

Nolinski Paris https://www.tablethotels.com/en/paris-hotels/nolinski-paris

 

Les Dames Du Pantheon https://www.tablethotels.com/en/paris-hotels/les-dames-du-pantheon

 

Hotel du Temps https://www.tablethotels.com/en/paris-hotels/hotel-du-temps

 

Brach Paris https://www.tablethotels.com/en/paris-hotels/hotel-brach-119637

 

Last two weeks to see my photo show. 

 

Guys and Dolls

I am always happy as a clam when American musicals come to Paris, as it’s one of the things I truly miss about living in New York. In past years I’ve enjoyed productions of Sunday in the Park with George, My Fair Lady, Sweeney Todd, The King and I, West Side Story, and An American in Paris. 

This season Guys and Dolls, the quintessential American musical is making its premiere in Paris. 

I went to see it last Friday night and was overjoyed. The production from beginning to end left a smile on my face and I hummed the tunes for hours on end after I left the theater. 

Based on Damon Runyon’s tales of New York City from the 1930s, the story follows a group of outcasts, gamblers and hustlers coming up against the stiff morality of the Salvation Army. Try as they might, the Salvation Army characters eventually succumb to their immoral underlings. 

The cast is uniformly excellent, hitting all their marks, but the true star of the show is Ria Jones, as Adelaide. Her flare, timing, and wit as the lovable, lamentable Adelaide was superb, adding that little bit of extra je-ne-sais quois that gives her star power. She reminded me a bit of the brassy Ethel Merman, especially with her curly auburn mop and large voice. 

I forgot how many consistently great songs Guys and Dolls contains from longing ballads like I’ll Know and I’ve Never Been in Love Before, to the finger-snapping anthem Luck Be a Lady, to musical comedy classics such as Adelaide’s Lament and Marry the Man, and the clever If I Were a Bell. 

The exuberant and athletic choreography by Stephen Mear gives the show an extra shot of energy, to an already fast moving show and the costumes vary, sometimes spot on for the period but in brash colors, sometimes cheap looking, looking like the production gave the costume designer a limited budget. 

Guys and Dolls is the feel good hit of the season, a much-needed respite from the disconcerting times we live in. 

Guys and Dolls 

Until July 28, 2019 

Théâtre Marigny 

Carré Marigny 75008

Metro: Champs Elysees-Clemenceau

https://www.theatremarigny.fr/

Last two weeks to see my photo show. 

Roxie Paris

Roxie Paris is set to bring the elegant supper clubs of the 1930s and 40s back into vogue again. 

Newly opened at the end of 2018, I was invited for dinner two weeks ago. Located on a side street off the Champs Elysees, the exterior already emits a throwback to the 1930s with a black lacquer marquis spelling ROXIE in bold letters. 

Two good looking, well dressed staff members warmly greeted us, took our coats and escorted us to the dining room. The lacquered interior looked like it was dipped into a bottle of red high gloss nail polish. On the stage were two singers, one strumming the guitar, crooning pop songs we all know and love in a relaxed, folksy style.  Behind them was a fabulous Art Deco style mural with a naked goddess spreading her arms and a round chandelier 

We were escorted up a shows stopping double-sided staircase, the kind you would imagine a line of beautiful dancers dressed in sequence and feathers would come down. Upstairs we were seated at a table overlooking the stage downstairs. 

In true French tradition, we were offered Champagne as the first order of business, although we opted for wine with dinner instead. The menu choices were quite appealing and it took some serious decision making before Vincent and I made our final choices. A crispy tuna maki was crispy and light with a bit of crunch to it, with super fresh tuna. Vincent enjoyed his salmon cooked with a piquant Asian style sauce and I savored my chicken rolled in crushed peanuts and cornflakes in a peanut sauce. Dessert was a divine chocolate sensation hard to describe. 

The name Roxie is inspired by Roxie Hart, the femme fatale that's the heroine of the musical Chicago is based on. Roxie brings back the days of private supper clubs and speakeasies but in an updated version. 

Instead of torch singers slinking over a grand piano, Roxie has a musically versatile six-piece band and singer performing everything from Aretha Franklin to Joe Cocker to Lenny Kravitz to Adele. Unfortunately the band was not performing the night we were there, but I’d like to return and see them. 

The bar at Roxie serves creative cocktails with throwback names- Ginger Rogers, Roxie Hart, and Louis Armstrong plus a formidable menu of whiskies and bourbon.

Roxie can be rented out for a private function for dinner and/or drinks, so if you want a bang up venue for a special occasion, this is it. 

 

29 rue de Ponthieu, 75008

Metro: Franklin Roosevelt 

https://roxie-paris.com/

Only three more weeks left of my photo exhibition at the Hotel Pont Royal, 5-7 rue Montalembert, 75007 

Reopening of Private Apartments in Chateau de Chantilly

After a two-year restoration, the private apartments of Chateau de Chantilly have been reopened to the public. In 1845 Henri de Orleans/the Duke of Aumale, the last heir to the Duke Aumale, commissioned architect Victor Dubois and decorator Eugene Lami to create private apartments for he and his new wife, Maria-Carolina-Augusta, on the ground floor of the Petite Chateau of the Chateau de Chantilly. The series of eight rooms was completed in 1847, includes the prince and princesses bedroom, salon, toilet and bathrooms, plus the Petite Singerie, the only room that hasn’t been altered since it was built. The wood panels painted in 1735 by Christophe Huet, a kind of satire, display the aristocratic activities of female monkeys (lunch during the hunt, picking cherries, playing card games, dressing) borrowing the clothes and expressions of the Condé princesses, in each season of the year.

There were fifteen stages of the demanding undertaking including restoration of the painted ceilings, gilding and paint, restoration of the wood paneling, wainscoting, and parquet floors, plus the replacement of textiles including tassels.  

On a small group tour the other day, the guide took us through the eight rooms, explaining the significance of each one, the history of the furniture, paintings, general décor style, and family. The most beautiful of the rooms was the duchess’s salon, a semi-circular room painted in the most vivacious shade of violet, along with a hand painted-ceiling of blue sky and cherubs. The furniture is upholstered in violet silk and the walls and doors are decorated with exquisite gilded wood paneling. 

The contrast between the duchess’s and duke’s bedrooms is unusual. The duchess’s bedroom is a study in opulence with teal blue with an extravagant floor to ceiling bed canopy, white lace bedspread, tufted silk chairs, and white gilded walls while the duke’s bedroom is much more subdued with a small bed with barely a headboard, and pale gray walls, although his desk is quite elaborate. 

In order to control the wear and tear by admitting too many visitors, the apartments can only be visited with a guide. A 45-minute tour in English is given everyday at 11:30AM for a cost of 5€ in addition to the general admission ticket for the chateau. 

Domaine Chantilly 

http://www.domainedechantilly.com/en/reopening-of-the-private-apartments/

Only three more weeks left of my photo exhibition at the Hotel Pont Royal, 5-7 rue Montalembert, 75007