Hotel Original Loves Itself Madly in Paris

March 24, 2013

Arriving from London on the Chunnel Eurostar is interesting. I’ve done the channel, but not the chunnel. The chunnel needs net. But it’s fast.

The Hotel Original is in Marais very close to the Bastille metro. Incredibly easy to get to from almost anywhere in Paris (including Gare du Nord where the London train “lands”). That’s good. But it’s on the very busy boulevard Beaumarchais in 11. Get a room in the back if you can.

The design here is cheeky and stylish and about as in your face as can be. But it’s a great space even if it does love itself madly as it looks at itself in the mirror. Perhaps a better name might have been Hotel Narcissus, eh? The joker could play the role of Demeter.

Who’s purple? Original (not ordinary).

The staff is very nice. Friendly and willing to sacrifice their cell phone number for Musee D’Orsay tickets. The space is striking inside—well lit and quirky with fiber lights in the form of jellyfish swimming liberally throughout the halls.

Room 205 (the joker) is super. And super tiny. This is Paris, but NY is NY, Boston is Boston, and San Francisco is San Francisco. Meaning, there are bigger rooms to be found in this city in boutique hotels. I just don’t know where they are yet.

Magic entrance.

Just don’t turn on the lights.

The bathroom glass cube shower (!) helps the room seem bigger.

Bathroom lurking in the corner.

Check that out. A glass shower cube.

Store your stuff in the hall though.

No room for your toothbrush here.

Neon threesome?

The joker looms.

Paris has gorgeous boulevards.

Our welcome to Paris was complete with a superb and simple meal at Chez Oscar. Man do the French know how to cook! In the end, our meal at Chez Oscar was the most memorable and fun because the owners (Oscar and Marina) were fantastic. We went back to visit them throughout the visit.

Mixology? Maybe, but not on Dimanche or Lundi. Or maybe not.

In any case, the Hotel Original is a four showerheads location. A very nice little boutique with some minor drawbacks (you can choose either a noisy room or a tiny room, but not a large quiet room from what we can tell).

Gorgeous blue on a Lundi.

Speaking of Lundi, our visit to the Pompidou was superb. Lunch at Les Bonne Soeurs was very nice indeed. Dinner at Minimes was not quite as good as the drinks (they can now make a Liberal) or the atmosphere, but was nothing to complain that loudly about. We had more fun the first night eating further down the food chain.

Martedi included some time at Musee D’Orsay (where advanced tickets were necessary and helped us avoid another very long line). There was also the obligatory retail at LaFayette, a superb bistrot dinner with Stephano at Chez Andre, and a night visit to the Eiffel tower.