Travel and design
First Amsterdam? Now Paris?
Oh I know I’ll be in so much trouble, something tells me Paris prefers not to play the second fiddle and most certainly not behind Amsterdam, but there you go, I am willing to be noted as enfant terrible, just this once. Actually my relationship with Paris is a longstanding one, beginning with annual school visits (no, not a posh school girl – rather a German school girl on her way to our French partner city Caen) where we were rather nonchalantly dropped off at the bus parking just behind Notre Dame and left to fend for ourselves in the city of lights and love for the better part of the day.
As an adult I started returning to my former haunt with a new, more mature, interest in architecture and style and quickly found myself drawn to the back streets of the Marais and little markets in St. Germain and Quartier Latin. One of my favourite not-so-little-markets is Rue Mouffetard, where we went on a food binge last summer that ended with a carpet picnic in our St.Germain flat.
Last summer was unbearably hot and the week we decided to spend in Paris not one of my favourites. That will of course not stop me from returning every so often but last July was so unbearable that we escaped as fast as we could back to a much cooler and very welcoming England. (Yes, I will write about England, quite often in fact).
Two years ago however was a perfect sejour spent in Paris at what must be one of the most remarkable boutique hotels and a must-see for design aficionados. The “Hotel du Petit Moulin“, designed by Christian Lacroix is an historic building that used to house a bakery. The facade has remained unchanged, mais les interieurs!!!!
All about design, yet comfortable and good service, it certainly is a place that should not be missed. Some of the rooms are not quite large enough to swing a small kitten so beware of big luggage, but then the idea here is to arrive with a toothbrush a cute neglige and someone very special, n’est-ce pas?