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Summer in Paris, and Relaxing Is Easyby Zoe Strimpel
Just back from Paris, where tourist season (particularly American) is in full swing. On hearing of the timing of the trip, most people offered me a "glad it's you, not me" gesture. Summer vacations in European cities such as Paris, Rome, and London are rightly synonymous with endless lines, endless sell-outs and therefore disappointments, excessive sweat, inflated prices, and, of course, exhaustion. But that's if you try to do too much, and if you hold yourself to a schedule of cultural box-ticking. Paris this weekend was anything but sweaty and overwhelming — because the friend I was visiting, who has been living there for months, wouldn't let me near the Louvre or the Picasso Museum (oh, and the weather was London-esque). We kept it strictly drinking, watching, park-lounging, and shopping along the theme of Paris old and new. First night: drinks at Le Crillon at Place de la Concorde, arguably the most luxurious and certainly one of the most stately hotels in the city. It's a tribute to the 18th century like none other: soaring painted ceilings and gold galore, not to mention service that even the Sun King would have approved of. The contemporary arm of the trip included brunch at the Murano Urban Resort on the Boulevard du Temple, a ridiculously self-conscious contemporary hotel where rooms are named things like Angelo and Honey Moon (some have in-room swimming pools). Pure fun, though: Globular alligator statues in garish metallics guard the door alongside hipster hosts. Then, through the bright white lounge with a fake fire spiking along the length of the wall and one of those famous Veuve Clicquot double chairs, a dining room whose crowning glory is a raised area with fake grass and an altar-esque vodka bar. After brunch, as we strolled through the Marais, I expressed an urge to visit the Musée Carnavalet. (Wasn't it criminal to partake in hedonism with no cultural rigor at all to counterbalance?) Instead, my companion guided me into the first of dozens of boutiques with 50% sales on, on the Rue Charot. I forgot all about the Carnavalet. Summer's a great time for Paris — just don't come with too many pretensions of cultural grandeur.
London Arts & Letters Homepage 
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