Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, France – Pont Royal Hotel – History of Literature, Jazz and Art

Yvette’s stay at the Pont Royal Hotel, a former “writer’s residence” turned hotel and later expanded to its impressive destination status, was enhanced by her opportunity to interview the general manager, Frederic Legallois. 

 

The hotel is located on the Left Bank of the Seine River, where artists and intellectuals of the early and mid-20th century held court on café terraces in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. This neighborhood is a postcard-perfect vision of Paris: a grand, boutique-filled boulevard; café terraces practically made for people-watching; former residences turned into hotels; antique shops and bookstores spilling out on cobblestoned squares. 

 

Yvette enjoyed the hotel staff’s attentiveness to quality service, the art on display and the jazz performance in the hotel’s well-appointed bar and lounge. The hotel’s proximity to museums and gardens allowed Yvette to enjoy the beautifully manicured Jardin du Luxembourg, which dates back 400 years, and the Musee d’Orsay.

 

The Musee d’Orsay, which was originally established with loans from the Louvre, now claims the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art in the world. Taking over a former Beaux-Arts railway station along the Seine River, this Museum holds masterpieces, which Yvette had an opportunity to enjoy, like Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” and Edouard Manet’s “The Luncheon on the Grass” and a very special find for Yvette, the American artist’s James McNeill Whistler's “Whistler Mother.”