Shades of Italian architecture

I did a very bad thing.  I left Paris to spend some time in Naples.  There are some jealousy issues there.

Since I moved to Paris, I have never spent as much time in another European city as I have in this Italian port town. After just a week of feeling and acting like a local, I knew I was in love with Neapolitan culture. People actually stop you in the street to help you, to recommend which souvenirs to buy, or which beach to visit. Literally, pull up a chair and join the street sitters – it is Mediterranean culture at its best.

Everyday life – Italy

On my last day, I feared returning home to my first love.  The piazzas, the sun that turns your skin a leisurely brown, the gesticulating yet welcoming Italians – how could I leave this? Paris all of a sudden seemed lacking in so many Italian essentials – and not just the perfectly ricotta-filled cannoli. What’s worse, I knew Paris would be able to smell my new Italian love affair all over my clothes.

A Genovese stoop

Thankfully, as I started walking through the City of Lights again after my week of Italian bliss, the familiarity of it all made me feel at home. All of the things I usually take for granted stood out a little more –the things that, as a visitor, I didn’t have with my Italian fling.

I strolled past my favorite bakery, du Pain et des Idées, and I realized that Parisian bakeries, with their choices of fresh baguettes and sweets, far outnumber those in Naples.  I loved Napoli’s cannoli and biscotti, but not every bakery I found carried my favorites or baked them to perfection. That rarely happens in Paris, but all too often I take this abundance and expertise for granted.

Scooters, a part of daily life in Italy

After taking the metro back from Gare du Nord, I realized that Parisian transportation, efficient and varied, is something I often forget to cherish.  After dodging scooters in Naples for a week, I was more than happy to hop on the metro and whizz past the loud, zigzagging scooters zipping down pedestrian streets.  Don’t get me wrong, nothing seems more romantic than a scooter ride through an Italian town, but after you’ve almost gotten run over 18 times, the veneer on this fantasy starts to fade.

Back in Paris

Strutting along the streets lined with people sipping drinks, it dawned on me that Parisian cafés, while a hallmark of the city, are so often overlooked.  I forget that I can just sit in a café for hours reading or writing with a café allongé next to me.  In Naples, we threw down our tiny, albeit superior, espressos at the bar without the leisurely people watching inherent in Parisian cafés.

Parisian cafe culture

Lugging my Limoncello-laden bag along the boulevard, I was thinking about how sweat-drenched I must look to passers-by. My fellow Parisians were so put-together, and there I was, in dire need of a shower and clean socks, imbued with the laissez-aller attitude towards fashion Napoli had drawn me into after just one week.

And even though the Parisian sun was beating down when I arrived, powdery Parisians surrounded me everywhere I went – despite, presumably, having just returned from their month of requisite August vacances. Call me vain, but I was delighted to discover my Napolitan-sun-soaked-skin was the tannest of them all.

Montmartre, Paris

Although I was tempted by Naples’ Mediterranean delights, more than anything, my summer fling helped reinforce my devotion to my one true love. Give me my boulangeries, fromageries and, yes, even my powdery white skin, and I’ll leave the cannoli, pizza and biscotti to the Italians.

Related Links:

• Gomorrah Girl -  Photos from another Napoli
• We love Andrew Grosso’s Italian experience in Florence
• Back in Paris, Bryan writes about La Rentrée on his blog, Where’s Bryan
• We love to daydream about living here

Written by Bryan Pirolli for the Hip Paris Blog. All images (Genova and Paris) by Erica Berman. For our amazing rentals in Paris, Provence & Tuscany check out our website Haven in Paris.

Ask any Parisian what he or she loves about New York, and they’ll inevitably gush about its energie. It’s true that Paris can feel sleepy in comparison (which is actually why I love it), but I would argue that there is no better energy than that of Paris in September.

This moment is known as “la rentrée,” when the locals return from their summer vacations (many of which span the entire month of August), looking great and feeling even better. Whether they’ve been surfing in Biarritz, lounging in Provence, or schmoozing in St. Tropez, they return to Paris revitalized, rejuvenated, practically reborn—not to mention seriously bronzed.

The lengthy summer vacation is sacred—and practically mandatory—in France. My first boss in Paris used to leave his entire business in the hands of his highly unprepared assistant (which would have been me, had I worked for him in August) for the entire month. His livelihood was one thing, but les vacances? We don’t mess with this tradition. After all: all work and no play makes Parisians a very cranky bunch. And so, they play. And they don’t compromise, because vacation is a fundamental human right.

French Children Go Back to School – Olibac, Mafe

To those of us not currently living in Europe, the idea of taking four consecutive weeks off to do absolutely nothing sounds absurd, but behind our eye-rolling, we’re insanely jealous. To think, I spent August in New York, sweating and brooding and “working” (though the heat had slowed my cervical capacity to the point where remembering how to turn on my laptop felt like a triumph). All the while, beach-themed dreams danced through my head.

The painful truth: those who actually spent August on a beach will probably get a lot more done this month than I will. And they’ll probably live longer as well. I don’t have stats to back this up, but my own anthropological research (which involves creepily perching on park benches and at cafes to observe Parisians) would suggest that September is the most productive month in France.

Never forget that when it comes to leisure, the French know what they’re doing. And as they return to Paris, looking as though they’ve spent the summer happily bathing in olive oil and inhaling lavender-infused breezes, there’s no doubt they’re onto something.

That’s it. Next summer we’re all going to Cap Ferrat. See you there.

Saint Jean Cap Ferrat on the Cote D’Azur – Mgenin

Related Links:

• Eye Prefer Paris’ list of September events
• Little Brown Pen: Paris’ September orange highlights
• Amy Thomas on Paris’ artsy September events

Written by Tory Hoen for the Hip Paris blog. For our amazing rentals in Paris, Provence & Tuscany check out our website Haven in Paris.

The bright, Southern-exposed living room, with its creative mix of Ligne Roset leather sofas, classic Mies van der Rohe style chairs and stately Napoleon III desk, emanates sophisticated lounging after a long day of shopping.  During any down time between shopping and dining, the eclectic and thought-provoking book and DVD collection will keep even the fussiest channel-surfers occupied. Down the hall, the bedrooms are soothing havens from Paris’ hustle and bustle. Streamlined yet cozy, they convey sleek and playful; old and new; classic and irreverent – with ample closet space for holiday acquisitions.

Both soothing, neutral-toned bathrooms, inspired by a Japanese-influenced taste for order and space, feature rain showers, soft lighting and plenty of room to unwind and pamper. With an impressive and eclectic collection of artwork and seamless mixing-and-matching of time periods and styles, this apartment is a sensorial feast for anyone with a penchant for classic irreverence.

To Check out this wonderful Paris rental flat: haveninparis.com/rental/Rameau.php

Former guest Reviews of this Paris apartment - haveninparis.com/propreviews/Rameau.php

Photo courtesy of Haven in Paris

When you think vacation, what first springs to mind? Finally getting a full night’s sleep in luxurious sheets, sleeping in ‘til noon, lifelong friendships that spring from random chance encounters in corner cafés, soaking in the sun without a care in the world… But as you surely well know, thanks to falling currencies and the pervasive doom-and-gloom attitude, everyone is being a little more careful about throwing money away for a little square of paradise. Staying in “budget” hotels, though, can often be worse than not getting away at all: questionable cleanliness, rude concierges, cigarette-tinged rooms, second-rate sheets and towels… you’d be better off at home.

We made a few calls, did a little research and put together a shortlist of the rates of some of Paris’ notable higher-end hotels, and compared them to how much you would spend for the same standards of luxury in a Haven in Paris property — to show you show you just how advantageous having your own home away from home can be. Click through for step-by-step price comparisons…

Now, more than ever, renting an apartment seems like the only way to have the living standards you’re looking for, without shelling out the inflated rates hotels feel entitled to charge tourists desperate for a getaway. Luckily, there’s Haven in Paris. All of the Haven in Paris properties are outfitted with the amenities you’re used to finding in luxury hotels: plush and bountiful linens, fresh flowers and complementary wine, flat-screen TVs with international channels… Except HIP goes the extra mile. We provide expertly decorated, elegant spaces with breathtaking views instead of four-walls-and-a-bathroom; plentiful closet space instead of a luggage rack; fully equipped kitchens with state-of-the-art appliances instead of a limited, overpriced room-service menu; computers and free WIFI instead of minute-rates for internet service you can’t seem to connect to. With all this, it’s hard to believe it costs less to stay in one of our luxurious properties – but it is! And we can prove it.

First, take a look at our weekly prices*:

Livingstone penthouse – 775 euros/week for 2 people (studio, 1 bath), or approx 55 euros/night/person

Elzevir – 1550 euros/week for 4 people (1 bedroom, 1 bath), or approx 55 euros/night/person

Rosiers – 1850 euros/week for 4 people (2 bedrooms, 1 bath), or approx 60 euros/night/person

St Germain Luxe – 2295 euros/week for 4 people (2 bedrooms, 2 bath) or approx 82 euros/night/person

Monceau – 2300 euros/week for 6 people (2 bedrooms, 2 bath, real sofabed in living room), or approx 55 euros/night/person

Roi Doré – 3350 euros/week for 8 people (3 bedrooms, 2 bath, sofa bed in living room), or approx 60 euros/night/person

… and that’s just a taste of the more than 20 handpicked properties we offer.

Now take a look at the rates of hotels offering the same type of amenities and standards of hospitality (in order of least to most expensive)*:

Mama Shelter:
2 people, rates ranging from 89 to 219 euros/night
4 people, rates ranging from 178 to 438 euros/night
Average week for 2 people: 1078, or 77 euros/night/person
Average week for 4 people: 2156 euros, or 77 euros/night/person

Hotel Particulier Montmartre:
2 people in standard room: 290 euros/night
4 people in luxury suite (2 beds, 1 bath): 490 euros/night
Average week for two people: 2030 euros, or 145 euros /night/person
Average week for four people: 3430 euros, or 123 euros/night/person

Hotel Montalembert:
2 people in standard queen room: 320 euros/night
4 people in adjoining rooms: 400 euros/room/night = 800 euros/night
Average week for two people: 2240, or 160 euros/person/night
Average week for four people: 5600, or 200 euros/person/night

Hotel Costes:
2 people in a standard room, with a queen-sized bed: 550 euros/night
4 people in two standard rooms: 1100 euros/night
Average week for two people: 3850 euros
Average week for four people: 7700 euros
Average price/person/night: 275 euros/night/person

Hotel Le Bristol:
2 people, standard room: 750 euros/night
4 people in 2 adjacent rooms with a living room: 3150 euros/night
Average week for 2 people: 5250 euros, or 375 euros/night/person
Average week for 4 people: 22,050, or 787 euros/night/person

Hotel George V:
2 people, standard rooms without living area: 730 – 895 euros/night
2 people, rooms with small living area: 1040 euros/night
4 people, suite communicating with deluxe room: 2890/night
Average week for 2 people: 6218, or 444 euros/night/person
Average week for 4 people: 20,230, or 722 euros/night/person

… need we say more? Visit us at haveninparis.com for a full list of affordable luxury vacation apartments.

*Prices listed based on low-season, non-discounted rates

**Prices listed are approximate, not guaranteed and based on low-season rates.