Parisian royalty
While talking about Paris, I’ll just have to say it was a hurricane visit. A beautiful city like Paris is made for cherishing for a few days but due to Paris Fashion Week, our visit turned out to be a hectic one. In our everyday routine, one thing was common. Getting ready and running to the shows. This was time-consuming (consider Parisian traffic, whoa!) and tiring too. At a time when we hardly had the scope to explore the City of Love, I’m thankful that I stayed in a place which helped me to explore Parisian royalty or rather French royalty. Shangri La Paris is just stone-throw distance away from the biggest spectacles in Paris. You can see the pictures of Eiffel Tower and River Seine from my room in Shangri-La Paris, it feels like I can touch them from there. The view from the room was so heavenly that anyone could spend hours sitting there. The yachts doing rounds through River Seine, the beautiful Tour de Eiffel is twinkling in every one hour – the view makes you feel so romantic that you realize why the place is named as the City of Love!!
Apart from this sensational view, I feel lucky to experience the royalty in the city of Paris. We stayed at Shangri La Hotel in Paris which was formerly the residence of Prince Roland Napoléan Bonaparte. I hope after this, I don’t have much thing to say. The hotel displays historic stories of Parisian Passy Village and Balzac House. The royal residence that went on to become Shangri La Paris 120 years later is actually anecdotes galore. Each wall and ceiling tells a different story of royalty. To be able to explore more about Parisian Royalty, we followed the guidebook 10 Parisian Walks provided by the hotel. For the first few hours, we were just amazed to see the heritage side of the hotel and then flipping through the guidebook generated all the curiosity to know more about every corner of this historic building. It was fabulous to stay in the hotel which was known as Palais Roland Bonaparte about a hundred years ago. Parisian culture is deeply rooted into this hotel as it’s conspicuous. The monument historiques accredited artisans were consulted for their ancestral savour-faire during the formation of Shangri La Paris. They ensured that they protect, restore and highlight the 19th century architectural assets of the Palais and transform it into a 21st century luxury hotel. Hence, every corner of this hotel displays its historical value and the time spent at this picturesque property is something to treasure.
I’m so glad that I got to witness and capture such a spectacular royal heritage to share with you. I hope you saw my hotel tour on Snapchat (Username: twinkleintrendz) during my stay. Those who missed out can still enjoy the pictures in this blog.
We stayed at a room which offered a dreamy view. The decor of the room consisting the furnitures, lights, chandelier and the portraits on the wall – everything had its touch of royal vibe. There was a spacious toilet attached to the room. For the first time in my whole life, I have seen a fabulous portrait hanging from the wall inside the toilet too. I stumbled and told myself that it was a sophistication on a different level! Then I realized this is what we call royalty!
The other thing that differentiates Shangri La Paris from the other hotels is its exceptional service. I would definitely call that a royal service. Considering the busy time that I had, the whole room became messy with makeup, dresses, shoes, handbags and accessories all over the place. But their different level servicing found me astounded when I came back to my room. Everything was kept neatly. Each of my makeup cosmetics, tools and brushes were kept organized on a big napkin placed on the dressing table in front of the mirror. The outfits were kept folded and pleated nicely. The shoes were kept at the side one pair after another in a line! I never thought cleaning the mess was ever possible until the checkout but these people used to do an uphill (almost impossible) task at ease each day of our stay.
The other thing that I loved was the time I spent at Suite Shangri-La. I loved its mysterious concoction of classic and contemporary vibe. Classic French furnishing in the room and a contemporary design of the terrace create an interesting combination overall. The open terrace was a perfect place for us to have breakfast and enjoy the sun in the fall weather. The special part of the whole time was the breathtaking view from the terrace. The glass fit penthouse with open top offers the gorgeous view of Montmartre’s Sacré Coeur to the Trocadero, passing over the Grand Palais, Notre Dame, the Alexander III bridge, the Pantheon, the Invalides or Napolean’s Tomb, Quai Branly and the iconic Eiffel Tower and River Seine.
While talking about all these things, I can’t eliminate the food part. The food at La Bauhinia was just awesome. Shangri La is known for its Asian touch in food. So we got the best mix of many kinds of cuisines in the menu – American, French and Asian. Nevertheless, we have had authentic Italian pasta in dinner and that was splendid as well.
Overall, our visit in Paris this Fall season was short but lovely. As my brother Avishek says, this is not our first and last visit. Everything else can wait. In this visit, amidst all the work and busy schedule of Paris Fashion Week, we have done something that very few people can do while being in Paris. Staying in Shangri La Paris gave us the opportunity to discover a lot about Parisian royalty. Staying at the property which was the residence of Prince Roland Bonaparte, the grand nephew of the French emperor Napolean Bonaparte gave us the opportunity to know stories that many people quest for. It was indeed a stay to remember.
Lots of love,
Twinkle
Wake Up. Stay Stylish. Repeat.
