AFAR Live March 4th: A Virtual Trip to Paris
Join us as we take a virtual trip to Paris with three experts, who’ll share their insider knowledge and intel about lesser-known itineraries and tours, can’t-miss restaurants, exciting updates on hotels and museums, and more. Our esteemed guests include Walking the Spirit owner JULIA BROWNE, who’s been guiding travelers through the history of Black Paris since 1994; EMMANUEL CORNUBET, CEO of the 1492 Company, a destination management company for Paris and France; and FRANKA HOLTMANN, General Manager of Le Meurice, the original palace hotel in the heart of Paris.
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CONNECT WITH AFAR
Afar.com is a digital and print magazine that publishes travel tips, guides, news, and stories: https://www.afar.com
Get updates on the latest articles, travel news, and more from AFAR by signing up for the AFAR newsletter: https://afar.com/newsletters
Follow AFAR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AfarMedia
Follow AFAR on Twitter: https://twitter.com/afarmedia
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TravelTranscript
00:00:00 There we go. And I'll just start in about a minute or two. So, okay. Yeah.
00:00:07 Right. How long you're already in London?
00:00:11 I've been in London, more than a year and a half.
00:00:15 Okay. So when I lived in New York.
00:00:17 And you don't miss New York.
00:00:19 I did desperately I desperately missed it. And now I don't miss it. So, I don't know. I think we'll see when I go back right. I mean, did you went to New York often probably
00:00:29 Yes, I love New York. I'm missing New York.
00:00:32 Yeah, yeah. I can't believe I haven't been back in more than a year. So, I miss egg sandwiches.
00:00:40 Hi Julia.
00:00:41 Hello.
00:00:44 Hello.
00:00:46 Hello, Frank. Nice to meet you.
00:00:48 Good to see you.
00:00:52 And we're just going to start in about a minute and I'm going to introduce Franka.
00:00:58 And then you Julia.
00:01:00 Okay, great.
00:01:05 I'm just going to turn your and then should I turn my I should turn my video off eventually. Yeah, yeah, that'd be great. Then we can.
00:01:12 You let me know when.
00:01:14 Perfect.
00:01:20 I'm going to turn it off. I got it. Yeah.
00:01:23 Thanks.
00:01:26 Good. Well I think I'll go ahead and start so you have so much to cover Frank guys so thank you so much for being here. Hi everyone, my name is Annie Fitzsimmons and I'm thrilled to welcome you to what I hope is a mini trip to Paris for an hour.
00:01:40 So there's, there's been a lot of talk about the trends towards remote wild places post coven but in talking to our travel advisory council and Jennifer Wilson who recommended Frank for this.
00:01:52 We know that Paris and the classics are going to come back, and they will be amazing so thank you for being here Frank.
00:01:59 Thank you so much, Annie, I'm very glad to participate. It's great to speak to our American friends, we are very much missing. Yes, yes.
00:02:09 So you are the general manager at L'Amourice which is part of the Dorchester collection since 2006, and I love what you wrote in your bio you said I love the magic of hotels.
00:02:20 So would you mind just kind of setting us up where are we in Paris right now where is L'Amourice. Well, L'Amourice, as you said, part of Dorchester collection is the perfect Parisian and French palace with, I would say a combination of traditional and 18th
00:02:37 century opulence and contemporary chic. So we are the great thing about L'Amourice is that we are on the ideal location. We are rue de Rivoli but I never say that we are facing the Toulouse gardens because this really is known by everybody I think.
00:02:54 And the good thing is that what all our suite, most of our redone totally renovated rooms overlooking the Toulouse gardens is on this side, and so we are only a few steps away and on a walking distance from the Louvre, from the Place La Concorde and from the iconic Place Vendome.
00:03:18 Every lady knows Place Vendome with the high jewellery and so the good thing is really that you have culture, nature, shopping all in once, and you can walk. So we are very close to all the museums you cross the park you at the Musée d'Orsay, you have the Jeu de Paume I think everybody knows about this, the Orangerie, you go to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and on the other side to the Opera House, for example.
00:03:43 So I think this is really one thing that is our great asset. So the hotel is 160 rooms and suites and 29 have been redone over the past two years. And we really wanted to make it very elegant, a little bit like a Parisian home so 18th century style sometimes inspired by little Versailles design details.
00:04:12 And this time we also associated, because we worked for years now with the same architect Charles Ruffer, and this time for these new renovations he associated a young couple of designers, Margaux Lally and Luc Berger, two French guys like 35 or something, and they brought in some brought up some very new ideas, some modernity, but on little touches so that you really recognize the style of the Maurice
00:04:41 and I think especially Americans love this because they want to, they are Francophile and they want the French lifestyle. And so we provide a state of the art technology it's not complicated you can choose if you do want to do it on a computer or otherwise.
00:04:57 So I would say it's really the hotel of the views, and I will get back to this later. And the thing is when you wake up in the morning, you really know you're in Paris. So then we have some years ago we have redone our public areas.
00:05:13 You heard about the Dali which is our main restaurant when you enter the lobby, and we have revamped all these public areas and restaurants with Philippe Sark some years ago and this was a real great asset, a great idea because he's a little bit you know how, what he does and so it was, it was a kind of a bet but it was a great success.
00:05:38 And then of course we have, so we got all the Parisian crowd who is sitting here having talks and walks and then of course we, we got Alan Ducasse, the world famous chef Alan Ducasse to our hotel in 2013 he works already for the Plaza Athene and I know him for a long time.
00:05:58 And so recently with young chef Amory Bowie who is our new executive chef.
00:06:17 And so they really attract Parisians and they are coming back now all the time because they know what they find and a few years ago we opened the pastry shop because Cedric really wanted a pastry shop he said you know my dream is to get this pastry shop.
00:06:34 And I was a little bit hesitating because I thought oh my god, this is not really our job it's strange, but we did it because he was so successful. And I must say since it's open, it's the hot spot.
00:06:47 So his signature is a selection of sculptured like like trompe l'oeil sculptured food. And so he also wrote some books and the whole thing he, you get chocolate creations and everything and so he constantly nukes for new ideas and concepts and then of course we have since September our Valmont flagship which is called La Maison Valmont next door to the pastry shop of Cedric.
00:07:16 And with a direct access on Rue de Castiglione to the spa. Yes, and you know about I think I don't need to describe Valmont products because it's a Swiss product and the owners are really much involved so you get constantly new products and it's a great label.
00:07:37 I actually just got a question and asking when the restaurants will reopen because it says on the site that they're still closed so the hotel is open but the restaurants are closed.
00:07:45 The hotel is open since first of September for the moment the restaurants are closed, but we hope we hope that it was a question that maybe we were allowed to open on Easter, early April, and now we hear that it's probably our first minister you will talk right now he's on television.
00:08:04 He will say what's going on so in one hour we will know, but normally it's only open restaurants with terraces or gardens and the others might be later I heard something about June.
00:08:18 Yeah, let's cross fingers. Yeah, we want to accelerate because we are tired. Yeah, everyone's ready.
00:08:27 So I guess my next question how does it feel right now I mean how does Paris feel. Well, as we talked before before you you open the session. I mean, we really never stopped we always during the whole time now it's a year ago that the whole thing started, and we never
00:08:44 wanted to take initiatives because we really didn't want to stop working didn't want to stop to meet our clients and of course then with the lockdown we were obliged.
00:08:55 We did a lot of brainstorming with my executive committee and we said, well, we need to do something and everybody became very dynamic and we started finally, first of all we continued our, our renovations, that was a very good point and Dorchester collection
00:09:13 really allowed us to continue investments which is crucial.
00:09:18 And then we opened the Valmos bar but without any special promotion because we were not allowed to have champagne and cocktails and everything but we did one to one meetings and it worked well.
00:09:31 And the very good thing is that we really started to do, click and collect and take away so this was amazing because our ship our young chef first of all he did voluntary work in hospitals, and then I learned you can't with always the first to take
00:09:50 initiatives as well.
00:10:12 So, we started to take away the tasteful nice food from a star chef, and instead of cooking themselves. This was one of the initiatives. Is Paris is our takeaway culture in Paris, before it wasn't, it wasn't.
00:10:27 And there are some modern chefs who probably did it I was not so much into it but it was not a culture now. And then when we started for the moment.
00:10:49 We started to support 90% French because you know with all these crisis people started to question and to they wanted to know what can we do better and everything and they really wanted to support their suppliers as well because these guys are so much depending
00:11:06 on them. And so they were amazing and they we we reached 95% and our goal is to get up to 100% so good.
00:11:31 Yes, exactly. We had we hosted the film crew of all my see for our family, but I don't know if you got the occasion to watch it, I watched it because I wanted to talk with him about the, the series and, of course, it makes sense, because we are very close
00:11:49 to Vancouver, and also it gave a great insight to the noise because he was really cool and even took some of our employees on a small scenario and so it was very exciting for everybody and it's a good, good promotion for the hotel as well and we love.
00:12:08 Yeah, you know he's now most of the time living in Los Angeles.
00:12:15 Yeah, I brought him back. So, you know, what are some reasons obviously people will return to Paris I think right away but what are some reasons that they should come like in the fall are there any exhibits or new openings that you're looking at, or see I mean I'm German and I'm in love
00:12:30 with the city. So for me, it's all the time, even if I'm here for a long time already. And I would say what people are right now what I can see because for the moment we have a lot of Parisians and local people.
00:12:43 It's funny but Parisian young, young parents, they say, Oh my god, we want to get away from the children and everything and spend one weekend together in a very nice ambience and just forget about all these COVID stuff and so on.
00:12:58 So we started to make special promotions what you call staycation. And we did this also with Dorchester Collection and so what we could see is that people more than ever appreciate the care and attention of the staff.
00:13:13 And they prefer, I would say, a seamless stay they don't need the upper luxury or something glamorous but they just want to cool down want to stay in a nice ambience.
00:13:25 And I think they are also very keen of some festive moments of some fun, they want to laugh again and they want to drink champagne. And then, of course, there's still this thing that they want to feel secured and we do all the necessary so that they feel secure that
00:13:44 they don't have the sanitary things we have to respect, of course, and what they really like now is the French lifestyle and I think especially Americans or any other nations, they love to come to Paris for this French lifestyle and what we call "Arts de Vivre".
00:14:04 And what we do, we try to really anticipate what people are looking for. And there is a whole project with Dorchester Collection to improve the entire guest experience and that means we need to better know our clients and it's nothing indiscreet but we try when we talk to them, or when they tell us something so that they never have to repeat things.
00:14:27 You're not stalking them.
00:14:29 Exactly, absolutely. And then, for example, somebody who likes a temperature at 21 that next time he comes back he doesn't have to reclaim it again and all this. And then we try to find right now some hidden secrets for example we work with a very interesting photographer and he suggested to me said you know
00:14:48 I have very good clients, you know what, I can take them to the top of the Cologne Bandeau, you know, it's on the Place Bandeau, and you can walk up and then you see I did it so I wanted to know what it was. And then you are on the top of the Cologne and you can watch the whole place.
00:15:04 And you have all these sparkling facades with a high jewelry, which is like gems on this huge white place, and it makes you forget about everything you know it's like just a dream and you have the architecture and everything and you know you are in Paris, you see the width.
00:15:21 And all this is very important and I would say, especially now we have some new things which will come up in the future but especially now I think after this dark period, you have to switch the light on and make people smile and that's a little bit our goal with food with everything.
00:15:42 That's what we try to do. Well, and I have I have like 17 more questions for you in five minutes but I wanted to show a picture of the Belle Etoile penthouse because it's stunning and I didn't know about this until I started researching so let me just share my screen real quick and you can start talking about.
00:16:00 Let me just show this incredible. I mean look at this, this is your, this is your wow penthouse right?
00:16:07 Where I take my sun bath.
00:16:12 Amazing. I mean, look at this. So, and this is how big is this penthouse. This is 3000 square feet, the suite and 3000 square feet for the terrace which goes all around the suite so you have a 360 views degree.
00:16:28 Wow. So here's the other side of the view. So what are we seeing here? The Louvre? Here you see, here you are on the side you see in front of you the Musée d'Orsay on the little bit on the behind the Louvre with the pyramid you can see it here. Do you see when I show it? No.
00:16:45 And then, yeah, exactly where you put the, let me see. You can see the pyramid right there. Yeah, exactly.
00:16:52 And so this is, this is amazing and if you spend there the afternoon because sometimes I hosted some specific events.
00:17:01 You can see how Paris, the whole ambience is changing we go from sun to slowly getting darker then you're in summer nights it's wonderful. And we did a lot with our chef also about that to do private parties, dinners, while we were not allowed to open restaurants so it was only one family
00:17:21 the number that was allowed to be there on this, but it's so big so you had the distance social distancing and everything. No problem. Yeah, yeah. And it's, it's incredible. So could you also talk a little bit about the Bourse de Commerce, I'm saying this wrong.
00:17:38 Can we get more information on when it's actually opening this incredible. No, no, no, they said it's opening soon so it's a private it's a private Pino collection.
00:17:47 It's the center of LVMH right yes yeah no no no it's caring.
00:18:05 And he asked Tadao Ando who is a Japanese architect, who did the, we did the books and I saw the whole, there was in Santo Pompidou they did an exhibition and you could see the market, how do you say market.
00:18:22 And I saw how it will be constructed Tadao Ando is very typical to really get the light in and everything and you will have a lot of contemporary art because Mr Pino is a collector and he really knows everything about art he's a matter and nearly professional
00:18:39 and also they will, there will be educational programs and they will do screenings conferences, there will be multiple things you can do at this box and they normally it was supposed to open in June, then they say April so for the moment we don't have an exact date,
00:18:58 but it will be soon as soon as it'll be, it'll be one of the big draws I think or one of the. Oh yes I think. Yeah, we did have a quick question how the Netflix collaboration for Lupin came about, did they just did they come to you, or, yeah, for now I think first of all we had
00:19:15 a chance to see very often as a guest, and I love the Maurice and as I said, as he's now very often in Los Angeles, when he comes to Paris, most of the time he's here, staying with us we know the whole family the kids and everybody and I think he really wanted
00:19:30 to meet here. And then we had very quickly some contacts with Netflix and the whole thing went very smoothly and now they are preparing the second season.
00:19:42 Can't wait. I would like to come then when they're filming.
00:19:46 And just to close if I could just tell him, ask if you know if you could suggest that someone eats one thing when they come to the Maurice what would that be? Yes, you know I'm a sweet tooth, so I love sweets, and there are many very very delicious things but what I like is the
00:20:02 lemon, what Cedric created from the beginning so the real the fake lemon, the fruit sculpture, and it's one of his signature things and I love it, and he even came out with his first book and made the book cover with this lemon, and he does not look like a lemon and you can
00:20:23 see it looks like a lemon when you see it you think it's a lemon but it's, it's, it's not a cake it's a pastry, there's some, some white moves inside and then the, the mixed food it's very light, very tasteful and he became famous with this, and then you can go to his Instagram.
00:20:42 I mean you, everybody we have some clients who only come to the Maurice because they want to see the star.
00:20:51 Well I think that's a very good reason to stay at the Maurice but thank you so much Franca I'm gonna I'm gonna introduce our next guest now Julia Brown but I'm ready to come to Paris so thank you I hope, hope to see you soon.
00:21:03 Thank you so much.
00:21:05 Thank you. Bye.
00:21:08 So Julia, if we can have you come on.
00:21:16 I see your there you are.
00:21:21 And I'm just going to turn off there we go. So perfect. How are you.
00:21:25 Excellent. I'm good it's a beautiful sunny day and snowy Montreal and yeah I'm my mind is in Paris my body is in Montreal. Yes, yes.
00:21:36 Background so anyway so I'm going to do a brief intro of you mean Julia we featured you in a story on a far.com a couple of weeks ago and I'm just thrilled to have you back because I just, I was really moved by our conversation.
00:21:50 So you own walking the spirit tours you've been guiding travelers through the history of black Paris since 1994.
00:21:58 And I'll let you tell your own story but let me just first start by asking how did you, how did you get the idea to start your company.
00:22:05 I literally it got me actually came and got me grabbed me by the neck.
00:22:09 I was, I had been moved to Paris in 1990 for Montreal, and I was just living a life like everybody else I had a little child I was married to a French man, and, and then I was taking courses at the Sorbonne and my professor the late Michelle fabo great man.
00:22:27 Yeah, he was doing a course on African Americans history but he had created written this book called African Americans, a street guide to African Americans in Paris.
00:22:39 And so I love history, I love Paris. And so I took the book and I'm walking around and.
00:22:46 It says that Langston Hughes, the writer from from Harlem, used to live in my neighborhood in the 17th district at near plus cliche. Whoa. So I went over there to the building, and I kind of case the joint this is like in the 90s when before they had the digit codes.
00:23:02 And, and so I waited for the concierge to go to lunch, and I snuck in and the book said he was up on the sixth floor so I went up to the social I stood in front of his door, this great poet who is a who became that poet laureate of Harlem.
00:23:17 I couldn't believe it and I thought, wow, there's. And so the book is about this thick.
00:23:22 And so I took it and I walked around and around and it was just all of a sudden Paris came became for me.
00:23:30 Finding this made an anchor for me because I kind of move from place to place, but this really brought me you know put my feet on the ground and make me wanted to know more, but I also wanted other people to know more but yes so that's how I started
00:23:42 doing the tours. Well, and you talk about how it isn't just a job it's it's a mission. Can you can you tell us more about that. Why do you feel like it's such a mission.
00:23:50 It is because you know when you when you come to Paris, and you you do all the traditional things, and you can really skim the surface you can come to Paris 10 times and still skin surface, but there's so much down below that you don't know there's so many
00:24:06 layers to Paris I mean it's like 2000 years old right so or about that and, and those years have got to show up somewhere right. So, I decided that I would make it my goal to inform other people to share this information with other people that just to know that what
00:24:27 is around you isn't all there is that there that Paris is such a crossroads for so many different nationalities so many different cultures, but if I stick to this culture the diaspora, you know the Caribbean, Africa, North America, were all the crossroads
00:24:44 and then you come here, and you can't really see it, but let me let me show you let me tell you so that's became my mission. Yes, and you guide tours yourself and you've also hired people and I actually had a question.
00:24:58 What are your most popular tours of black Paris and I wanted to ask you first about Josephine Baker because I think she's endlessly fascinating is, and you visit her Chateau in the door don't as well.
00:25:09 So, tell us a little bit about that tour. Okay, I'll be making tours in general that you do. Okay.
00:25:16 I'll start by saying that the reason why Josephine Baker is so fascinating. And the reason why that Chateau is thriving today is because people are, yes, as you said, and he she people are fascinated by her.
00:25:31 And when you go down to the Chateau you take the train down from Montparnasse to, to the small town there. And then you can, you know, go, go visit the Chateau.
00:25:40 When you go there, you really realize this woman was, she lived eight lifetimes in one she she's what I call a shape shifter. So you go in one room, and you see her, her costumes and just the beautiful but the outwardly, you know, fat flamboyant person that Josephine
00:25:59 Baker was. And then you go into another room, and you see the medals, one room dedicated to her medals and her military honors, and you think, huh, yeah I'd heard that she was, you know, running espionage for the French government for the, but I look at all the
00:26:15 medals here and look at all the all of the activities that she got into. Look at all the many people that she helped, you know, get out of France during the war so and and then she used that very Chateau for the French resistance, so they could, you know,
00:26:29 shuffle people through it. So, and then you go to another room, you, for example, you're in the kitchen, and you see all the posters of her Chateau going up for sale, and you think, oh no she's at the end of her life you know she's lost the Chateau, and your heart's
00:26:43 kind of breaking because it is really heartbreaking scene to be standing in her kitchen, where her children ate, you've just seen her children's bedrooms, and you know, like, 12 children or something right 12 children from 12 different nationalities.
00:26:57 And so the Chateau is a place where you can get the full picture, and so much more that you don't know about her. And then in the end she comes out and she, you think she's okay she's lost the Chateau, but that's not the end of the story she comes back and she, she does
00:27:13 another you know another big comeback on stage so. Yeah, she's really I mean she's, you probably when we talked before you called her the first black superstar, which was the very first black superstar ever.
00:27:26 And she is the most enduring black superstar. I mean, maybe Beyonce has maybe come up that far but she has influence but she influences many levels of society, and over many many different generations.
00:27:39 Yeah, and she came from, from nothing basically right and then she came nothing. Yeah, there was a washer woman Yeah, yeah. And of course I mean I think Americans especially.
00:27:50 You also have this fascinating black images in the Louvre tour which I'm searching pretty deeply Can you talk, talk about that tour and maybe a piece or two that you see on that.
00:28:02 Sure.
00:28:03 When you go through the Louvre Museum, you are going, probably first to see the Mona Lisa, you're going to see the Venus de Milo, and all the big pieces, and there's, you know, there are so many images that you don't, there's a lot you don't see.
00:28:16 But if you do a tour, a focus tour, like the black images will take you straight to those pieces and show you within the well known pieces, who are the black people in this picture in the in this painting, or the statue, and what do they represent because they're
00:28:31 not just there for you know painter doesn't put in somebody just for that, just for the sake of it. What do they represent so the first piece that I really like is the, it's called the portrait of a black woman.
00:28:44 It was called the portrait de negras before. And, and then it was renamed.
00:28:51 But two years ago to portrait of Madeline that's the name of the woman who's actually sitting as a model. But what's interesting about this painting is the woman she's sitting kind of sideways like this like it's like you would see a, an upper class white woman sitting
00:29:04 right so she's sitting this way, she's the only person in the painting, which is unheard of for a black person at that time, the painting was done at the time when when France was just in that lull between having abolished slavery 1794 and reestablishing it in the early 1800s so came
00:29:21 out just in between that time. So she represents something she represents this new, this new woman, a black woman, dressed like a white woman, but the, but, but there's the sense of freedom and she's half one of her breasts is bare so why is that is that is that,
00:29:37 you know, you know the thing about the black woman's body, not necessarily because if you look at like two paintings down you'll see the liberty, liberty, leading the people, and she's exactly the same and she is a champion of French freedom you know, so that there's
00:29:53 all these things mixed in this. So there's so many stories that you can just stand in one of one painting, and you can see what was going on at the time that the painting was thinking what is the painting protesting against.
00:30:04 What is it commenting on and it's always something like that. Yeah. And how many how many pieces or how long is that tour. It's two hours. It takes about two hours and there's probably maybe 1515 stops, but they're at different ends of the loop and you know the
00:30:20 tour is at different ends so one end to another.
00:30:25 Yeah, do you do you actually, we didn't talk about this but do you have a James Baldwin tour specifically or I don't I don't have it on on on my tour on my website, but I do people do like schools and organizations, contact me to do a specific James Baldwin tour.
00:30:43 And I do a lot of people that are studying for example James Baldwin and a lot of schools do that like they have a themed curriculum for their visit so yeah I do that one quite often yeah, and he's a guy who got around Paris quite a bit too.
00:30:58 I mean he wasn't just around, you can't talk about the Latin quarter, and the floor and the Domego without mentioning James Baldwin, but you also can't go to layout area where the where the old market used to be, and not talk about James Baldwin young around
00:31:13 there as well.
00:31:15 And you can't go to like stand in front of Notre Dame, and not talk about his rise, because you know he's he gets to read at the Shakespeare and company, and he gets to go to fancy parties on the Eastern Louis, when he when his stature is rising so he's all over
00:31:29 the city and so a tour of James Baldwin's Paris is a tour of Paris. Yes, well I was just listening to the Obama Bruce Springsteen podcast and they mentioned reading James Baldwin so he's, I mean, and there's, they're opening a new center right
00:31:44 based on his. Yes, up in the 19th district no it's actually it's a center that's named as a media tech that's named the center George, not focused on him, but it's not, it's not linked to any him specifically as as a promotional piece for what he's done,
00:32:01 but the spirit of James Baldwin because it has a special area it's going to have a special area for refugees, and to serve refugees so that's one, one part of it. And do you know when that's opening or have they announced a date.
00:32:15 I'm thinking 24 but don't don't quote me on it. Okay, a few years away.
00:32:20 Well, that leads me to me, you know, who's, who's an Afro Parisian today that you think deserves a little more of the spotlight. There's a lot of them you know there's a lot of people doing a lot of different things.
00:32:32 We're like a team of people out there but if I even pull one person up, up to the top there's.
00:32:38 There is the writer, academic Mabula Samaroho, she writes, she's reading incredible books about black identity. There's Rokhaya Diallo she's an activist, if you're in France you've probably seen her on TV, so many times, and she gets, she's a strong, she's like she is strong
00:32:56 because she gets arrows slung at her all the time. There is the organization Little Africa, run by Jacqueline MP Ngo, and she started out, she started doing tours of the Goudon area up in the 18th district, and now she's building with her team, a center, right in that same neighborhood
00:33:16 that serves both tourists, locals, I mean local people in Paris come up and see what the Goudon is about, but also the local people, so she can showcase all this together, and there's a place for people to go a one stop where you can connect into black culture in Paris.
00:33:33 And then there's our great tour guides you know there's a lot of really good tour guides that are out there so that's it.
00:33:39 That's there's a lot. Well and I mean are you seeing more interest in incorporating, you know, black heritage or, you know, modern black entered introductions with into all travelers itineraries, or say all travelers because in Paris when you can take a tour for just
00:33:56 a few minutes, it's a different subject right. So, but I have had several tour guides contact me and asked me how can they integrate black heritage, what are some people in this area that I can mention so I you know I'll give them a couple of, and some of them are doing
00:34:11 tours, but we get tour operators as well, who, whose clients come to them and say, we want this in our itinerary so now they're more aware, and they and they're starting to say okay we're going to put this, I've got your price sheet here, and I'm ready for whoever
00:34:26 asks me and I might even put it out. It's a, it's not as easy as a sell because it's still very niche, you know, and there are bigger niches, but with the, with the, with the focus on Black Lives Matter this last year, and inclusion and diversity, and just
00:34:45 this is a modern society and there is that black history there, and it's part of the story. So, you know, the schools are always, always, always ask for in universities and schools of all ages ask for to include them in their tour.
00:35:00 Yeah, so, the more. And you have I mean we can't go to Paris right now but you you have this thing you were an associate producer on this documentary called Paris Noir African Americans in the City of Light.
00:35:12 Can you talk a little bit more about that and how we can watch that. Okay, it's a documentary that can be streamed this is a labor of love, filmmakers are from New York and they went to Paris for a year and either, and then they stayed forever that was 1986
00:35:27 but the documentary documents, the, the influence of African Americans in France, coming with the First World War, like the soldiers who brought jazz influence who introduced jazz to the entire continent.
00:35:42 And then we have the writers from the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, the artists that came in the 1920s, the musicians and entertainers like Josephine Baker.
00:35:52 They're the people that are responsible for that sense that black was beautiful outside of the United States, right, or outside of North America. So the film covers all of that all the people, the whole lot of people and whole different strands of society
00:36:07 and why they came to Paris, what they found in Paris, what was different from where they came from. And then it goes into the 2030s, 40s and then the second, the second wave comes with the Second World War, and then the great expatriate writers like Baldwin
00:36:22 and Chester Himes. So we cover all of that in the documentary and it's the reason for the documentary is again to bring awareness, but in one hour, you can get this whole story, and then it's your jumping off point to go do more research, and it's the archival
00:36:38 archive. We've got the filmmaker Joanne Burke got them from all kinds of sources, many from the French, French film archives.
00:36:46 And so it can be streamed on Vimeo, and the website is African, African Americans in Paris.com. Yeah, so, and you can also purchase it I mean the schools are purchasing it right.
00:36:59 Yeah, educational license so that they can have it in their in their, in their library, and all the students can can access this and I actually invited many times to to show the film at schools, and to give a like a q amp a and to follow up so it's a, it's
00:37:17 a way of introducing anybody who's interested to this little slice of history. That is a big slice of history. Right, right and making them want to know more.
00:37:30 Yes, like our conversation made me so so curious. And what is something you wish every single traveler to Paris new I mean they go to Paris for the croissants for the wine for the bread, but what do you wish that what do you wish everyone knew.
00:37:45 Um, I wish people would be aware, I'm not going to say more aware because you go to Paris, because you have that idea of the croissants the bread, and all that the blue.
00:37:56 But there's so much more to modern Paris okay so you go, and you're there for maybe a week. And, but in some time in that week, look around and see how many, how many different threads of culture live in Paris, because Paris has always been a place where
00:38:12 people have migrated through and migrated to. So all different Europeans, people from all different continents. And so just look around and and see what makes up modern Paris right.
00:38:25 So if you go to the jazz concert, where did that come from. If you go to Chinatown, what's the history behind that.
00:38:31 If you go, you hear there's a concert at the Swedish Center, Cultural Center. What's the history behind that.
00:38:37 And then you'll see there's so many African restaurants that are opening up all over the place. So there's just another look at Paris that it's not, it's not old school.
00:38:47 It's modern and it's more, so much more inclusive.
00:38:52 Well, we had a couple of questions come up one person asked, is it Julia doing the actual walking tour in Paris and the answer is sometimes right. I do, I do sometimes I do most I started doing them myself.
00:39:04 And then about 10 years in, I started in 1994 about 10 years and I started hiring guides and because you know there's a demand and you can't do everything, and every guide brings something's different.
00:39:15 So if you get me, if you get me I'm coming from a certain point of view, but then you get one of our guides like Kevi or Olette or someone, and they have different backgrounds, one will be from Martinique, another one has a mixed race background, another one
00:39:29 has half Russian half French, so you get a chance to ask these people questions. What is it like to be black in France, and then of your particular background or your connection to France.
00:39:40 Yeah, you get me you're still going to get something fantastic.
00:39:46 Another question was do you do black street art tours.
00:39:51 Oh, Julia, we just lost you.
00:39:54 Not yet, but there's an idea. Not yet, but there's an idea. Okay. Oh, really. Yeah, sorry. Yeah.
00:40:02 Internet is a bit unstable. No, it's worked it's worked well so far we just have a minute or two left but, um, do you also do you mentioned African restaurants, do you have a couple of favorites that you could talk about or are they in a certain area of Paris
00:40:15 are they all over.
00:40:19 There are all over.
00:40:22 You know that I used to go to a lot when I was living in the 19th. Last summer was wasn't even last summer was the summer before African fusion of a chain their chain, but I like the Villa Maasai which is much more upscale.
00:40:38 So, so you what you're finding is more, more fast food ones. There's a.
00:40:45 There is.
00:40:48 Oh gosh.
00:40:50 I don't even know if I named them off it so there's so many there's so many into the into the chat if you think of it but I had one more question that I did, do you offer virtual tours you do right.
00:41:05 I do but they're, they're usually privately asked for requested.
00:41:10 So we're getting there, we're getting there slowly.
00:41:13 But you just have to email you.
00:41:15 If you if you had.
00:41:17 Yes, you want to have done many of them for privately.
00:41:22 Well Julia Thank you so so much I'm going to introduce our last guest, Emmanuel corner corner Bay but I really appreciate you joining us today and very much. See you soon.
00:41:38 Emmanuel. Yes.
00:41:41 How are you.
00:41:43 Good. Well, we have so much to cover. And so I'm just going to jump right into it but I'm thrilled to have you, you're the founder of the 1492 company and you work with travel advisors to plan incredibly special trips to Paris and France will covers on our
00:41:58 travel advisory council said that you are one of the most special Paris and France people that he knows.
00:42:04 So thank you for being here.
00:42:06 Thank you for having me. We actually, we had a ton of questions come in for this webinar before.
00:42:13 And one of them I wanted to start just by asking you what is the latest news on Notre Dame.
00:42:18 What's happening there. It's a good one.
00:42:21 Well, as you know, the French are always loving a good controversy and complaining in general about anything. So about Notre Dame right now. It's the trees, because you have to find those huge old trees in order to redo the beans.
00:42:37 And so they are going to have to cut them down, obviously, and some people are not happy about that.
00:42:42 But as the Notre Dame is to be redone exactly the way it is. That's what is going to happen.
00:42:49 But the actual work hasn't started yet.
00:42:53 It took a long time to get rid of the scaffolding that burn whatever it was dangerous, blah, blah, blah.
00:42:59 And then COVID didn't help speed things up. But then they're on track to start this year.
00:43:05 They initially by the I mean the president himself said that it should be ready by the Olympics 2024.
00:43:13 Now they're saying probably 2025. But the good news. So this is the bad news. The good news is that we believe that some in some way, especially for our clients, because we used to have very special access to Notre Dame.
00:43:27 I believe our clients will be able to get special access in a year or two. And then they have been saying that worshipping will be allowed, even as renovation is still ongoing.
00:43:41 But I don't expect that to be before at least two years, because they need to make sure that everything's safe.
00:43:49 Obviously, and that's going to take some time. But yeah, in the next two years, I think people will be some some type of public is going to be allowed back into the club.
00:44:00 That's one of the benefits of a really good advisor, right? That special access.
00:44:04 That's sort of what we specialize in. So, yes. But it's also great that the worshipper, because that's it's a church after all, first and foremost.
00:44:13 And I think it's good that they are going to be able to back in. And also the city of Paris just announced that they're going to spend 50 millions sort of refurbishing, making it more modern.
00:44:23 And I guess more attractive. You know, this old square in front of it, which is a huge square. And it's an empty square always.
00:44:31 So they're going to do something about that. Yeah. Well, good.
00:44:34 Well, I wanted to ask you about hotel openings and fun stuff like that. But we did have a question about which, of course, is very important to what we covered afar about the future of sustainability in places like Paris.
00:44:45 What is Paris doing now to to for a more sustainable future?
00:44:50 Well, of course, there again, the Parisian are divided. Some are for it. Some are all against it.
00:44:58 But generally speaking and beyond Paris, the French, you know, as much as they are grumpy, they understand that we need to move in that direction.
00:45:08 It's easier in a more modern city. It's more, more a lot of challenges for Paris, but it's not going to stop, you know, people because the public wants it.
00:45:19 Most of them. And, you know, a lot of the politicians understand that it's it is this is a way to go, whether slow or fast.
00:45:28 And so there is money and there is will. And I think it's going to it's going to go.
00:45:33 I don't say, you know, it's not whether where you are on the political scale. I think they all agree.
00:45:39 Our current mayor has done some other will say a lot.
00:45:45 She's really trying to gear to go to next gear with a lot of urban forests on the menu.
00:45:52 A lot of urban forests. Yes. Urban forest.
00:45:56 Actually, the first one should because she's want to be an example is going to be in front of Paris City Hall itself.
00:46:03 So the huge city hall in the center of Paris, it's a huge empty square again, which they use for event and whatever.
00:46:09 She wants to plant trees and we're talking about actual real trees. And this is supposed to be what they call a urban forest.
00:46:17 There are only renderings, of course, for now, but it looks really promising.
00:46:21 A lot of vegetative roofs. But again, this is a challenge in Paris because we don't have a lot of those flat roofs that you need for that.
00:46:30 Beyond that, what they're trying to do each time there's a new building and your construction, as you can't really tear down buildings in Paris.
00:46:38 That's the issue there. They are trying to make the old buildings really modern and energy efficient in all different ways.
00:46:49 But without compromising the outside, because, again, that's against the rules.
00:46:54 Now, some of the buildings are getting special treatments that is they can add maybe one level or two.
00:47:02 But if it's glass and if it works well within the environment, one of the biggest challenges coming is the refurbishment of Gardenhorst,
00:47:10 which is actually going to be a challenge because it's one of the biggest hubs in Europe.
00:47:14 Not just for trains and the Eurostar, but also for trains going in Germany and in Israel.
00:47:23 And also it's a hub for the entire Paris region. And they want to bring office space.
00:47:29 It's really a little, let's put it this way, it's a little tired and even dirty.
00:47:36 I'll go that far. So they really have a lot of work there.
00:47:39 And they want to bring, of course, some nice boutiques, restaurants, blah, blah, blah.
00:47:44 So it's going to be a huge project. And I think this is going to set the tone for the type of project that really can bring Paris together.
00:47:52 The history of Paris and the beautiful Paris and the modern Paris for the real people that actually live there.
00:47:59 That's going to be a real challenge for the coming years. It's going to be ready for 2024 as well.
00:48:06 Well, the idea is to use, you mentioned some of the Olympics money, perhaps, to promote more sustainability.
00:48:12 Good. Well, so I wanted to talk about Chaval Blanc, because that's a huge opening, hotel opening in Paris.
00:48:19 I don't know when it's opening exactly, but why is that such a big opening?
00:48:25 And I don't think also people realize that the city of Paris made sure that there was a social diversity element for that opening as well, for this huge luxury hotel.
00:48:34 Yes, yes, you're right. That's actually, actually, I think this is one of the most modern thing that this mayor has done and it has been done many years ago.
00:48:44 Although we are only talking about it now. I think this was a really big thing.
00:48:48 Saying Paris can be both. Paris can be a city where there used to be only very poor neighborhood and you would walk in the mud.
00:49:00 Not that long ago, by the way, and only few places were for more high end residents.
00:49:07 So the center of Paris, which is, you know, very popular for tourists and school bars and whatever, and restaurants, is not traditionally is not a posh area.
00:49:20 It's a very popular area. And actually, Saint-Marie-et-Tain was the very first department store in Paris and as such was designed sort of for the working class.
00:49:30 You know, not definitely not high end. And, you know, initially, yes, because not everybody could afford a vacuum, you know, vacuum or whatever it was was sold there.
00:49:41 But it really wasn't high end. Like if you want high end department store right away, you think Galet Lafayette, Printemps and even higher, Bon Marché, which, by the way, is also property of LVMH.
00:49:54 And really everything. Almost. It's either him or Pinot.
00:50:00 Right. What Franca mentioned, right. The other Pinot. Exactly. Exactly.
00:50:04 With the Bourse du Commerce. So it's really that's why I think the city of Paris, the mayor was really adamant that, yes, you can go five star and can go all the way.
00:50:15 Beautiful, luxury, elegant. But we will ask that in the meantime, at the exact same time, you provide, you know, housing for people that can't afford.
00:50:26 Because let's be honest, you know, the rents in Paris have been going up, of course, with what happened last year, slightly going down.
00:50:34 But let's not fool ourself. It's going to come back. And this is one of the few things that can be done to try to balance it out.
00:50:42 So the hotel itself now, well, the department store is going to be a luxury department store.
00:50:50 It's a beautiful one because it's historical, because it's old, it has beautiful frescoes, you know, art deco and such.
00:50:56 And of course, you can trust LVMH to do an amazing job. The hotel itself is a bit of a mystery.
00:51:03 I mean, I heard about it a long time ago. I was I was offered a tour, which I declined because I really wanted to see it.
00:51:09 But I was like, yeah, like ready. The location is really great.
00:51:14 I mean, you know, overlooking the river and if you are higher up on the upper floor, you have a great view of Paris.
00:51:22 Chauvel Blanc definitely is a different product in terms of hotels.
00:51:27 In my opinion, although it's not a man, it's trying to go there.
00:51:33 The one property I know from them well is the one in Courchevel and it's definitely one of the top hotels in Courchevel.
00:51:41 But I think Courchevel is very different. The pressure is on for Paris because obviously Paris, you know, the expectation and it's where LVMH really.
00:51:51 It will certainly be one of the bigger openings.
00:51:54 And there's also the hotel at Versailles, of course, which many of us know about called Grand Controlled.
00:52:01 Yes, we've been we've been really waiting on this one because I mean, the news itself, like think about you can actually spend a night at Versailles.
00:52:11 That's what it is. It's not you're not in a hotel looking, you know, across the street at the castle.
00:52:16 You actually were actually that's initially, if I'm not mistaken, that's where the stables were.
00:52:22 So you can't get more inside it. It's looking over the Orangerie.
00:52:27 It's yeah, it's really I mean, we don't really know what to expect, although I've spoken with the owner of the of the old group.
00:52:36 They want to keep it very hush hush and whatever. But I'm really excited about it because it's definitely going to be more than just a hotel stay.
00:52:42 It's going to be a whole experience around Versailles. And we do offer very special access to Versailles as well, along with more regular touring.
00:52:50 But it's always so difficult. You know, it's always so because between the movies and the whatever and the and the French rules, which, of course, we're known for.
00:53:01 And it's anything in Versailles that is, you know, just behind behind the scene or different from the regular tourist pass is difficult.
00:53:11 So opening a hotel inside Versailles in itself, it's like, is that a joke?
00:53:16 Yeah. Yeah. I didn't even believe it at first. So I'm really, really excited about that scene.
00:53:23 I hope they'll be up to the challenge because if it's not great, then it sort of crumble and be like, oh, my God, it was such an amazing opportunity to do something almost unique.
00:53:35 And so I but I trust that they they have done a great job and will do a great job.
00:53:40 We'll have to see because, you know, the service definitely will be difficult because it's Versailles. But, yeah, I'm excited about this one.
00:53:47 I think that's I've been waiting for that one for a while. It's also it's the A.R.L. It's A.R.L.E.S.
00:53:53 We just had a question. Yes. And I think it's the restaurant as well. Right.
00:54:00 Yes. But the Ducasse restaurant open already. It's called L'eau.
00:54:04 OK. Yes. This same brand as a couple of other hotels that are actually one.
00:54:12 Yes. One is Bastille du Gourde in Provence. Yeah. It's a great hotel.
00:54:16 And they also actually own the property that is managed by Amman in Cochevel.
00:54:23 Yes. I mean, they have a new one in Val d'Isere as well. Right. Yes. Yes.
00:54:29 Yes. Exactly. Well, so I wanted to ask you, because, of course, we're talking about Paris, but there's so many amazing things within an hour of Paris and you had so many good ideas.
00:54:37 Can you talk about a few of your favorite places to go that are just within an hour?
00:54:41 Sure. I mean, that's that's sort of always a challenge. It's funny.
00:54:46 I mean, of course, our clients are I.N. and by definition, they want, you know, sometimes there are contradictions or whatever.
00:54:52 They want to be inside Paris. But after a few days, they'd like, you know, we need some air and let's get out of Paris.
00:54:57 But, you know, that's New Yorkers are like that, I guess.
00:55:00 And Londoners are like that as well. So that's no surprise to us.
00:55:03 So, yes, I'm always sort of surprised that even if our clients are well-traveled and whatever, they don't even know that there is probably as much to see outside Paris than inside Paris.
00:55:14 I mean, some clients still don't know that you can find Monet's own house and garden like an hour outside Paris, you know.
00:55:21 And let's not even get into the castle because there are so many we would spend an hour just, you know, saying and, you know, you can do a lot of things.
00:55:30 You can even go to a winemaker an hour outside Paris. You can go to a cheese farm.
00:55:35 You can milk cows and goats yourself if that's your fancy and or try just try the different cheeses and see.
00:55:43 I just wanted to bring this up because we you mentioned a minuscule chateau. What is that?
00:55:48 Yes, yes. Well, minuscule. It's for chateau, it's minuscule. It's a nice little estate.
00:55:54 It's Alexandre Dumas' own castle.
00:55:58 The Count of Monte Cristo.
00:56:01 Of course, he named it Monte Cristo because it's this big thing.
00:56:04 And it's a it's beautiful. It's you know, I'm an architecture buff and this is just beautiful.
00:56:11 It's a perfect little gem. You would think it's a castle that is big enough for one person.
00:56:18 You know, in my in my mind, Versailles is ridiculous because, you know, not even a hundred people can live in this place because it's just, you know, but Monte Cristo is really a castle.
00:56:28 It feels like, oh, where I could live there just by myself and it would be my own castle.
00:56:34 It's the perfect size. It's, you know, it's wonderful. But there are so many of those castles that are less famous.
00:56:40 One of my favorites that I discovered as a child is Volvicomte.
00:56:44 And more and more people know about Volvicomte.
00:56:47 Can you spell that? Sorry. Can you?
00:56:49 It's V-A-U-X space L-E space V-I-C-O-M-T-E.
00:56:56 OK. Yeah. And actually, without Volvicomte, not many people know that, Versailles would still be a hunting lodge, still be a little thing nobody would know about.
00:57:06 It's only because the king went to that castle that back in the days belonged to his minister of finance, got super jealous because he saw that this castle was amazing.
00:57:19 And it was like, this must have cost a lot of money. So this guy probably stole money from me.
00:57:23 And he actually sent him to jail, stole his interior designer, the painters, even the guy who did the landscape and brought everybody to Versailles and said, OK, now you do it.
00:57:34 You do the same, better, bigger. And that's exactly what they did.
00:57:38 And Volvicomte also got famous because it's said that it's a legend, of course, that the mask in the Iron Mask was jailed there for some time, maybe.
00:57:49 OK. Wow.
00:57:51 But it's a beautiful little castle, you know, 45 minutes outside of Paris that everybody should absolutely see.
00:57:57 Fontainebleau is 20 minutes away. And a lot of people go to Fontainebleau by train, by bike, by car, by bus.
00:58:04 They completely forget that you have to stop at Volvicomte. It's on the way. It's right there.
00:58:09 It makes no sense. Can't miss it. And you also mentioned the Barbizon village, which I wasn't familiar with.
00:58:15 And also the place where Van Gogh killed himself, Auberge Ravaux.
00:58:19 Yes. Yes. The Barbizon is actually right there. A perfect day, if you're going this way, is Fontainebleau, if you must, which I mean, it's beautiful.
00:58:29 Don't get me wrong, but it's just, you know, well-known and whatever. Volvicomte, you have to.
00:58:33 And then why not stop in Barbizon for lunch? It's a beautiful little village.
00:58:38 Like actually Parisians pay fortune to get a little house there because it's so beautiful and quaint and typical and whatever.
00:58:45 And you have this auberge, which was like a kind of dump of a hotel, let's be honest, where all those painters came and they would wake up at the crack of dawn and with their gear and go out in the woods and whatever in the field and start painting and even, you know, even come up with this new sort of painting.
00:59:04 And it's beautiful. And then you have Nier Giverny and we usually also pair those together.
00:59:10 You can see Monet's house and garden in the morning and then in the afternoon on the way back to Paris, we stop in Auverge-sur-Oise and you have the Auverge-Ravoux, which is also sort of an inn, you know, an old inn and where, you know, people would just sleep and eat and work, as Van Gogh was doing when he was painting around there.
00:59:29 But it was towards the end of his life. So he was not all there at the end, as I understand it.
00:59:34 And that's where that's where actually he actually killed himself.
00:59:37 Oh, well, I'm ready to go now again, but I wanted to just end. We have one minute. I wanted to ask you, because I think I wanted to ask you about rooftop restaurants in Paris.
00:59:47 A couple of your favorites, because I think we're going to want to return to be outside, of course, but also just to have these incredible views.
00:59:54 So what are your favorites?
00:59:55 Yes, I think the best that's sometimes the problem.
00:59:59 You have an amazing setup, a beautiful view and the food is disgusting.
01:00:03 That's sometimes my problem. So in order to avoid that, there is one sure thing in Paris.
01:00:09 It's L'Oise-aux-Blancs, which is on top of the Peninsula Hotel.
01:00:13 You can't go wrong there. Now, if you are a little more adventurous and you're willing to give it a try.
01:00:19 I even I couldn't try it because of what happened. But there's a new place that opened in Paris right on the Champs-Élysées with a really beautiful terrace, a lot of green, beautiful view.
01:00:31 And the interior design is really nicely done. Now, the food is the one thing that I can't tell you about yet.
01:00:38 It's called Bun. I don't know if I'm pronouncing it right. It's as some kind of Asian sort of Asian.
01:00:45 How do you spell it?
01:00:46 I think it's B-U-M.
01:00:48 B-U-M, like bum.
01:00:50 Yeah, which is not great in English. I'll leave it at that. But in French, it works.
01:00:55 And it's, you know, Asian sort of inspiration, whatever. But the terrace is really beautiful.
01:01:02 Now you have two terrace, rooftop terraces that are with good restaurants you can go to.
01:01:07 And they are on the top of Galerie Lafayette. And you can, it's Julien Sebag, the chef.
01:01:13 You can always trust this guy. Another terrace, which is great for a younger crowd, you know, dancing, clubbing, whatever.
01:01:21 It's on top of this green, the Fashion Institute, which is this sort of very, very modern green building,
01:01:29 if I can describe it as such, which is sitting on the water, on the river. And you can't miss it.
01:01:35 It's a huge green thing with glass. And on top of that, it's been called many things, but it's basically,
01:01:40 they have two spaces. One is on the ground floor, which is open. They used to have DJs, music, food trucks, whatever.
01:01:47 And on top of it, they have a restaurant. They have some, also some food, some sort of food stalls.
01:01:53 And you can grab some food, eat it there. They have DJs, they have bands, they have whatever, and a lot of different things.
01:01:59 That's pretty cool.
01:02:00 Sorry, what was the name of that?
01:02:03 Well, they usually call it the City of Fashion. And the top of it used to be called Wanderlust.
01:02:10 Wanderlust. That's what we all have right now.
01:02:14 Yeah, well, exactly. They've changed the name of it so many times, I don't know what they call themselves nowadays.
01:02:19 But you can't miss it. But it's for a younger crowd looking for more of a, you know, DJ clubbing vibe.
01:02:25 But it's really cool, beautiful views. And when it's sun outside, you could spend the entire day and night there.
01:02:31 Well, thank you so much, Emmanuel. We are out of time, but I really, really appreciate it.
01:02:35 And I hope to see. Thank you again, Julia and Franca. And thank you all for joining us for a little mini trip to Paris.
01:02:41 - You're welcome.