L'Hotel

My first trip abroad at 46 years old & I was diving right in by spending four weeks at an artist’s residency in northeastern France. But first I was going to give myself a couple days in Paris to acclimate to the clock, the language, etc. Anthony Bourdain always said L’Hôtel was where he stayed when in Paris…it was the last residence of Oscar Wilde…so having no better argument for anywhere else I booked my stay there. I paid the extra to get the shuttle limo from Charles deGaulle Airport and right there set the tone for my stay. My driver—a lovely young woman who was an Italian-Croatian transplant to Paris herself—picked me up and gave me some great tips for my first stay in Paris. She brought me then to the lobby of a place I hadn’t even suspected was so sumptuous—almost decadently so—from the website or reviews I’d read. The place was small—boutique really—luxuriously styled, absolutely wonderful. Like something from the past century. The staff were quick to check me in, offered me a bottled water and a seat as they had my bags taken to my room and acquainted me with the rules and options of my stay. I booked a private hour in the cellar’s heated pool and went up to my room. Again: incredible luxury that felt out of proportion with the affordable rate I’d gotten booking months in advance. My room had gilt wallpaper in rich Rococo motif and felt like I was a modern Hemingway alone on a Parisian excursion. It took a few moments to get used to the European setup for a ‘master electrical switch’ that activates power to the light switches and such. The WiFi was excellent. The bathroom was great (though my only caveat there was that the marble rim of the tub is so wide that even with the curtain pulled shut, water would go from the back wall and along that rim to collect on the floor no matter how hard I tried). With errands run and dinner acquired, I changed and went down to the pool around 7. It’s a little labyrinthine down in the cellar but upon finding the pool…oh what a dreamlike & marvelous thing especially to take the stresses away from a day and a half of flying across the ocean to a strange foreign city! I rested my phone against one of the stone columns by the ladder, then floated in the warm pool lit by slowly-changing submerged lights while looking up at the stone brick ceiling. I listened to Sarah Neufeld’s “When the Light Comes In,” Charles Tenet’s “La Mer,” Jeff Buckley’s “je ne connais pas le fin”and felt at peace, so wonderfully surreal at being a hick from Ohio and now in the same hotel as Oscar Wilde & Anthony Bourdain, in one of the most famous & historic cities in the world. I slept like a baby. The next morning I tried the breakfast buffet which is an incredible spread of delicious and varied offerings. Croissants, hard boiled eggs…these are fairly standard French breakfast foods. But they also had plates of figs, dates, oranges, apples, bananas, salted nuts. There were decanters of actual fresh-squeezed apple and orange juices alongside the chilled milk. Spinach & cheese quiches, thick glazed ham slices, a platter of different varieties of cheese from Brie to Roquefort. I found myself trying a little of everything. Hot coffee and chocolates. Tiny jars of strawberry or mixed fruit confiture. All under a gorgeous skylight and the overcast February sunlight let me comfortably, even lazily just eat and read my book while the hidden speakers played an assortment of eclectic music: one moment it would be a Françoise Hardy love song, the next Curtis Mayfield’s “Pusherman.” My entire stay was too brief—by the next day I was off to catch the train to Chaumont. But I’ll never forget this place the rest of my life. The staff, decor, food, ambience, the pool…everything was absolutely perfect. You could do worse staying somewhere in Paris…but you could hardly do better. Highly recommend.

We stayed here for 2 nights on our mini-moon in Paris. When we arrived we were told we had been upgraded to the Apartment courtesy of the hotel. The room was absolutely stunning, the service here is extremely friendly, helpful and professional. Each member of staff we encountered was warm and happy to help with anything we needed. We booked an hour in the private hammam pool which felt really luxurious. Breakfast, there was a great continental spread with many different options. The only thing I would change was that we were charged for ordering a coffee (5 euro) at breakfast and I believe this should be included in the price - but this does not affect the 5 star rating of the hotel. It is opulent, the location is great and we cannot thank staff enough for their welcome. I would stay here again in a heartbeat!