Uncategorized
Le Pullman Paris Centre
The outpost in Bercy is a gem
A very posh hotel
Away from the city center, but an easy Metro, Jog or Bike
A nice little niche
Extraordinary Breakfast, although it is a mob
A mob of the well heeled and greedy
(a little distasteful although what great people watching)
The rooms, top-notch
The Junior Suite is well worth the price, very nice
Sofitel Paris La Defense Puteaux
Sofitel Paris La Defense Puteaux
Sofitel is my preferred brand in Paris
Over an extended period, Hotels wax and wane
The rooms show some wear
The buffet is not well attended
But the Sofitel La Defense is back and up to speed
The rooms have been remodeled
The Breakfast is great
The Staff is always good
Love the Location
Great Breakfast Buffet with Surprises
A Daily International Entry
and Daily Breakfast Cake
Expensive enough, to thin out the throng (which is not something I am accustomed to saying)
Luxury and Elegance and Superb Service
I look for Sofitel Options while in Paris
Mercure Paris Montmartre Sacre Coeur, Paris
Mercure Paris Montmartre Sacre Coeur, Paris
Pretty Good, but a Huge Personal Favorite
Great Desk Staff
Clean Rooms
Affordable Price
My Favorite Neighborhood
We return every year
Hôtel Le Louis, Versailles Château – McGallery By Sofitel
Hôtel Le Louis, Versailles Château – McGallery By Sofitel
Sofitel is my preferred brand in Paris
Great Breakfast Buffet with Surprises
A Daily International Entry
and Daily Breakfast Cake
Expensive enough, to thin out the throng (which is not something I am accustomed to saying)
Luxury and Elegance and Superb Service
I look for Sofitel Options while in Paris
Novotel Paris Est, Bagnolet
Once a treasured secret hotel
Great Price, Big Rooms, Huge Bathtubs
Then last year:
Bad Desk Service
Big Huge Room, but it felt old an not maintained
Tried the Breakfast Buffet, which was a disappointment
When a Hotel is a great bargain, it understandably attacks tourists
This big hotel seems understaffed at times
You wonder if the desk staff has any training
There was a wait for my room (and the desk staff was not helpful)
I left postcards at the front desk to be mailed when I left
(she said what do you want me to do with these?)
The Postcards arrived in the U.S. two months later
The Breakfast Buffet was nothing to return to
It is flooded with Airline Staff staying at the hotel
They stab their sausage with a fork, hold them up like a marshmallow on a stick, and then chew at the sausage
Lots of greedy people at a substandard Breakfast Buffet (no a pretty sight)
(it is understandable, but not acceptable at a mediocre buffet
Kinda Remote, but a Grand Hotel
We stayed in a Suite, although the cheapest Hotel while in Paris
Total High Rise, Way Up in the Air
Two Rooms
Two Televisions
Stocked Mini Bar
So Many Closets, that we left some things
We will return next year
Paris Insider
Versailles
Avoid Versailles during the weekend
Also, The Palace (Chateau) is Closed on Monday
(The Gardens and Park are open every day of the year)
Tuesdays
Most Museums are closed
Except for Musee D’Orsay
Le Louvre
The Louvre is so crowded that a simple Paris Museum Pass is perhaps no longer the answer
You may need to Obtain a Pass for a Specific Hour, Enter Early (9:00)
Regardless, a long, long line forms every day, down the Court Napoleon into the Court Carrée
Special Exhibitions
In 2019 there were two amazing exhibitions at the Grand Palais
(Goya and Toulouse-Lautrec) Perhaps, only in Paris
Avoid Lines
Which means you arrive early each day
With of the benefit of walking the salons while they are nearly empty
Take the Metro
Or Ride a Velib (shared bicycle program)
Or Walk, Paris is a Great City for Walking
Paris and COVID-19
Like many cities, Paris closed down for social distancing in 2020
Some venues are scheduled to reopen:
Musée national de l’Orangerie : Monday 22 June (rooms of Water Lilies only)
Palace of Versailles
Géricault
Théodore Géricault (Rouen, 1791 – Paris, 1824)
French Painter
In the Louvre’s Salle Mollien, among the rooms of Large Scale French Paintings, Théodore Géricault is a prominent artist
(I pronounce it “Jerico”)
His works include:
–The Raft of the Medusa his huge iconic historical painting was quite confrontational at the Paris Salon of 1819
-a series of horsemen (such as The Charging Chasseur), Géricault was a horseman himself, unfortunately a horse accident may have contributed to his early death at 32
-a series on the insane, dead animals and severed heads
(my La Chat Mort page is popular for some reason – as if there is a band called the Dead Cat)
Géricault’s image reclines atop a monument at his tomb in Père Lachaise Cemetery
Raft of the Medusa Le Louvre
The Dead Cat Le Louvre
http://www.theodoregericault.org/raft-of-the-medusa/
Portrait of a Kleptomaniac, Evening: Landscape with an Aquaduct, The Charging Chasseur, Wounded Cuirassier and The Derby of Epsom
Panthéon
The Panthéon Place du Panthéon
The Pantheon https://www.unjourdeplusaparis.com/en/paris-culture/pantheon-paris
Un Jour de Plus Paris
5e (Pantheon)
https://wp.me/P3hvvc-it
Oscar Who?
Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde
We go to cemeteries
(and museums and so many other places in Paris)
because we are curious
We come across half-familiar names Moliere, Voltaire, Delecroix, Louis VIX (the Sun King)
and Oscar Wilde
Who is he?
We have heard of his books
We have heard of his movies
He has one of the most popular gravesites
at one of the world’s most popular cemeteries
Until they installed a “sneeze-guard” around his grave-site
his tombstone was covered with lipstick kisses
Who is Oscar Wilde?
“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes”
“The only difference between a saint and a sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future”
Paris for the Holidays 