Paris. Hotel des Grands Boulevards
I was sitting in my tiny office in our apartment. There was too much mess with books, plates, and products everywhere. My always-rushing and wishing-for-order mind was silent as it was looking for an answer and trying to decide which hotel in Paris to book. I opened my computer folder, called Paris hotels, with overwhelmingly too many of them there. Did I wish to stay in the 2nd, the 3rd, the 10th, or even the 16th arrondissement? I did not know. One by one, I opened the saved pictures of hotels when one particular caught my eye with an odd picture that I had saved with almost nothing in it, just the name of the hotel and a cloudy sky.
I wrote Grands Boulevards neatly in the search engine of Instagram and needed no more as to press that magical BOOK button, meaning that I would have a place to stay in Paris. The button that makes so many of us happy and I was one step closer to taking that long-planned trip. I booked it. Just for a night, as sad as it might sound, but that was all I needed coming from Lyon to have some Parisian joie de vivre.
Although, a few years ago, for a month I was living just a few minutes away from this place, it is so well hidden that I did not even notice it while passing by almost every day. On a Sunday afternoon, with the city so unusually quiet, stepping out of the metro I looked around, seeing no signs of the hotel. Worrying if again I had made a mistake entering the wrong address, I walked, inhaling the after-rain Sunday in Paris, with just a few people passing by. It seemed almost unnatural to have the city so quiet, but there was an explanation as that was the last day of the school holiday, everyone returning home and once again preparing for that torturing Monday after vacation.
And there I suddenly was, at a tree-enclosed entrance, entering another world hard to leave, to be honest. In the restaurant I could feel that it was Sunday because people, while enjoying their brunch and glasses of wine, were talking louder than on weekdays. The sun was finally out from those dense clouds, shining its rays through the glass and playing on the walls in the hallway. A golden bee on my door awaited my arrival and guarded me while I was there, enjoying the luxury of silence in the middle of Paris. My eyes picked up all the details around me — the coffee machine, local artist teacups, organic tea selection, the exquisite minibar collection, and the terrace on the other side of the building where I would have my cocktail later that night. Jazz radio playing Frank Sinatra welcomed me almost knowing my love for him, so I slightly turned the volume up and sat in my bed engraving that moment in my memory.
Designed by Dorothée Meilichzon, the hotel is located in an 18th-century building, with smaller to large intimate and romantic rooms, leading to either a rooftop terrace serving iconic cocktails or perfect for a simple glass of champagne, or to a restaurant under a glass roof allowing to feel that always changing sky above.
“Inspired by the building’s history and Queen Marie Antoinette, the interior seduces the senses bridging the gap between romanticism & aristocracy with a gentle nod to the mischievous.”
After a dreamy night in that Brittany linen, I woke up too late, finding myself in front of the breakfast table wishing there was a much worse choice, as no matter what I laid my eyes on, I wished to have it. A few moments later, there I was, with a bowl of granola, a piece of sourdough bread, home-cured salmon, and banana bread, promising myself not to finish all of that, yet I somehow did, just after that beautiful cup of my double espresso had arrived and was safely sipped with pure joy, as finally there was a hotel with a good coffee and no need to sneak out for one.
A few hours later, checking out, I was desperately trying to find another reason to come to Paris and stay at Grands Boulevards. I simply did not wish to leave because it felt like home. So, I did find a reason, and so should you.
Hotel des Grands Boulevards
www.grandsboulevardshotel.com
17 Bd Poissonnière, 75002 Paris
Instagram: @hoteldesgrandsboulevards
