Thursday, July 27, 2006

Hotel Bristol in Paris


What do you think of this typical Parisian facade? Cool eh? Too bad it's totally fake! In fact it's a huge painting especially made to protect the actual facade while they are doing some work. It belongs to the Bristol Hotel, a very prestigious hotel not far from l'Elysée (the French President's residence). I think it's cool that they do that instead of a plain, dull plastic cover that would ruin the scenery.

26 comments:

  1. Another European thing we should start doing State side! I love it.

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  2. Ah, yes. The Bristol Hotel. I wonder if this means I won't be able to stay there next month?

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  3. Yeah, it's totally cool. Do they do it in all the neighborhoods or just the "nice" ones?

    I saw that Tour St. Jacques was covered up with a white cloth when I was there last June. Nice touch, indeed. It doesn't look so bad in picture instead of just scaffolds like they had on Notre Dame for ever!

    Nice shot, Eric! Thank you for showing it to us! :-P

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  4. oh yes, that a clever idea. very nice, I was completely fooled.

    have a nice day!

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  5. I saw this when I was walking by the other day and wondered if the rooms behind the facade were discounted

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  6. j'ai eu l'occasion d'y manger et c'etait vraiment sympa l'equipe d'eric frechon est au top...

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  7. Nice shot! I remember this St. Honore, right? Anyway, I hope you are keeping cool during the heat spell.

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  8. I agree with soosh_q, I was completely fooled. It reminds me of another photo you took HERE .

    In looking back Eric, it's obvious how much your photos and blog have improved since you first started. Bravo.

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  9. Oh you French are soo sneeky and smart. Love it!

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  10. Hotels use to do this trick when they are renovating, but I wonder that maybe they could use this trick for ugly buildings too...
    There are so many here in Athens :(

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  11. Hello from the Air France lounge at the airport. I can officially confirm that Paris Daily Photo is now the homepage for ths computer. Gee....I wonder how that happened!

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  12. Dans une veine assez proche (fake façade), je vous propose cette vue intéressante du projet du nouveau palace en construction sur les Champs-Elysées, le Fouquet's Barrière :
    http://www.lemoniteur-expert.com/depeches/depeche.asp?id=D8C586F95&mode=0

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  13. A very smart idea, is it exclusive to beautiful cities? I've seen this in Venice too ;-)

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  14. Oh, that took me a while to figure out (and believe). What a great way to keep the environmental looks and a great work from the artist! Bravo!

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  15. Yeah, it's really a great idea - i hope that it doesnt make constructors' daily work too much harder, but it is so nice to have something else to see than usual scaffolds (the Notre-Dame ones were indeed particularly hideous, and i was feeling so bad for the tourists travelling from so far, arriving there and understanding that they would be better off just looking at the postcards rather than the real stuff...). anyway, thanks God now it is totally karsherized and enlightening.

    Couldnt open your link, mickey, but i think i know which picture you're talking about. was a very nice and fooling trompe-l'oeil as well, you could really not see the difference with the real stuff.

    As for me, it reminds me of the Louis Vuitton facade they had put in place during the renovation of the boutique on Champs Elysees. Was a piece of art by itself. And actually, this whole trend of covering scaffolds could be a doorstep to paint these huge surfaces with art stuffs, or even do exhibits or "installations" as they are now called. could be pretty amazing as well. Of course they could also put some graffiti on – which can actually be truly amazing if they are really well done (dare I say “by professionals”, and not teenagers in middle of an identity crisis).

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  16. Frank Gehry ought to work that concept into his buildings... just as a visual pun on architecture.

    Very amusing...

    :0)

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  17. So clever! I wish they did that here!

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  18. Hi Eric!

    I, too love this idea.

    Where are you going Michael?

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  19. yes, definately very creative and keeping the area pretty. I love the sky you have in Paris today

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  20. Eric, I agree with Anonymous about the Louis Vuitton facade last summer. I remember Megan taking a photo of that. Thanks again for the photos.

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  21. It took me awhile to realize it wasn't real. This is very chic!

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  22. This is a great idea. Who wants to look at scaffolding anyway?

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  23. I saw a couple of these in Place Vendome. I think one might have been the Cartier building, but I can't remember. I thought it a great idea, and I wish they'd do it in the U.S.

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  24. It looks like Nuno, you and I are looking up. ;-)

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