Paris Encore 2022 Our last day - Gold, gold and more gold

Today is our last day of touring. We’ve spaced out the opulent palaces, visiting just one per week, so as not to overdose on gold, glitter and glamour. Today we visit L’Hôtel de la Marine. Translation - hotel of the Navy. You’re thinking, that won’t likely be very pretty! Here’s the story:

The hotel was originally the home and offices of the head (intendant) of the royal Guarde-Meuble. This office managed all of the royal family’s furnishings, artwork, tapestries and any other objects inside of their residences. Kind of like Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, except just for the king. This department was created by Henry IV in the 1600s, and given the responsibility of maintaining the royal furnishings, etc. I’m thinking, prior to that, maybe the king’s stuff was just a jumble in the attic and basement, like everyone else’s.

In 1772, the Guarde-Meuble became the first museum of decorative arts in Paris, and the public was allowed to visit on the first Tuesday of each month from Easter to All Saints’s Day - November 1. This was the case until the Revolution in 1789, when obviously the king and queen wouldn’t need all this stuff anymore. They both lost their heads to the guillotine in Place de la Concorde, right in front of this building, in 1793. 

It was taken over by the navy after the Revolution, and remained naval H.Q. until 2015. At that time, restoration began on the lavish apartment of the Intendant of the Guarde-Meuble. Luckily, this building suffered less looting and destruction than other Paris landmarks. Some of the original furnishings were recovered from other locations. Layers of paint were scraped off to reveal amazing wall coverings. The results are beautiful, elegant and over-the-top, yet comfy.

The Hôtel was just reopened to the public in the summer of 2021, so we felt especially lucky to see it. They provide headsets for an audio tour that automatically moves from room-to-room with you.

I guess one could get some decorating ideas from these rooms, and I do like the tchotchkes (translation Yiddish to French is still tchotchkes) all over the dinner table. Rick especially liked the highly sophisticated watchmaker’s lathe, in the picture below.

Little did Marie Antoinette know that she’d be on the outside of this view looking in, on her last day. The Eiffel Tower wasn’t there then, having been built for the Exposition in 1889, on the 100th anniversary of the Revolution.

Wow. We’d had our fill, and reached our quota of gold-leaf today. On the way home we stopped for lunch at a fancy restaurant near the museum, Brasserie Flottes. We weren’t sure if we’d be welcome there, until we saw other diners in tee-shirts. We loved the presentation of our oyster and prawn selection. We ordered that, and a cheese plate à partager (to share). And, I couldn’t resist having café gourmand for dessert. I even shared that.

Tiny crème brûlée, tiny chocolate mousse, tiny panna cotta, and a little cakey thing.

 Plus espresso. Heaven.