Review: the Hotel Minerve

  The Hotel Minerve must have the friendliest staff in all of Paris, and the rooms are as sweet as the staff. Walk into the enormous lobby, and you’ll be greeted as if everyone there has been waiting for you for weeks! You will fast want to adopt or be adopted by the folks behind the desk. Generous with their welcomes, and very funny, too, “Are you good girls? If you are good girls, you can stay.” (This to three older women checking in.) “You must stand beside me so you don’t seem so lost.” (This to a young woman in her 20’s, who was, indeed, looking as if she’d been misplaced.) “I need some help behind the desk. Can you help me throw this paper on the floor behind the desk.” (This to my five year old daughter who, following, wanted to go back to the lobby for a visit every five minutes.) Located in the true heart of the Latin Quarter at 13 rue des Ecoles, 75006…. well, let’s say that it’s on the edge of the heart… and it’s a hotel that won’t have you wasting the pocket-change euros you’ll be spending to stay at. Okay, maybe we are talking more than small change, but the fact of the matter is, for a deluxe, luxurious three-star hotel, this place is a buy! From 82€-148€, expect 250€-like rooms—huge and lovely. In staying here, you are merely a hop, skip and a jump (taking out the skip) to great transportation (many different bus and metro lines, some of them main lines), within eye-shot of the Institut du Monde Arabe in all its glory, and smack dab between Blvd Saint Germain (the quiet, enchanting end of the lane) and the bustling side of Rue Monge, This is location at its best, because everything in Paris is right at your fingertips, but you can walk out your hotel and not even smell a tourist breeze! There are over 50 rooms here, all recommended, but I stayed in room 403, and I’d suggest this room to anybody. The ceiling had a charming fresco painted over the spacious bed; next to the bed was a divan that could be pulled out into a bed (although it was big enough to be a twin bed without doing any pulling out), and there was still plenty of room between the bed and the divan to do the Tango. The color scheme was rich in golds and reds in a way only the French can really do right. Did I happen to mention the desk where I placed my computer so I could get online? Forget way-too-expensive WiFi (buy a card that costs you circa 12 euros for 2 hours or 30 euros for 24 hours, but once you start the clock ticking, there is no way to turn it off, i.e., if you buy a 30 euro card, you’d better plan to sit there for a solid 24 hours to get the bang for your buck). At Hotel Minerve, you can have DSL for $19 a day, doing the Internet when you like, with no time-pressure. (For those of you who haven’t traveled to Paris, or haven’t tried to do Internet in Paris, this is very inexpensive by Paris standards!) Eric Gaucheron, the highly charismatic (and very energetic) owner, gave me a tour of the entire hotel. I was left with the impression that this is a hotel constantly being updated (they’d just put air conditioners in every room and hall), with great care and focus on even the smallest detail (the doors have their numbers hand-carved into them; the windows have double-paned glass to keep out noise; the bathrooms have hairdryers and all sorts of goody toiletries), and with a pleasurable eye towards the unique. Each room has its own character. Several rooms have frescos and divans. Many rooms have great views, and those that don’t look out on to a small courtyard with a giant fresco on the outside wall. Some rooms have balconies. All have space, space and more space. In fact, I’ve never seen such a spacey three-star hotel. Plus, bien sûr, satellite TV is a room staple. I suspect Monsieur Gaucheron averages 2-3 hours of sleep a night, keeping himself up plotting and planning and obsessing over the next new amenity he can add to make his some of the best hotels in Paris. The breakfast room was very large, with appealing bits of fresco here and there, such as ivy running up a pole connecting to the ceiling, which was painted to look like a Parisian sky in the morning. The waitress was a jolly woman who could probably serve an entire Olympic Stadium breakfast with one arm tied behind her back in record time, and still look as if she could serve five more couples. The usual fare is served, i.e., croissants, baguettes, yogurts, cheese, cereals, etc. (I highly recommend the 8€ breakfast.) After a full day of seeing the museums and sites of Paris, high tail it back to the Minerve to put your guidebooks up, and then go out for lunch or dinner at La Marée Verte, on 9, Rue de Pontoise (only a block away) for traditional cuisine in a quiet atmosphere, where you can leave with a full stomach and still have a full wallet. The most expensive main course you can get is the Filet de Boeuf à la Mignonette at 21€. Monsieur Thomas, the owner, delights in telling you the specials of the day, and never leads his customers astray. Ask him what’s good and then order it. And whatever you do, follow it up with either the Beignets de Poires au Caramel de Romarin (deep fried pears with rosemary caramel) or the Pot de Crème au Chocolat à la Pistache (chocolate custard with pistachios). Big-hearted people own this big-hearted hotel; Eric, his wife Sylvie, their son Charles, and Eric’s father and mother, Bernard and Collette own the hotel, along with the hotel next door, La Familia, another place over which Eric has waved his magic wand. (Just a side note: Eric’s love of his wife and child was enough to make me want to buy a room in the hotel and try to become…