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PARIS
by Thom Nickels
Paris’ beauty is something to behold.
From the formal gardens, historic architecture, lively
streetscapes, and the regal buildings along the Seine,
to hip new restaurants, hotels, and galleries, this
is a city built to seduce the senses and instill a sense
of wonder in everyone who comes here.
On a recent visit, my stepping-off
point was the luxurious Hilton Arc de Triomphe Paris
(51-57, rue de Courcelles. Tel: 5836-6706. http://www.arcdetriomphe-paris.hilton.com)
an Art Deco hotel designed to resemble a 1930’s
transatlantic liner. Located near the Arc de Triomphe,
and just minutes from the Champs Elysées, the
hotel’s Brazilian rosewood and Chinese jade interior
will put you in the right mood to enjoy The City of
Lights. Besides suites and rooms with terraces and balconies
facing the Eiffel Tower, some rooms also overlook the
grand Andalusian Patio with its fountain and palm trees.
Executive Suite guests have access to an executive lounge
with a complimentary buffet of hors d’oeuvres,
coffees, fine French champagne, and wines.
Paris’ new boutique hotel, Hotel
Keppler (10, rue Kepler 75. Tel: 4720-6505. http://www.keppler-Paris-hotel.com)
has 39 large rooms and suites designed by noted designer
Pierre-Yves Rochon. Just yards away from the Champs
Elysées, this glamorous addition to Parisian
hotel life offers cool sophistication in the center
of the city. Complete with personal safes in each of
the rooms, televisions and telephones in the bathrooms,
and a tea room and library just off the lobby area,
the colorful room décor with Rochon’s ingenious
designs will ward off the worst cases of existentialist
angst.
No trip to Paris is complete without
a trip to a museum. The city’s two newest additions
are the Musée des Arts Decoratifs and the Musée
du quai Branly.
Housed in a wing of the Louvre, the
Musée des Arts Decoratifs (107 rue de
Rivoli. Tel: 4455-5750, http://www.
lesartsdecoratifs.fr), is a retrospective of
French interior design, featuring entire rooms from
old chalets, examples of wallpaper, textiles, furnishings,
and recreated rooms from the distant past to the present
day.
Located on the Left Bank at the foot
of the Eiffel Tower, the Musée du quai Branly
(37, quay Branly 206. Tel: 5661-70 00. http://www.quaibranly.fr)
is the largest new museum to open in the city since
the debut of the Pompidou in 1977. The museum’s
extensive collection includes over 300,000 religious
artifacts, textiles, jewelry, masks, sculpture, and
photographs from around the world.
For a concentrated city tour I contacted
Manstouch Travel (13 ave Duquesne. Tel: 4551-5380.
http://www.manstouch.com),
an American company that specializes in private guided
tours. Founded in 2002 by Larry Davis, Manstouch offers
different introductions to the city. I took the “Gay
Soul of Paris Tour,” a four-hour walk through Notre
Dame, the Latin Quarter, Rue Mouffetard, and the Luxembourg
Gardens. With my trusty guide, Rotem Dahan, we took
detours that included a look at Gertrude Stein’s
apartment house and the once famous existentialist café,
Café de Flore, former hangout of Jean-Paul Sartre
and Andre Gide. Literary types no longer linger or write
here, but those with lots of cash to spend on drinks
and dinner do.
Manstouch also has tours of Montmartre,
the gay Marais district, and something called “Erotic
Vision of Male Beauty in the Louvre.” The erotic
vision tour will take you inside the Louvre where the
focus will be on erotic works that celebrate the male
body. Manstouch Travel promises that this tour will
be like a time travel trip “through the centuries
of male seduction.” For the fashion-minded, Manstouch
also offers the “Be a Fashionista” tour where
a guide will take you to the chic fashion shops along
the Rive Droite. This tour also includes an introduction
to the gay history of Paris. Some of the tours include
dinner, drinks, and visits to “a fine French sauna.”
Paris’ newest and most talked about
gay bar is Oh Fada! (35, Rue Sainte Croix de
la Bretonnerie. Tel: 4029-44 40. http://www.ohfada.com).
Decorated in the azure, verdon, and bleu outremer colors
of the south of France, Oh Fada! is the most popular
bar in the Marias district and has often been referred
to as a bar filled with dark haired French boys who
appreciate humor and surprises. It’s even said
that the name Oh Fada! is probably a reference to Madonna’s
“Oh Father” song. Whatever the origins of
the bar’s name, on weekends the place hosts an
interesting DJ mix of house, garage, and electro music.
This popular attraction also features intimate conference
and reception rooms for small get-togethers and private
parties. There’s even an underground dance floor
which is used as a “warm up” area before revelers
proceed to the main dance floor on the first level.
An ideal watering hole for those “stuck”
in childhood is Zero de Conduite (14, rue Jacob.
Tel: 4634-26.35. http://www.zerodeconduite.fr).
At Zero one can throw away all inhibitions and drink
cocktails out of baby bottles and color in coloring
books provided by the management. This is a new twist
on kink if nothing else. The clientele is mixed (French
metrosexual twentysomethings, their girlfriends, and
young gay men), but one thing is certain: everybody
sucking on those baby bottles and looking through the
in-house cartoon books has a serious “thumb sucking”
fixation. The décor is a mix of old fashioned
Romper Room with a dash of Mister Rogers thrown in (think
bowls of children’s candy and lots of stuffed “cutesy”
animal figures arranged around the bar).
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