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Royal Monceau Raffles Paris - A Photo-Tour
A couple of months ago, I stayed in Paris for a few weeks and had the pleasure of being a guest of the during my stay.
The Royal Monceau Raffles Paris Hotel is a 5 Star Palace hotel located in the heart of Paris within walking distance to the Park Monceau and the Arc de Triomphe. It opened in the late 1920s and has hosted a wide array of people including Josephine Baker, Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, and Michael Jackson.
It was recently refurbished by the iconic French designer . And indeed, staying in the hotel and exploring it fully takes you on a whimsical journey into the imagination of Starck.
By the time I stayed at the Royal Monceau, I had been traveling in France for nearly three weeks at the tail-end of an adventure that took me through the south of France and up to Paris. I was a bit saucer-eyed and woozy from travel and travel photography. However, Royal Monceau made it impossible for me not to completely unwind and have my own smile-worthy adventure within its walls as I discovered the genius of Starck and grew to appreciate the Royal Monceau’s high standards of excellence.
Let’s explore!…
I stayed in one of the non-suite rooms during my stay. A view of the room looking towards the window:
Here is the view in my room looking towards the door. You will notice the large work of art carefully sitting against the wall. The hotel is devoted to art, and even has its own , Julie Eugène.
The works of art in the rooms belong to the hotel’s extensive . The work of art in my room was by artist Koichiro Doi (Explosion: Pink).
As for the guitar, it’s there to enjoy and make visitors feel at home. Indeed, seeing the art sitting against the wall along with a guitar made me feel like I was in an alternate luxurious version of my own apartment :
If the sleeping area feels like a re-imagined, sophisticated version of home, the mirrored bathroom feels like another dimension entirely with a wall of mirrors and all elements designed by Starck:
Closing the doors to the bathroom revealed more mirrors:
There are little details everywhere painstakingly chosen by Starck that make you stop and take pause like this handwritten letter hanging next to my bed from Jean Cocteau, a famous French poet, filmmaker, and artist :
When it comes to macarons, I am firmly a fan girl thanks to a sweet introduction to his macarons shortly after I arrived in Paris by my friend Beth.
Imagine my surprise when I realized that Hermé is the official pastry chef of the Royal Monceau Hotel.
So, you can imagine the sheer joy I felt when I saw a Hermé spread of macarons laid out in my room.
Sitting on the bed looking into the mirror which doubles as a television:
Beautiful Paris rooftops seen from the window of my room:
As soon as I saw the hallways in the hotel, I felt like Alice in Wonderland and I knew that I wanted to take this photo:
Indeed, the hotel’s design has a whimsical quality to it. The elevators are all different colors and fully mirrored. Here is the red one:
As I exited the elevator and looked out onto this scene looking out towards mirrors with artwork by , I distinctly heard a song from Twin Peaks by Angelo Badalamenti play softly on the hotel’s speakers:
I was so amused by the fact that Badalamenti was playing since I had been feeling a very distinct Lynch vibe while exploring the hotel. Some context: I am a huge David Lynch fan and Angelo Badalamenti is the composer that Lynch uses for many of his films as well as one of my favorite soundtrack composers (this video when fully watched illustrates his brilliance perfectly: ) and who I listen to quite a bit when I edit my photos.
In the moment, I : “As I walked off the elevator earlier, a track by Angelo Badalamenti (from Twin Peaks) was playing and I smiled wide :)”.
And the lovely social media person for Royal Monceau to me: “Thank you Vivienne, we’re glad you’re enjoying our David-Lynch-meets-Alice atmosphere :)”.
Best.moment.in.a.hotel.ever.
One of the most striking works of art in the hotel is by Russian artist called Salle des Trophées which consists of 15 life-size wooden elk :
Gorgeous chandeliers above the grand staircase:
Detail of hanging art in the hotel’s lobby area :
In addition to the beautiful hotel interiors, Starck is also responsible for the design of the hotel’s 1 Michelin Star restaurant, . Here is a view of the restaurant :
Plates designed by Starck:
Even the coffee cups are intricately designed by Starck. The paintings on the saucer are reflected perfectly in the cups. Here is a goldfish reflection:
And, an eye (my favorite):
Walking outside leads to the , a relaxing and charming place to enjoy a meal or snack:
One of my favorite parts of the garden area is this great art installation by of a giant ironwork tea-pot that guests can sit in. Magical!:
The hotel is full of surprises like the , a 99 seat theater designed by Starck with state of the art cinema equipment like 3D:
And the award-winning spa which features a 23 meter infinity pool, one of the largest to exist in a Paris luxury hotel:
During my stay, I was fortunate enough to get a quick tour of one of the . These are suites that start at 25,000 Euros a night. You will notice that the design by Philippe Starck is consistent with the room I stayed in which was one of the studios:
The Presidential Suite’s living area:
….dining area:
….bedroom (one of them):
And detail from one of the living room areas featuring a gorgeous photo by photographer :
I hope you enjoyed the photo-tour!
I feel so fortunate to have had the experience I did at the Royal Monceau Raffles Paris. Everything from the food, to my time in the spa, and my adventures exploring the brilliance of Starck’s design felt like a dream.
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Looking for these (and more) Royal Monceau Raffles Paris Hotel photos to view larger? Here you go (click or tap on each photo to view larger):
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Interested in viewing all of my France posts so far? Here they are:
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Incredible amounts of gratitude to:
The Royal Monceau Raffles Paris Hotel who let me stay as a guest of theirs in exchange for photography and took amazing care of me during my stay.
And, the official French tourism agency, who you can find here on Facebook . They made my entire France photography adventure possible and went above and beyond in making sure I was well taken care of everywhere I went (truly).
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Paris: Royal Monceau Hotel - Hallway
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Here is a little teaser from where I had the pleasure of staying as a guest of the hotel itself when I was in Paris recently. The interiors are intricately and whimsically designed by Philippe Starck and I fell in love with them during my stay.
Here I am running down one of the hallways feeling like Alice in Wonderland.
I will be posting a huge photo-set from my time spent there later this week. But, I couldn’t resist posting this timed action self-portrait that I took with my Sony A7R. I set up my tripod in the hallway and used my phone to trigger the timer countdown on my camera. And then I ran and hoped for the best much to the amusement of some of the staff :).
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Paris - Eiffel Tower at Night
Paris is the feeling you get,
on nights when
there was nothing else
but dreams
and stars in the eyes:
glints of hope
masquerading as
star-dust.
Paris is the
star-dust
that gleams
in the eyes
on nights
like this
when dreams
merge
with reality.
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Taken on a magical night last night at the
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I opened up my inbox here on my travel photography blog for the first time in months and just realized there are dozens of messages (!). As I am actively still traveling, I just wanted to say that if I haven’t responded, I promise I am not ignoring you. I have just been on the go for the last 3 weeks here in France and have been mainly on my phone (this laptop moment is rare!).
One of the main questions I seem to be getting is how I got my start in photography and consequently in travel photography. I did at some point attempt to start to answer those questions over on my New York City blog on my .
However, you have all made me realize that I sorely need to update that page and possibly make a series of posts about 1) my photography career, and 2) a more in-depth discussion about how I got from where I was nearly five years ago to where I am now (it’s a jagged path full of heartbreak, tears, and a lot of exquisitely beautiful moments).
I plan on doing this once I am back in New York City next week after I recover from this epic adventure. In the meantime, thank you for all of the super-kind messages and discussion.
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Paris - Eiffel Tower Room View - Shangri-La
The view from the terrace of my room at the today.
It doesn’t get much better than this.
—I have been posting all of my in-the-moment Paris updates to , in case you are curious. I tend to post more sporadically to the blog since I am still actively traveling around Paris. Twitter has been getting a lot more of my spontaneous photography posts.
Don’t worry though. I will be doing massive South of France and Paris photo-sets with writing once I am back in New York City :)
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New York City - Times Square Views from the Millennium Broadway Hotel
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I had the pleasure of staying overnight and taking photos at the located above Times Square last week. While I grew up here in New York City and live in New York City, I definitely don’t find myself overlooking Times Square very often.
I live in a tiny walk-up on the Lower East Side which is pretty far removed from the neon and spectacle of Times Square. I grew up with an imagination fueled by the neon sci-fi cityscapes in films like Blade-Runner (one of my favorites). I would go to sleep dreaming about Shanghai or Toyko through a Blade-Runner tinted lens.
It’s easy to forget that New York City has its own cinematic sci-fi-esque cityscapes especially when you only ever experience places like Times Square from ground level. Having such an amazing perspective of Times Square from 50 floors above was pretty intense while taking long exposures.
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Photo-set:
1 - Times Square at night from above. I was obsessed with this view. The top floor rooms of the hotel have this view in common on one side of the hotel. In love.
2 - The rooms are pretty spacious for the Times Square area considering that the hotel is literally right in the middle of Times Square. Many of the the hotels in the area tend to have super small rooms.
3 - A late afternoon view overlooking Times Square from the room.
4 - This is a view of the Lyceum Theatre, New York City’s oldest theatre along with Times Square from above. There are a lot of interesting views in New York City of various landmarks but this was an entirely new view for me. I stayed awake pretty late just watching the lights flicker and the hustle and bustle of crowds through my camera lenses.
5 - A view of the gorgeous original ceiling of the Hudson Theatre. As I mentioned above, the theatre is attached to the Millennium Hotel and the hotel manages it. It was built in 1903. The original owner perished on the Titanic. .
6 - The Hudson Theatre’s stage. While it is currently used for special events, conferences,and weddings, it also has been the site of Comedy Central’s stand-up comedy shows
7 - This is a view from a room in which is managed by the Millennium Hotel as well and is attached to Millennium Broadway.
8 - And finally, another long exposure taken late at night above New York City in Times Square from my hotel room.
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***All photos taken with the Sony A99 and Sony a7R
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