L'Apres-Midi du Repos

Wednesday, November 7. I leave Paris next Wednesday. I have to keep reminding myself that there was a time in my life when a week in Paris would have been a gift!


Check out building on r. St Martin to see location of possible apartment for spring. The front door is not as nice as the one I have now (OK, that's being really picky) and the building is smaller but attractive. The biggest bad news is that there is a patisserie on the ground floor! Much will power will be in order if I live here. The building is one or two in from the corner of r. St Martin and r. Rambuteau but basically caddy-corner to the Centre Pompidou. The apartment itself (from the photos) looks quite nice so I think I'm going to take it.


Walk to down r. des Francs-Bourgeois to Place des Vosges. Great window shopping along this street and beyond. Find wine shop on r. pas de la mule that may have liqueur de myrthe but it's closed on Mondays AND Tuesdays! I peer in all of the windows and peruse the window display but don't see it anywhere. Take down phone number so can call tomorrow morning before coming back. Anyway, I'm beginning to think that myrthe should only be imbibed in the context of a wonderful evening at l'Alivi!


Take metro from Bastille to Georges V and walk to Hotel Georges V for "l'apres-midi du repos" (during which Debussy's L'Apres-Midi d'un Faun would not have been amiss). The contrast between this arrondisement and the one I have just left is striking, almost startling. No gradual transition from one to the other that one would have if walking. There are many different worlds in Paris, and this is one of them.


One of the buildings along the way (39, Avenue Georges V) is undergoing renovation and is covered with scaffolding, I assume, because the scaffolding is itself covered by a work of art! The scaffolding is completely shrouded, and the "shroud" has been painted to look like another building - but what a building! All wavy lines and curves, as though this sedate 19th c. Haussman building had just returned from a night on the town! It reminds me of Frank Gehry's "dancing house" in Prague. The 3-D effect is perfected by the fact that some of the decorative features of the actual building have been worked into the design and "protrude" through the covering. (photos)


Past the Prince de Galles hotel and into the lobby of the Georges V. All I can think of is the film "French Kiss" !!! However, those thoughts are banished with one glimpse of the flowers in the reception area - they are literally breath-taking. Of course, it doesn't hurt that they are all YELLOW (!) but there are hundreds upon hundreds of yellow roses and yellow calla lilies, in cylindrical glass vases that are at least three feet tall. There is just no way to describe how glorious they are or how creative the display itself is (some of the calla lilies are inverted in their vases which sounds ridiculous but, believe me, it isn't). Now I understand why the rooms here are so dear! I could stand transfixed for a long time, but I have a rendez-vous at the spa!


Side bar: Did you know that when we refer to something expensive as being "dear," it comes from the French way of referring to "expensive" which is "cher" but, in French, "cher" also can mean "dear" as in "mon cher ami." Just a little etymological detour there!


I ask the lovely, uniformed young woman standing next to the revolving door how to get to the spa and following her directions make my way around to the left, down a corridor, to the right and to the elevators where there is a button labeled "SPA." Couldn't be easier. There is a small reception area there and a tres chaleureux accueil. As I am speaking to her in French, the receptionist asks me if I want to continue speaking in French or if I would prefer to speak in English. I tell her that I definitely want her to speak French, that I will try to speak French, but if necessary, I will fall back on English!


The receptionist shows me into the changing room where I put on one of the terry-cloth robes, have some water (little bottles of Evian in a tiny glass-fronted cooler that also contains cool face cloths), use the toilets (hey, I want to check out all of the facilities!), weigh myself on the little scale placed discretely in a corner (!), try out the sauna (very hot), use one of the cool face cloths from the little cooler, and present myself back at the reception area where my masseuse, Dominique, is waiting for me! (Of course, the reality is that I have some difficulty finding my way back to the reception area as the changing rooms (men's and women's) are in a little warren of corridors and closed doors (OK, it's a gorgeous little warren but still confusing). There's a door leading to the pool, another door leading to the excercise room, one to the Relaxaion Room, many doors labeled "Soin" and on and on. I should have left a trail of bread crumbs.)


Dominque takes me into one of the rooms labeled "Soin" for my 80-minute massage! Needless to say, she is excellent (what else would one expect at the Georges V?). She asks where I am living and when I tell her the 4th, she tells me about a couple of little restaurants she likes in the area, one of which is called "Le Loir dans Le Thiere." Apparently, un loir is a little brown furry animal but she can't remember what it's called in English (and I certainly don't know) so this leads us into a French-English lesson of small animal names! We cover the marmot, the ferret, the possum, the raccoon, the squirrel, the rat, the mouse, the skunk and the chipmunk but never do figure out what is "le loir." (I look it up later and it's "dormouse" so the name of the restaurant is, literally, The Dormouse in the Teapot.) She lives in the 13th, near the Biblioteque National, and rides metro line #14, the automated one, so her metro line is never on strike!


All good things must come to an end and so does the massage. I'm so relaxed I can barely sit up on the table. Dominique takes me back out to the reception area, installs me next to a small table in a chair overlooking (through a crystal-clear plate glass window) the beautiful tiled pool. She brings me water from an urn that contains (in addition to water) basil leaves and cucumbers. Very refreshing. There is a lovely arrangement of dried fruit on the "buffet" so I have a few dates. Perfect.


In a few minutes, Delphine is there to lead me off for my pedicure, which also includes a hand and foot massage. There are several issues of Vogue and Elle here for my reading pleasure, but after a few minutes of that I decide it's too much work to read! I am in heaven, and my feet have never looked (or felt) so good. Picking a polish color is the biggest effort I've had to expend so far (other than arising from the massage table), and we settle on a dark red by Chanel. Once we are done, she leads me to the Relaxation Room where I can rest/read until the polish is dry and pours me a cup of tea. I'm sitting in a lovely chair with an ottoman but there are also three beds in this room, with filmy curtains tied back around each, and covered with fluffy pillows and beautiful duvets. Very inviting, and I'm considering staying the night! Next time (!), I'll know to leave enough time after the massage for a nap. :)


Back to the changing room (I'm learning my way around here by now!) to have more water and to get dressed. In the changing room, in addition to the "lockers" (each of which naturally contains a small safe for your jewels!) and the sauna, are two showers (with shampoo and body wash) as well as a complete collection of anything (and I mean, an-eee-thing) you might need: individual shaving kits, shower caps, spray deodorant, make-up remover, body lotion etc. I'm sure I've left something out but you get the idea. Overall, the spa is not as large as, for example, the one at The Greenbrier but, hey, this is Paris, not the backwoods of West Virginia where there is lots of room to spread out! I say that fondly, because my father's family moved to that very part of West Virginia (then Virginia) when they got off the boat from Holland, and I love it there.

Notes to finish later:
-Marlene Dietrich story: voice and feet mais rien d'autre!
-gift bag with lots of little beauty products, lotions and things
-Dominique and Delphine cluster around before I leave. I think they don't see many Americans who speak French so I'm a curiosity. also they may feel more relaxed with me because i'm not a guest of the hotel.
-"au printemps" (yes, honey, but only if the exchange rate is better!)
-to the Caisse to settle up with my gift certificate (I even have enough leftover for, perhaps, a cup of tea here one day!). ask if it's the custom to tip in the spa. am assured that, although some people do, it is not expected.
-try to discretely take a photo of the flower arrangement in reception area.
-back out the revolving doors past the same "door-woman" who directed me to the spa when I came in - has she been standing here all this time saying "bonjour/bonsoir monsieur/madame."


All in all, the experience of a lifetime. I don't think I've been called "Madame Stulting" (with a delicious French accent) so many times in one day! A big thank you to the T&E department at S&G for this.


Take the metro back to Hotel de Ville (very convenient as Hotel de Ville and Georges V stations are on the same line). It seems somewhat incongruous to be sitting on the metro (Everyman's Transport) with my lovely silver gift bag with the interlocking GVG logo all over it! To market and home to rest up after my strenuous afternoon! :)


Later, I go to dinner at the Creperie Beaubourg, right around the corner from my apt, which I haven't tried before. Galette (this means crepe sale as opposed to crepe sucre) with tomatoes, onions, cheese and potatoes, and Salade Saison (this means lettuce!). Sit and read book after finishing (the pause before dessert!). Crepe sucre with creme de marrons.


Re French: Ya gotta love a language where the word for "avocado" and for "attorney" are identical (l'avocat). However, if you're a lawyer and a woman, you get to add an "e" to the end of "avocat" and pronounce the "t" so as to make it extra clear you are not an avocado!