La Rue Saint-Honoré or how to see all of Paris in one street
this long street concentrates what we like most about Paris : natural refinement, lively flower shops, chocolate shops that look like jewelry stores, a human landscape that always seems to talk about very interesting things (and perhaps does) and many good shops. This street has it all: shops, churches, hotels, cafes, restaurants and people . It even has palaces, such as the Elysee or the Palais Royal . It also has history to knock down any other street. And the most important: has life. A lot. Always. Also this strange and unexpected fall.
Actually, we have cheated. Two traps. The rue Saint-Honoré is not one street, it is two, because it continues in Faubourg Saint-Honore , which starts at Rue Royal. The second trap is that we are not going to go through it all ; it would take us more than three hours, because we will want to stop at each and every one of the places. We will limit it to the section that goes from the Palais Royal to the Le Bristol hotel, which is a reasonable distance. We will walk from symbol to symbol, that games need their epic.
Here is a tour of rue Saint-Honoré. It has been difficult to choose. There is no need to defend these places: they defend themselves.
Shopping here is MANDATORY
** ROYAL PALACE (221) **
We have walked through the gardens of this palace thinking about a lost or wasted love, we have climbed on the pivots of the installation Les Deux Plateaus by Daniel Buren to take a picture of us; We have traveled with cold and heat the interior patio, the Cour d'Honneur , we have fantasized about buying a ** vintage Balenciaga at Didier Ludot **, we have tried on a hundred perfumes at Serge Lutens . And we have done all this in this monument built in 1629 by Richelieu. The Palais Royal contains, if that wasn't enough, one of the most important public theaters in Paris, the Comédie-Française.
Les Deux Plateaus by Daniel Buren
** ASTIER DE VILLATE (173) **
Everything that we see now in the shops of the Salesas neighborhood (the recovery of ceramics, the way of selecting products and understanding illustrated Cuquism) was already in Astier de Villate before. Ivan Pericoli and Benoît Astier de Villatte They opened this store in nineteen ninety six which is still (despite the fact that they also sell candles, notebooks and other cute things) pottery studio . You have to go all the way in, asking permission from the Japanese, who are always there, we can't explain how, where they have to be.
** COLETTE (213) ** It is now well regarded among the modern world to say that Colette is full of tourists and totally past. Good. Colette is Colette. And if anyone knows of any place in Spain that resembles it, speak up. You have to go to Colette even if it's to complain. There we can touch what we see in magazines, try on indie cosmetics that we didn't know existed, and use her bathroom with Toto. Moderns, beyond you if you refuse to enter Colette. It's still an entertaining, stimulating and yes, crowded place. From people like you.
The most beautiful pottery studio... on the planet? Probably
** CASTIGLIONE COFFEE (235) **
There is no Parisian walk without a stop at a café. As we have little time we won't be able to sit down calmly as we would like, but we will have a quick coffee in this great classic. This café opened just after the war, in 1945. The Rolling Stones, who like this area, made a mess here one night, because Keith Richards has an apartment in the same building . We will call you “Le Casti”, as everyone does . Everyone who frequents “Le Casti”.
** GOYARD (233) **
Goyard has been here since 1853 although it existed since 1792, shortly after the French Revolution. That's a lot of time. It is the epitome of a French luxury brand. Goyard is the meat of a collector, of a historical character, of a French lady with a puppy and, also, of Japanese. His shop is a tribute to that French tradition that consists of naturally carrying expensive handicrafts slung over one's shoulder without giving explanations to anyone.
** CAMÉLIA, MANDARIN OTIENTAL (251) **
Eating will have to eat. Or at least we will have to find a place to do it if we return with more time. This hotel hides a restaurant that serves a great lunch menu called "Daily Marx" prepared under supervision of Thierry Marx . If we are lucky we can take it in the garden, because in Paris there are many hidden gardens. If not, we will do it inside, which is very well lit. Everything is very (yes, let's write the word) , chic.
Camellia
*At this point we will change Rue Saint-Honoré for Rue du Faubourg St-Honoré , but we will hardly notice it.
** HERMES (24) **
No, we are not going overboard by including another address for a brand of so-called French luxury. Hermes is Paris . This store on this corner has been here for many years, too, since 1880. Sorry, it's not a store, it's a celebration of French culture, its high degree of refinement, how this is intertwined with everyday life, its taste for experimentation and play, due to the lack of complexes. It is convenient to go through all the nooks and crannies, stop at the objects , which always have a double reading, touch the skins and silks and look at the dynamics that are generated in these walls. And already, from the street, we will look at the crazy shop windows of Leila Menchari. And we can look up and glimpse the terrace garden, the garden sur le toit, which has been cared for by the same person, Yasmine, for decades. The garden has its own perfume called thus: “Un Jardin sur le Toit” . This paradise is enjoyed by the Hermès family and people from the creative team. Luxury is this or it is not.
** COMME DES GARÇONS (24) **
The passages of this street are another world and deserve another story. We cannot enter all of them because the imposed three hours would go by. But we will make an exception because we will stop at Comme des Garçons (oh, we got a gravel). This store is already an avant-garde classic, if this is not an oxymoron. It's as bold as this Japanese brand's stores have always been. Its strange red window doesn't let us see what's inside, and its red furniture reminds us that there's room for everything on this street. For everything everything, no, but for this all yes.
** ROGER VIVIER (29) **
Paris is with flat shoe, or medium if when it gets extreme. If possible with a flat buckle, à la Belle de Jour. To appropriate this deceptively naive universe we will go to Roger Vivier. Interestingly, this shoemaker invented the stiletto, but we will go to his boutique for another type of shoe that is more stony . There we will find what French women have been looking for for decades: some Pilgrims, those half Teresian shoes, half worldly blonde.
** LACHAUME FLOWER SHOP (103) **
Paris is also with flowers. There one does not wait for an occasion to have them at home. The opportunity is to be alive, which is already a great opportunity. That is why florists are part of popular culture. Flowers are bought without fuss. Lauchame is another of the neighborhood's classic and family businesses. Roses were already being sold here in 1845. This is where Proust used to go to buy his lapel flower. A respect.
Proust bought his lapel flower here
** LE BRISTOL (112) **
The route began with a totem of Parisian culture, the Grand Palais, and ends with another, the Le Bristol hotel. Almost all the lists that compile the best hotels in the world place it among the top ten. Many between the five. Some at the top, in the first place. Le Bristol, belonging to the Oetker Collection, has official Palace status. There is something formidable that cannot be described about this hotel, and it is not its category, nor its Michelin stars, nor its history, nor those who frequent it. It's that I-don't-know-what that we don't know how to tell either.
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A palace where you can make your dreams come true
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