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Paris, City of Epiphanies On my annual May/June pilgrimage to Paris, I offer myself up to be transported by new experiences: the fires of galaxies, shouts and murmurs and the nebula of the almost seen. I found these—and much more—by keeping files, making lists before I depart, asking friends for their latest finds, and setting out with hope and joy to see places and things in Paris I have never encountered. This summer I was stunned by a magnificent new exhibit of Lucien Freud studio portraits at the Pompidou (until July 19) that was sensationally powerful. And at the lovely Petit Palais, I spent an afternoon taking in the adoration and beauty of the exhibit and retrospective of Yves Saint Laurent, the saint of fashion in France. This iconic sixties image of Suzy Parker by Richard Avedon captures my own mood when I'm in Paris—off the ground, leaping with happiness, and yet calm and focused. I Metro’d to the flea market to meet my friend John, and lunched with David and Florence. I enjoyed the glamour of afternoon tea at the Plaza Athenee and at the classic Crillon. Lanvin and Hermes were splendid, I lunched at Ralph Lauren’s new digs on the boulevard Satin-Germain, and walked to Guerlain’s Champs-Elysees headquarters (with its famous Jean-Michel Frank décor). One morning I explored the Sevres-Babylone fashion axis of Bon Marche and rue du Bac and rue de Grenelle. But it was also a Paris of lazy afternoons watching a jazz bands and Corsican choirs in the Jardin du Luxembourg, quiet research in private libraries, an eighteenth-century musical encounter, bites here and there, and savoring the exquisite and unaccustomed brilliant sunlight that lingers long into the golden evening. Quel Beau Reve Dear Friends: If you are heading to Paris soon, be sure to search THE STYLE SALONISTE archive for my many previous highly-detailed Paris reports, including hotels, flea markets, secret Paris and insider tips and treats. Print them out and take them with you. Do sent a report. I’d love to hear about your trip. I headed first to the Hotel Recamier in the cool embrace of St.-Sulpice church. Arriving there is like returning to a chic friend’s city mansion. The greeting by the owner, Sylvie de Lattre, is cordial. The lobby is as big as a minute, and my room had a splendid view of the towers of St.-Sulpice and the square beyond. Tea and fresh orange juice is served in the sitting room and the terrace, a lovely interlude. I highly recommend this discreet and chic hotel, newly designed by Jean-Louis Deniot. Request top-floor rooms. You'll never want to leave. Hotel Recamier, photography by Xavier Bejot. I later stayed at a dear friend’s apartment. He was out of the country. I gave myself up to the sweet summer pleasures of Paris, buying strawberries at the market, walking over to Hermes to check out watches. I stalked antiques at Drouot auction house where I happily spent hours viewing Syrian silver, Swiss travel posters, loot from Belgian chateau attics, Art Déco jewelry, and a motley but charming grab-bag of gilded chairs and exuberant tapestries. One evening, I watched as wonderful paintings by Picasso and Dufy (lovely Moroccan and Riviera scenes) and drawings by Matisse were auctioned to a glamorous group of art dealers at Artcurial, located in a mansion near avenue Montaigne. Decade-long renovation and restoration of the exterior of St.-Sulpice continues. Joy Division I have made it a practice and a habit for the last however-many years to head for Paris around the last week or so of May each year. I have work to do there, researching and interviewing, up-dating and scrutinizing art and design and architecture. I take with me neatly annotated lists (sometimes left over from previous visits) of new restaurants, hidden cafes, secret corners, people of talent, galleries, exhibits, connecting the dots and completing quests and nurturing my curiosity. I place priority on feeding my eye with the new. My list this year included the new Cy Twombly ceiling in the Greek bronzes room at the Louvre and staying at the Hotel Recamier, newly refurbished and reinvented by my designer friend, Jean-Louis Deniot. I revisited favorite places (place Furstemberg, the Greek and Roman galleries at the Louvre, rue Jacob, the newest supercool burst of graffiti on Serge Gainsbourg’s wall on rue de Verneuil, the beehives and espaliered fruit trees in the Luxembourg gardens, the gardens of the Palais-Royal). I set out with a purpose, making a point of looking and observing and watching. Place Furstemberg in the heart of the Left Bank. I must admit that restaurants and shopping are not where I place my intense focus, eyes, or energy. A three-hour lunch may be wonderful (Bonjour, Alain Passard and Guy Martin), but I can’t help thinking that I could see and find a lot in those three hours. I love to wander in the hallucinatory twilight of summer evenings. I love dinner at the Bistro Paul Bert or Frenchie or the Fontaine-de-Mars, but I tend to gaze out the windows at the twilight, impatient to be out walking. I get restless for experiences. Shopping in Paris is hardly the exotic treasure hunt of past times. Still, I love to check out the new Chanel ballerinas and find new Chanel lipsticks at the rue Cambon boutique. Five minutes, and I'm on my way to meet a friend at Hotel Costes or take tea at Laduree nearby. The Galerie Valois at the Palais-Royale. Along this arcades are favorite shops like Didier Ludot, Serge Lutens, Rick Owens, and Pierre Hardy shoes. This is an historic place for lingering in the garden, watching children playing in the sandbox, and listening to the birds, lingering, enjoying the scent of the linden blossom. My San Francisco friend Susie Hoimes sells the most superb selection of fine vintage jewelry, and it is so much chicer than any I ever find in Paris. So I’m no longer rummaging through dusty vintage shops. If I’m in an acquisitive mood, I head to Gallignani for books or the Clignancourt flea market for paintings or prints or photography. I’m looking for experiences—not things. Odorantes flower shop on rue Madame near place St. Sulpice is one of my favorites. I step inside in early summer and a whoosh of rose fragrances mingled with mint and cassis leaves makes me swoon. Add a collection of exotic birds (taxidermy), scented candles, and the fey and utterly charming owners, and your life is changed. “So we came to the Ritz Hotel and the Ritz Hotel is devine. Because when a girl can sit in a delightful bar and have delicious Champagne cocktails and look at all the important French people in Paris, I think it is devine. I mean, when a girl can sit there and look at the Dolly Sisters and Pearl White and Maybelle Gilman Corey, and Mrs. Nash it is beyond words. Because when a girl looks at Mrs. Nash and realizes what Mrs. Nash has got out of gentlemen, it really makes a girl hold her breath. And when a girl walks around and reads all of the design with all of the famous historical names it really makes you hold your breath. Because when Dorothy and I went on a walk, we only walked a few blocks we read all of the famous historical names, like Coty and Cartier, we knew we were seeing something educational at last, and our whole trip has not been a failure.” —From 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes', by Anita Loos (1925). The Jardin du Luxembourg at twilight. (Photo courtesy Parisien Salon.) ‘The Hotel Deux-Mondes in Paris was triangular shaped and faced the St. Germain-des-Pres church. On Sundays we sat at the Deux-Magots and watched the people, devout as an opera chorus, enter the old doors, or else watched the French read newspapers. There were long conversations about the ballet over sauerkraut at Lipp's, and blank recuperative hours over books and prints in the dank Allee Bonaparte.” —From ‘Zelda Fitzgerald: The Collected Writings, by Zelda Fitzgerald (194-1927). Delacroix mural at St.-Sulpice church. (Be sure to switch on the lights.) Image from Assemble Nationale archives. The Organ at St.-Sulpice. I usually stay in the neighborhood near St-Sulpice, and often find myself walking up the church stairs and visiting the Delacroix murals there, then taking a short cut down the aisles, on tip-toe, very respectfully, through the side door, or out the old door near the chapel. There is always activity, with lovely church ladies arranging flowers, a wedding, choir practice, and preparations for a concert. One Sunday in June, I heard organ music, so I slipped in. A mass was ending and great thundering and crashing Franck and Bach reverberated down through the canyons of columns as I sat and listened. Celestial solstice sun shone in through stained-glass windows, illuminating even the ancient inky corners. Still, the organist plays his music of the spheres, with many a tremolo. Heavenly harmonies echo down and lift me up. Holy Ghost! “We none of us lived in old parts of Paris then. We lived in the rue de Fleurus just a hundred year old quarter, a great many of us lives around there….It is nice in France the adapt themselves to everything slowly the change completely but all the time they know that they are as they are.” —From 'Paris France' by Gertrude Stein (1940). Diane’s Addresses Delights Museums: Cy Twombly: Dramatic new ceiling for the room of Greek bronzes at the Louvre. Inspired by Greek myths and legends, sky and shields. Note: there is a useful reference book on a table in this room. Read Twombly’s vision and inspirations for greater understanding. Lucien Freud, “L’Atelier’ at the Pompidou. Dash there before July 19. Or gather up the books on Lucien Freud, the grand master of painting, psychological insight, color and human compassion. Monet’s magnificent masterpieces at the Musee de l’Orangerie. Book online. Important. Picasso Museum: note that it is currently closed for renovation. Louvre: Avoid the hordes by slipping away to the Denon wing, to find the Salle des Caryatids, with its wondrous Percier and Fontaine décor and sublime sculptures. Enjoy the exquisite detail of the figures…a breeze rustles a toga, arrows jiggle in a quiver, a sandal caresses a foot, and the silence here is total. Aferwards: Richelieu wing and the Northern European collections for Vermeer. Look for a small room where a strange and touching self-portrait by Durer is hidden. Time? Don’t miss the French galleries, and especially Chardin and Ingres. Then skip to the Café Marly for lunch. Visual Feasts: Muriel Grateau, 37, rue de Beaune. Easily the most elegant, chaste, and color-calibrated table décor. But…walk to the back of the well-ordered store, up the stairs, and there is Grateau’s fabulously original and chic jewelry of black jet and crystal. To die. Odorantes, 9, rue Madame. If you’re fortunate to be in Paris during the couture or ready-to-wear collections, stop here to see shockingly beautiful and magnificently vast bouquets ready to be sent to Anna Wintour (at the Ritz), Karl Lagerfeld, and fashion editors. Pink roses here are so exquisite they make my eyes water. Perhaps I am crying at the beauty—and the heady fragrance I am experiencing. Rare and lovely. Tastes: Allard, 41, rue Saint-Andre-des-arts. This authentic family-owned restaurant is a great favorite of Pierre Berge, who often turns up with his retinue of pretty ones on Sunday evenings. Go there for seasonal favorites: white asparagus in spring, game in the fall. I prefer the room on the corner of rue de l’Eperon, to the left of the open kitchen. Bread and Roses Café, 7 rue Fleurus on the corner of rue Madame, near the Jardin du Luxembourg. Imagine fresh fruit tarts, vegetable tarts, all organic, and shelves of airy brioche, chunky whole-wheat bread, and a sunny, friendly atmosphere. Organic. Perfect for lunch or lingering outside over an afternoon tisane. Chez Janou, 2, rue Roger Verlomme (edge of Marais). This is the kind of friendly, happy, well-run bistro you’re always looking for. It is open all day, every day, for families and chicsters, lovers and Francophiles. Start with a pastis or a flute at the zinc bar, and dive into a menu of South of France favorites. If you’re lucky: linger at the terrace tables, long into the night. Le Grand Vefour, 17, rue de Beaujolais, Palais-Royal. This is big splurge, true Parisian glamour and gastronomy. The beautifully lit dining room is lovely for a long lunch, and super-glam for dinner. Young Guy Martin presides over this extraordinarily beautiful setting. Endless mirrors, gilding, carving and 18th-century glory bestow a sense of levitation. Menus: modern classics, light, bright. La Patisserie des Reves, 93 rue du Bac. I wrote about this exceptional patisserie last fall when it opened. I love his elegant chocolate cakes, new-age Tarte Tatin, and shelves of chocolate treats. Witty. Pierre Herme, 72, rue Bonaparte near place St. Sulpice. Hands down the most creative pastries and macaroons. Always exceeds my high expectations. The perfect souvenir: dark chocolate bars, jams, chocolate-coated almonds. I love his style and the scene here. Pierre Herme's Ispahan meringue/macaroon has a litchi/cream filling, rose-flavored macaroon, and rose petals with sugar candy dew drops. (Photo from 'Paris Patisseries' published by Rizzoli). The Tea Salon at the Plaza Athenee. Photo courtesy Hotel Plaza Athenee. Hotel Plaza Athenee, 25 avenue Montaigne. This is such a wonderful setting for afternoon tea, classic and fulsome. Overlooking the leafy courtyard, the room is awash with silken curtains and lavishly upholstered armchairs. As I nibbled on a slice of fruitcake here earlier this year, Jessica Simpson, not at all elegant, tromped through with three super-size suited bodyguards. No-one gave this narcissistic exercise even a glance. A cake trolley rolls forth, displaying petits fours, iced cakes, fruit tarts, Baba au Rhum, lemon chiffon pie. I request the rose-scented Plaza Athenee tea blend and fruitcake. We chat and watch the scene. It was tempting to stay late, and to simply slip into the newly designed hotel bar where DJ Adrian Villanova spins electro-pop-rock, and bar director Thierry Hernandez presides over a chic and lively mise-en-scene. Breakfast on the terrace at the Plaza Athenee. Photo courtesy of the Hotel Plaza Athenee. Max Poilane, 87, rue Brancion, near Porte de Vanves. Combine bites at this taste favorite with a swoop to the nearby Porte de Vanves weekend flea market and the antique book market on rue Brancion, Sunday and Saturday mornings only. Superb fresh croissants and the best hot-from-the-wood-oven Pithiviers and breads in town. Also on my radar: Pain de Sucre on 14 rue Rambuteau for rose marshmallows. Also, Du Pain et des Idees, 34 rue Yves Toudic (10th, a little out of the way, over near the Canal Martin but worth the adventure) for apple and raisin bread flavored with orange blossom. “A final reminder. Whenever you are in Paris at twilight in the early summer, return to the Seine and watch the evening sky close slowly and the last strands of daylight fading quietly, like a sigh.” —From 'Paris' by Kate Simon (1967). Photographer Richard Avedon also loved the Palais-Royale for location shooting. Here, the famous Suzy Parker in tartan running through the gardens of the Palais-Royale in the sixties. Note the arcades and lanterns, iconic, in the background. Photo credit: Richard Avedon photography is available through Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco.

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