Planning Your Trip
Coach House Rentals (www.rentals.chsparis.com) has expanded its private homes for rent to include addresses in Paris. Its website has pictures and full descriptions of the properties, with an English-speaking reservation team to handle bookings and to deal with any questions. A company representative will meet guests at their rental to show them the ropes. The company can usually arrange a car to meet guests at the airport and take them to their prearranged rental.
Getting Around
Auto Europe () is debuting scooter rental service in Paris. If you're continuing on to other cities, branches are found at Nice, Cannes, and Marseilles. Yamaha YP 125 Majesty scooters are rented, and you'll certainly save on gas, the price of which is lethal in France. The company also touts the benefits of sidewalk parking and the ease of maneuvering in high-traffic locations.
Where to Stay
Paris's hottest new property is Fouquet's Barrière, 48 av. George V (tel. 01-40-69-60-40), a veritable Parisian palace on the Champs �lysees. The trendy 107-room hotel opened with massive coverage in the local press, standing alongside its namesake and legendary restaurant, Fouquet's. The bedrooms are among the most spacious in the city, and they're luxuriously appointed, including such novel features as waterproof floating TV remotes for the bathtub and a bedside button that pops open to let your butler inside. There's one butler to every eight guests. The service is among the finest in the city, and a uniform butler who arrives to unpack your luggage and serve you champagne.
More and more deluxe hotels are offering guests high-tech gadgets, as in the case of the Hilton Arc de Triomphe, 51 rue Courcelles (tel. 01-58-36-67-00), in the chic 8th Arrondissement. For $13.50, guests can rent a TAOcity P.D.A. in English, a device fitted with a G.P.S.--a handy feature when navigating the 12 avenues that radiate from the Ã?toile. The little gadget will direct you to hundreds of historic sites, museums, restaurants, shops, and bars.
In other developments, more and more top hotels in ParisÂ?long known for pampering adultsÂ?are now showing greater hospitality to families traveling with young children. For example, Four Seasons George V, 31 av. George V (tel. 01-49-52-70-00), once housed the likes of Darryl F. Zanuck and his mistress. It is still a retreat for moguls, but also pampers young ones with kid-size bathrobes, bedtime milk and cookies, and even special menus prepared just for them with no caviar, no foie gras. The chef will even stoop so low as to make a kid a hot dog or a hamburger.
Nearing a complete renovation, Westin Paris, 3 rue de Castiglione (tel. 01-44-77-11-11), in the 1st Arrondissement, lies just a 7-minute walk from the Louvre and is as close to the Tuileries as you can get. Many of the 438 rooms are a bit small but they are comfortably furnished and beautifully maintained.
Close to the Louvre, Place Vendome, and the Tuileries Gardens, Hotel Thérèse, 5-7 rue Thérèse (tel. 01-42-96-10-01), in the 1st Arrondissement, has been recently renovated and is now one of the most desirable and affordable choices in the center of Paris. It's government-rated three stars but seems more 4 stars in ambience in its 43 stylish suites. Owner Sylvia de Lattre, who likes shades such as pistachio and royal blue, trolled the flea markets for paintings and prints to personalize each bedroom.
In Montmartre, Hotel des Arts, 5 rue Tholoze (tel. 01-46-06-30-52) has a trendy new address in the 18th Arrondissement. The 50-room hotel was created from a former dormitory for Moulin Rouge dancers and, as you might expect, the rooms are small but they are comfortably furnished with country-style curtains and bedspreads. Opt for one of the four bedrooms on the 6th floor. Note that as night falls the district is filled with a lot of sex workers.
Many visitors to Paris are wanting to live like a native and avoid hotels altogether. The city government of Paris has launched a new program seeking residents willing to rent rooms in their homes like a B&B. The site, Hotes Qualité Paris (www.hqp.fr) encourages locals to make available their spare rooms at prices that begin around $125 a night. It's strictly pot luck; you might end up on a house barge docked between the Louvre and the place de la Concorde or else in an old-fashioned bedroom near the Bois de Boulogne with a host who happens to be a passionate history lecturer, as you'll find out at breakfast the next morning. More and more travelers are also booking B&Bs on the website www.bed-and-breakfast-in-paris.com.
Where To Dine
One of the most famous chefs in Paris, Guy Martin, continues to enjoy his three stars granted by Michelin at Grand Véfour, but he is also the inspiration behind Sensing, 19 rue Bréa (tel. 01-43-27-08-80) in the 6th Arrondisssement. The décor relies on video projections on the walls and blond sycamore tables. When plates are served, they are like statements from a museum of modern art�geometric arrangements of rectangles and cylinders and Miró-like squiggles of sauce. The dishes, like the herb-crusted veal with tubes of macaroni stuffed with fresh mushrooms are sublime.
Le Chateaubriand, 129 av. Parmentier (tel. 01-43-57-45-95) in the 11th Arrondissement is a "neo-bistro." The dark 1930s décor looks relatively intact, but the cuisine is completely different from a classic bistro. Today instead of coq au vin and steak with frites, you are treated to rare tuna slices in pink beet foam flavored with pomegranate seeds. The tartare de boeuf now appears with fresh peanuts and a tangy Vietnamese dipping sauce.
What to See & Do
For centuries, the most famous painting in the world, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, has dazzled viewers with its enigmatic smile. Since 1804 the artist's masterpiece has been hanging in the Louvre, 34-36 quai du Louvre (tel. 01-40-20-53-17). Now researchers feel they have solved the riddle of Mona Lisa's smug look. Using three-dimensional technology to study the masterpiece, researchers conducted the most extensive examinations ever made of the painting. For the first time, they discovered a very fine gauze veil worn over the dress. Such a veil was worn by women who were either pregnant or had just given birth. Incidentally, the lady depicted in the painting is not named Mona. Mona is the equivalent of Madame, so she is "Madame Lisa." The model was actually Lisa Gherardini, the wife of an obscure Florentine merchant.
In the months ahead the government of France is considering granting free access to a sampling of museums in Paris as well as other French towns. François Fillon, the prime minister, did not name any museums specifically, but said a study was underway to make many museums free.
Shopping
Some of the most fashionable shops in Paris today are opening in the 2nd Arrondissement between I.M. Pei's "Pyramids" and Charles Garnier's fin-de-siècle Opéra. The best streets for browsing are rue Ste. Anne and rue Chabanais. Many fashionistas are deserting the fabled houses of scent and heading for The Different Company at 3 rue Chabanis (tel. 01-42-60-12-74), run by a father and daughter team, Jean-Claude and Céline Ellana. The scents have been called "fragrances of the 21st century."
Discerning local shoppers are learning of the opening of Louisélio, 14 rue Chabanais (tel. 01-42-97-54-65). Here ceramics, including bowls and vases, come in organic, minimalist shapes with intricate glazework. Louisélio herself welcomes shoppers to her chic studio.
Just 35 minutes from the center of Paris, La Vallée Village is home to some 75 boutiques in the chic Outlet Shopping Village. Sometimes brand names such as Lacoste or Waterford are sold here at 70% less than retail prices in the center of Paris--just ask such patrons as Sir Mick Jagger, Victoria Beckham, or the Duchess of York. From the center of Paris you can take RER A, to the Val d'Europe station. By car, take the A4 motorway from Paris to exit 12.1 and follow the signs.
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