Empressionista

It's been 17 years since I worked in Paris, for an Ice show as secretary, the venue was Palais de Sport, Place de la Porte de Versailles;a good location, though not particularly central. However, my apartment at the time was at the metro stop Ecole Militaire - where the Military School is located - a splendid piece of architecture with a specific purpose of training poor gentleman and making soldiers out of them.


The Royal Military Academy was founded by Louis XV in 1751, with the help of Madame de Pompadour and the financier Duverney. Its objective was to make poor gentlemen into military men. Napoleon Bonaparte was trained here in 1784. The architect of the building, constructed in 1752, is Gabriel. The chapel where Napoleon graduated was not completed until 1769.



I was also stationed at Bercy on the outskirts of Paris.

I've been back several times since but this last trip was particularly special as I had time to see the lesser known areas.
Just tucked behind L'Opera, Boulevard Haussman and rue 4 Septembre is a very small street, there are many, this one called rue St Anne, set in the 2me arondissement houses a number of little hotels one Hotel Beaudelaire Opera. Its a cute hotel small but perfectly formed slap bang in the middle of central Paris, a stone's throw from Loevre, Palais Royal, Banque and Bourse.