So we move into our new apartment and instead of just living with things the way they are, we decided to go ahead and redo the bathroom. The main reason for this is that we badly need storage space since we gave up a walk-in closet at our old apartment so we decided to put in a floor to ceiling storage unit in the bathroom along with a sink unit that will have storage underneath and above. We still need more-a lot of our clothing is in plastic bins under our bed even with our armoire, but it’s a start.
We began a couple of months ago by putting in new windows. It’s hard to get ride of old glass that’s in windows probably over one hundred years old but cold air leaked around the edges like crazy so we went ahead and did it. It made our apartment less dusty and much warmer, especially the kitchen and toilet where there is no heating unit. (We don’t have central air as this building was probably built in the late 1800′s. Each room has an electric heating unit put in by the previous owner who replaced steam heating radiators. The toilet and kitchen just get any heat which comes from the other rooms-it was the same in our old apartment. The kitchen heats up of course when I’m cooking, epecially using the oven.) The new windows cut out more noise too although as our place isn’t facing a street that isn’t much of an issue unless the people in the building across the courtyard decide to have a party which is more common in the summers. The guys putting in the windows made a huge mess cutting the vinyl material used around the windows. There was white powder everywhere and it stuck to horizontal objects like lamps and the sides our bed. We didn’t know it would be so messy or we would have covered everything. The main guy doing the work-arriving looking like he was in the process of becoming a werewolf with long shaggy hair but no fangs or facial hair yet-was covered in white dust when he was finished. When he vacuumed up some of the dust (I found a lot when they finished) I looked down the hall and saw him applying the vacuum nozzle to his own hair.

The hall down to our bedroom and then bathroom covered in plastic.

This time, on the first day of the bathroom renovation, only the main guy (Wolfman) arrived (making me think the job is going to take more than the ten days we were told) and he put plastic sheeting on the floors. I covered the bed myself with big sheets this time. He then got to work hammering the tiles off the wall behind the bathtub and then the floors.

Bathroom as it first was with a metal open storage unit.

When we first planned to have the bathroom done, it was just going to be putting in a new sink and the storage unit. Then Maurice said, “Why don’t we put in a new tub too?” The room is rather narrow and a short tub was in place and I-a rabid, bath loving girl-took my bath with bent knees. We found out that you can get a corner unit and the bath area is turned diagonally so I can have room to stretch out. So we added that to the list. Then the people doing the work told us the tile on the floor would be messed up when the tub was removed so why not get new tile while we were at it, so we picked that out too. All of this, no surprise, added to the time and expense of the job. I think we will be happy we did it though.

Without the shelves.
So, day one, Wolfman stays half a day.
Day two, no one came.
Day three, Wolfman arrived with a helper and the tub was installed. It looks great and I can’t wait to take my first bath. By the way, Wolfman is a smoker and likes to smoke on the job. It gives me asthma so Maurice told him. He kept smoking but opened the bathroom window. I still smelled the smoke and was also cold. At least it wasn’t snowing with 30 degree temperatures. I was afraid to go in there and demand he stop smoking due to a fear that he would stop the job and not come back. He did stay the whole day at least. I used my inhaler for the first time in ages. I plan to leave from now on when he comes to work.
Day four, the tile guy comes. He gets the tile put up around the tub and on the floor but has some work to finish on Monday.
Day five. We were told someone would come and work even though it was Saturday. Didn’t happen.
Day six, Sunday. Maurice is looking at the furniture sitting in our bedroom and suddenly decides that it isn’t going to fit in the bathroom. He starts measuring and now I am worried too. Also, the pipes for the water and drainage aren’t where the sink is going to be. I don’t kow if Wolfman knew this and that’s how it is supposed to be or if he will have to make some major adjustments. We just have to wait until next week I guess. But they also have to paint the walls and ceiling and the tile guy has to finish his job and then we will see what happens. It’s getting stressful.

All stacked up ready to be taken downstairs to be disposed of.
PS-we do have another toilet!

Did you notice that I have a book for sale over there on the right? I wrote it a few years ago putting together what I found people wanted to know about visiting Paris. Along with where to stay, some suggestions on where to eat, there are some walks that I wrote based on walks that I do with clients who do my tours. There are some photos too. I hope, if you are coming to Paris, that you will order it. Right now it’s just on Kindle at Amazon but I hope to have it in the print on demand format before long. I’m excited to dip my toe into the world of books. I have more coming too. If nothing else, I write a lot.

The name Phillippe Starck always catches my eye. He is an amazing, eccentric French designer with rock star status who has a long list of things he has done from a famous juicer, to furniture, to hotels, he has done it all. I even once interviewed him by phone quite a few years ago when I wrote for an Internet magazine. I’m still not sure how I got that to happen-maybe I’ll post the article here someday-and, in fact, he didn’t tell me anything that hadn’t been read in dozens of other interviews. At the time he was married to an American and talked about her some and the only bit of something new I got was when I asked him the difference between French and American women-we are stronger is what I think he said.
Anyway, I bring all of this up because I thought that my friend-the rabid cosmo fan-and I should visit his latest hotel called Mama Shelter. It’s unusual in that it isn’t expensive and is even found in an unfashionable area of the 20th arrondissement. I was expecting to find his sort of quirky, over the top designs like that of Kong seen in Sex and the City but was surprised to walk in and find it rather like something out of Texas-wooden floors, long wooden tables, waiters and waitresses wearing western looking aprons of denim and chalk board walls and ceilings. We got there about 6 PM but when we asked for a cosmo we were told that they weren’t through setting up the bar and couldn’t mix drinks so we settled for champagne. A little later we asked for munchies of some sort and were told that they usually have potato chips made by the chef but, again, we were too early and they wouldn’t be ready until 7 PM or so. They did have a pizza area and we got the very reasonably priced small pizza for 3 Euros to take the edge off. If I should go back again, I would definitely make sure to get there well after 7 PM.

The chalk board ceiling.

Poor light but I was trying to get a photo of the apron which looked a bit like something out of Lil’ Abner, the cartoon hillbilly.

Interesting material for the curtains.

One of the long tables.

A friend told my friend to go to the Park Hyatt and the Plaza Athenee for drinks which we did.

The Park Hyatt is very modern with very nice sculptures everywhere. They had macadamia nuts to munch on, my favorite nut.

The Plaza Athenee, a pretty famous place, but a little over-priced. I liked the blue lighting though.

A cosmo in blue.
So, as I said, we tried a lot of cosmos. We also went to Costes Hotel but I didn’t get any photos there. In case someone is interested, the best cosmos, according to us, was at the Royal Monceau and the Shangri-la. We don’t like them too sweet but more like a martini. The Plaza Athenee and the Park Hyatt had cosmos that were too sweet. The others came in sort of average. I will now be doing detox. No cosmos for me for a very long time.

The next stop with my friend, looking for a good cosmo in Paris, was the newly opened Shangri-La Hotel. There is a fabulous fragrance when you enter and you want to buy some for your home but they had none for sale and no brochures as it had only been opened for a week. It was a very elegant place, sort of oriental in feel which some Colonial India thrown in.

Here we are.

The bar with its very low lighting, thus the poor quality of the photo. The staff was very nice. Munchies were good too.

The bar was called The Bar.

Here they are. They were very good. Many places tend to make cosmos too sweet but they were perfect. Will you think poorly of me if I tell you that we had two each?

That’s what I’ve been doing-partying like a rock star. My friend who is visiting loves to try fancy bars. She’s seen most of the sights before so trying upscale bars and shopping were on her list. She quickly learned that in France you need to be in a swanky place to get a decent cosmopolitan-a martini of vodka, cranberry juice and lime juice. We were in a simple little cafe that had a bar but when we asked for a cosmo the waiter said, “What? What’s in it?” so we assumed the drink would be less than stellar and we each had a glass of champagne which is always safe here. I, by the way, don’t usually go to fancy hotels for drinks especially since most of them are very expensive. I only occasionally have a cosmo when in the States so my liver was in shock for a week or so there as I tried to keep up with my friend. The first place that we tried, already posted about, was the Hemingway Bar in the Ritz. They had very good cosmos. I had recently read about two new five star hotels which opened in Paris so I took my friend there. The first one was the Royal Monceau and when we walked in she said, “This is what I’m talking about!”

The Cosmopolitan. They were very good as were the munchies served with the drinks.

The back of the bar. The room itself was really long and narrow.

This was the back wall in the restaurant there which I thought was very spectacular.

This is the entry lobby. I liked the way it was all decorated.