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A Paris Exhibit about Jews Deported from the MaraisA boutique hotel for tourists, a modern one for business travelersBy Lucy Komisar
The exhibit was mounted on the 60th anniversary of the return to France of survivors of the camps. Mayor Bertrand Delanoë said the purpose was “to definitively reject indifference, hate and barbarity.” Jews had lived in the Marais since the 13th century. The quarter still has shops, restaurants, a museum of Jewish art and history and the famous synagogue of the rue Pavée. It is, as it were, a living museum. But so, I realized, is much of Paris, which you see by serendipity – as I did the exhibit -- as you wander through the city.
But the building changed through the centuries, after the sport lost favor. Still, the 300-year-old beams remained. In 1988, the old building was reconstructed by an adventurous architect and, voilà, there is the boutique Hôtel du Jeu de Paume. It is a perfect tourist hotel, located on a charming narrow street that exudes picture-postcard Paris.
There’s a contemporary feel to the Warwick Champs-Elysées, with modern art in the lobby and internet connections in the rooms. G. Paul LeBlanc, a spokesman for Warwick International Hotels which has headquarters in Paris, says that each hotel in the group is related to the community. For this Warwick, clearly that means stylish modern food and art!
by Lucy Komisar |
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TM
I
was walking along the rue de Rivoli in Paris and noticed a banner on the huge
stone Hôtel de Ville, the city hall. It announced an exhibit, “Du Refuge au
Piège (From Refuge to Trap), The Jews in the Marais.” It documents the arrest
and deportation of Jews by the Paris police on orders of the Nazis and French
collaborationists.
Walk
a few minutes south from the city hall to the Seine, and you will be on the
small, intimate Île Saint Louis. It’s the island next to the Île de la Cité,
which holds Nôtre Dame. On the small main street is a building that Louis XIII
constructed in 1634 as a court for a racquet sport called Jeu de Paume. He was
trying to get people to move to the island and through this would be a draw!
Real estate hasn’t changed in centuries!
Among
my favorite features are an intimate lobby library and an unusual dining room
with marble pillars and wood beams. It has a painting of the eponymous sport.
The lobby library was just the place for me to have a chat with an editor of “Le
Nouvel Observateur” – a prominent weekly news magazine. Curiously, when he heard
where I was staying, he suggested it! It was like being in my own living room.
The
living art of Paris is in its street life, and on the right bank, the
Champs-Elysées is a prime location for that – and for sitting at cafés watching
people pass. On one warm evening, the cafés along the boulevard were jammed.
Doesn’t this café appear a prime subject for immortality in paint? It was a
convenient step around the corner to another hotel where I stayed, the Warwick
Champs-Elysées.
The
Warwick is a popular business hotel. And the restaurant Le “W” (stands for
Warwick, not you-know-who) is presided over by Franck Charpentier, cited in the
book of “Maîtres Cuisiniers,” the master chefs of France, for 2005. That is
quite an honor; there are only 24 chefs listed for Paris! For those who eat and
run, the Warwick is just blocks from the Air France bus terminal and RER train
station at the Arc de Triomphe.
Hôtel
du Jeu de Paume 
Hôtel
Warwick Champs Elysées
Exhibit
“Du Refuge au Piège” (From Refuge to Trap), The Jews in the Marais
