The City of Light continues to reinvent itself. We visit again and again for the memories and evocative cityscapes, but we're forever searching for what is new. Paris is a city of contradictions -- one that is eternal, but one that is forever changing.
Accommodations
Paris's hotel of the moment is Pershing Hall, 49 rue Pierre Charron, 8e (tel. 01-58-36-58-00; www.pershing-hall.com), which has steadily gained fame in the most expensive Right Bank real-estate district in Paris. This former late-19th-century town house has been radically converted and turned into a hotel of charm, grace, and lavish comfort. In World War I, the building was the Paris nerve center of Gen. John Pershing.
Famed English decorator David Hicks was called in to give style and flair to the Hôtel Le Ste-Beuve, 9 rue Ste-Beuve, 6e (tel. 01-45-48-20-07; www.paris-hotel-charme.com), which is on a tree-lined boulevard in the Montparnasse of Stein and Hemingway fame. Just three minutes from Luxembourg Gardens, this is a honey at an affordable price.
Following recent renovations, Hôtel Royal Saint-Honoré , 221 rue St-Honoré, 1e (tel. 01-42-60-32-79; www.royal-st-honore.com), has earned a four-star rating from the government. Its location between place Vendôme and the Tuileries remains one of the most fashionable in Paris.
Paris has yet another Hyatt, this one the Park Hyatt Vendôme, 3-5 rue de la Paix, 2e (tel. 01-58-71-12-24; https://paris.vendome.hyatt.com). An American designer, Ed Tuttle, took five separate Baron Haussmann buildings and joined them into a seamless whole with all the deluxe amenities travelers expect today.
Deep in the heart of Marais, the Axial Beaubourg, 11 rue du Temple, 4e (tel. 01-42-72-72-22; www.axialbeaubourg.com), has been beautifully restored, and it's become an immediate hit with the fashionistas. The owner, Veronique Turmel, took an ancestral home from 1918 and gracefully converted it.
Dining
In a total surprise to French food critics, the celebrated Japanese chef and staff of Hiramatsu, 7 quai de Bourbon, 4e (tel. 01-56-81-08-80), serve not Japanese, but French food. This may be the finest interpretation of the French aesthetic in food by a Japanese staff anywhere in the world.
Master chef Alain Ducasse has made another grand statement in Paris with the opening of 59 Poincaré , in Le-Parc-Sofitel-Demeure-Hotel, 59 av. Raymond-Poincaré, 16e (tel. 01-47-27-59-59). This is the most glorified steakhouse in Paris. Beef is carefully selected from controlled breeds in the country. Here's a secret: 59 Poincaré also sells the town's most succulent lobsters.
Ever since First Lady Laura Bush dropped into Ze Kitchen Galerie, 4 rue des Grands-Augustins, 6e (tel. 01-44-32-00-32), this new restaurant has been on Paris' culinary map. The First Lady made a wise choice: The French and international dishes are sublime.
Shopping
In collaboration with Japanese cosmetics syndicate Shiseido, brilliant makeup artist Stephen Marais has launched his own line of cosmetics. Marais is known for "turning beautiful women into goddesses," and his new line is sold at Stephanemarais at 217 rue St-Honoré, 1e (tel. 01-42-61-73-22).
After Dark
In the trendy Oberkampf district in the 11th arrondissement, Favela Chic, 18 rue du Faubourg du Temple (tel. 01-40-21-38-14) is chic and fashionable. It both satirizes and respects the music and image of Brazil. Young Parisians flock here to dance, flirt, and chat.
Nouveau Casino, 109 rue Oberkampf, 9e (tel. 01-43-57-57-49), represents the epitome of counter-culture and hyper-hip in Paris. In an old, converted movie house you'll find this dance floor with a bar crafted to look like an iceberg. Live concerts rule the night.
The latest attraction at Versailles is the newly reopened stables of Louis XIV. Grande Ecourie in the Garden of Versailles (tel. 01-39-02-07-14) had been closed to the public for two centuries. Famed architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart constructed the stables, and today they house 20 cream-colored Lusitanian horses from Portugal.