Paris for Artists

After a couple of nights at the fabulously upscale Le Meurice, I was ready to put away my high heels and dust off my jeans and sneakers. A short cab ride (or two Metro trains) later, I arrived at the tiny Hotel des Academies et des Arts. With only 20 guest rooms, no tophatted doormen, and absolutely nothing gilded, I was seeing a completely different side of Paris - one in which I was very comfortable.

Hotel des Academies et des Arts is, as the name implies, dedicated to the arts, and is tucked away into a Latin Quarter neighborhood where art supply stores replace upscale boutiques. In the past, you may have run into Picasso, Chagall, Hemingway or Sartre here. Next door to the hotel was a little curio shop with a skeleton in the window (no, it wasn't Halloween). Inside the hotel, "white body" sculptures and paintings by two artists adorn the lobby, hallways and guest rooms. I changed into my jeans and found a casual sidewalk café just around the corner.

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^{Image of the lobby of the Hotel des Academies et des Arts in Paris copyright Charlyn Keating Chisholm, licensed to About.com.}