Paris: A Moveable Feast With Author N.M. Kelby: Accommodations

InterContinental Paris Le Grand

This historic treasure is the essence of Paris, from its 9th arrondissement location to its Empire style borne of Napoleon’s love of grandeur. Nestled amidst the shopping, theatre and banking districts, the hotel is close to famously French attractions such as the Opéra Garnier, Place Vendôme and the Louvre Museum.

The InterContinental Paris boasts 72 suites ranging from 45 to 140 sqm, from one-bedroom Junior suites to two-bedroom Presidential suites. Many of these suites benefit from a unique view of the Garnier Opera house, with which they share the same rich, flamboyant Empire style

There are two acclaimed restaurants and one bar on property:

Café de la Paix  - a Parisian institution beloved by residents and visitors alike. Although classic French fare is its claim to fame, enjoy cutting edge options from the ever-changing à la carte selections, an entirely new menu every two weeks and fashion desserts designed by the catwalk’s hottest talents. Full American and Japanese breakfasts are the talk of the town.  Located on the ground floor of the hotel, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.

La Verrière - The winter garden is a magnificent getaway offering a quiet haven from the bustling city outside. Come for a few moments of peace at breakfast and lunch. Located on the ground floor of the hotel.

Le Bar - This elegant English atmosphere can also be quite cozy. Situated under the beautiful domed glass roof in the centre of the hotel, the bar serves hot and cold canapés and snacks, champagne, wines, beers and cocktails throughout the afternoon and evening.

Paris: A Moveable Feast With Author N.M. Kelby: Itinerary

Arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport and transfer to your hotel.
The afternoon is free to relax or discover the neighborhood.

Welcome Reception with N.M. Kelby
Learn more about the Bohemian life of the Lost Generation of writers and artists in an informal, interactive reception with your host, Nicole Kelby.  Ms. Kelby is a skilled lecturer who is also interested in fun.  She will share enlightening tidbits about the places and personalities you will encounter throughout the program from a literary perspective.  

In the evening, your driver will meet you in the lobby of your hotel to visit the world famous Escoffier cooking school at the Ritz Hotel for a Pastry demonstration and tasting.

After the demonstration, enjoy a drink at the legendary Hemingway Bar inside the hotel.

Return to your hotel after the demonstration.
Dine on your own at your leisure.
Overnight Intercontinental Grand Hotel Paris.

Day 2: Friday September 25th [B, L,D]

Breakfast at the Hotel

Morning Chocolate & Pastry Tour
Gourmet guides will meet you in the lobby of your hotel for a fun & interesting walking tour to discover neighborhood Patisseries and Chocolateries.

Lunch will be at a creperie between the morning walking tour and the afternoon visit to the museum.

This afternoon, visit one of the numerous museums of the French capital…Musée du Louvre, Orsay, Rodin, André Jacquemart, Quai Branly or Marmottan (Monet – Impressionists) to name but a few.

Dine at a beautiful Parisian Brasserie.
Overnight Intercontinental Grand Hotel Paris.

Day 3: Saturday September 26th [B,D]

Breakfast at the Hotel

Morning Tour Saint Ouen Flea Market
Covering 7 hectares, it is the world’s largest antiques market. Riad, an Antiques Expert, will accompany the tour and assist if you wish to buy something special while you are there. 

Enjoy lunch on your own and explore Auteuil, one of the richest areas in Paris, with calm, select and very expensive neighbourhoods, including many mansions.

After lunch, spend an afternoon at the races at the world famous Hippodrome d’Auteuil.

Return to your hotel in the late afternoon.
Dinner this evening will be at a beautiful Michelin-star rated restaurant.
Overnight Intercontinental Grand Hotel Paris. 

Day 4: Sunday September 27th [B,L]

Breakfast at the Hotel

Spirit of Hemingway Driving Tour
Discover the places that Hemingway treasured and gain greater understanding of what made Paris special to him as well as the other writers and artists who were members of the “Lost Generation.”

Today a special lunch will be served during the Hemingway driving tour at an eatery  Hemingway himself used to frequent. 

From the Luxembourg gardens where Hemingway & his friends would drink fine wines at the Café Medicis to the Place du Tertre in Montmartre or the Notre Dame des Champs neighborhood where he rented a room as well the famous bars (Harry’s NY bar, les Deux Magots or la Closerie des Lilas)…you will discover why each place was special to the writer.

Return to your hotel with the evening at leisure.
Dine on your own with some time to explore the beautiful Parisian scenery.
Overnight Intercontinental Grand Hotel Paris 

Day 5: Monday September 28th [B,D]

Breakfast at the Hotel.
The morning is at leisure with lunch on your own.
Afternoon Cruise on the Siene followed by a Farewell Dinner.
Overnight Intercontinental Grand Hotel Paris. 

Day 6: Tuesday September 29th

Breakfast at the Hotel and transfer to CDG airport for your departing flight.

Paris: A Moveable Feast With Author N.M. Kelby: FAQs

Following Hemingway's footsteps through the City of Light
by Harold Stephens

Anyone who plans to go to Paris, and wants to know more about the city other than the Champs Elysees and the Eiffel Tower, might do well to read Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast.

It's a marvelous book that gives a glimpse of what Paris was like in the 1920's. It was the time of the Lost Generation when writers, painters, musicians and composers went to Paris to work and make names for themselves. Hemingway's first novel, The Sun Also Rises, was about Paris.

Fortunately, much of Hemingway's Paris still exists. Perhaps restaurants have changed their names, and the old bookshop where he spent much of his time no longer exists, but the streets, parks and student quarters are still there. And the mood that Paris creates affects those who visit today as it did in Hemingway's day.

In 1950, Hemingway told a friend, "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."

For Ernest Hemingway, Paris was just that, a movable feast that he took with him every place he went. Like many other writers and artists, Paris became his adopted home.

Hemingway started his writing career as a cub reporter on the Kansas City Star, but gave it up for a Bohemian life in Paris.

He first arrived in Paris in 1921, with a young wife and the ambition to be a great writer. He carried letters of introduction from the noted writer Sherwood Anderson but in that small tranquil world there was no need for a formal introduction.

Everybody frequented the same cafes and ate in the same restaurants.  Acquaintances were easily made and in a very short time Hemingway knew everyone who was someone - or destined to be.

Hemingway and his friends were members of the Lost Generation, a name which he disliked immensely. Gertrude Stein, the mama-san of ex-pat writers in Paris, coined the name. But according to Hemingway, there was nothing lost about his generation. There was no movement, nor any tight bands of pot-smoking nihilists wandering around looking for a cause. There were a lot of people of the same age who had been through the war, and they came to Paris to write or compose or do whatever they had in mind. Paris gave them the freedom they needed.

The Hemingways arrived in Paris at a time when the dreary aftermath of World War I was receding and life on the Left Bank had begun to come back. Before long the Lost Generation had their territory staked out, and the young aspirants in letters and the arts follow it to this day. It ran and still runs the length of the Boulevard

Montparnasse from the Closerie des Lilas at the Observatoire to the Restaurant de Petit Trianon opposite the railway station, and by one route or another down to Saint Germain-des-Pres and the Seine.

There are, of course, detours and bypaths that one can follow, but essentially the world of the 1920's is still intact. Behind the same boulevard, painters still find studios and writers their rooms in the vicinity of the Montparnasse Cemetery.

As they always have, students drink beer at Balzar's in the Rue des Ecoles. In Hemingway's time, those who could afford it lunched in view of the Luxembourg Gardens at the Cafe de Medicis, where they drank, according to Hemingway, the fine 1915 vintages of the Hospice de Beaune topped off by the Marquis d' Audiffred's marc de Bourgogne.

After the 1920's Hemingway often returned to Paris, staying for weeks and sometimes several months. His favourite hotel was the Ritz, with a room facing Place Vendome.

During World War II, he was a war correspondent for Collier's magazine and his return to Paris was an event that didn't go unnoticed. Robert Capa, the famous combat photographer, remembers when he had travelled with Hemingway and how at first he thought Hemingway was a general. Hemingway had a public relations officer, a lieutenant as an aide, a cook, a driver, a photographer and a special liquor ration. Capa also recalls when, driving into Paris in a jeep--and sure that he was miles ahead of anyone else--he pulled up at the Ritz and found Hemingway's driver standing guard at the entrance, a carbine slung over his shoulder, while Hemingway was at the bar.

Paris saw a lot of Hemingway immediately after the war. He often came for the fall steeplechase meets at Auteuil, the emerald race track in the heart of Bois de Boulogne that he so enjoyed.

In Auteil, he would convene with his friends in the Little Bar of the Ritz every race day at noon and while the bartender made Bloody Marys, they would study the race forms and make their selections.

Hemingway enjoyed his lunches at the Course Restaurant, which is still functioning. He wrote about the meals between races: Belon Oysters, omelette with ham and fine herbs, cooked endives, Pont l'Eveque cheese and cold Sancerre wine.

If you go up to Montmartre Hill to Place de Tertre, you will find Hemingway's first Paris haunt. At one corner of the square, where Rue Norvins starts, was the Au Cliron des Chausseurs, where he often ate when he had money. He was then working for the Kansas City Star, and getting between US$11 and $21 for each article he wrote.

If you want to see the neighbourhood where Hemingway first lived, go to Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, where he rented a room over a sawmill. Every day his rejected manuscripts would come back through the slot in the door of the bare room.

In the 1920s, Hemingway often went to Harry's New York Bar near the Opera. He had been one of Harry's earliest customers soon after the place opened. Today Harry's New York Bar is on the list of tourist "musts."

Another bar that Hemingway liked was near Harry's, one that was hard to find. It was the Le Trou dans la Mur. The entrance was on Boulevard des Capucines across from the Cafe de la Paix.

Lipp's in Saint-Germain, where Hemingway often went to eat, is still a popular cafe on the Left Bank. Its owner and founder, a friend of Hemningway's, died only recently.

Another restaurant of which he was fond of was Closerie des Lilas near Point Royale at Auteuil. He used to go there with James Joyce.

Hemingway's writings give us a truly nostalgic account of life in Paris. In all of his works, life centers around cafe life, drinking and dining. If there were bull fights and big game hunting in Paris, those would have been included, and Hemingway's Paris would have been complete.

Harold Stephens is one of Southeast Asia's best known writers. Having lived in the area most of his adult life, he's authored 17 books and many thousand newspaper and magazine articles, with everything from travel to jungle exploring and searching for lost cities. This article originally appeared in the Bangkok Post.

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