Moser offers a bubbly description of the refurbishment. In line with the prince's mandate, Moser paints a fizzy, romantic picture of a hotel as French as a Lido showgirl or a bowl of onion soup. Not everything from the earlier George V merited saving. The designer cites a dressing table in Marlene Dietrich's favorite suite. And so it went with a pair of Staffordshire spaniels from Greta Garbo's room, a baby grand piano played by Duke Ellington, and the cane bed on which the Beatles had their 1964 pillow fight, famously recorded by photographer Harry Benson.
Awnings are royal blue, just like in the old days.
Twelve magnificent magnolias in Versailles planters waited out the reconstruction in a suburban nursery before resuming their places in the courtyard. Understood but unspoken among management, chef Legendre, and every one of his 63 cooks is the goal of making Le Cinq the only three-star hotel restaurant in Paris. Life can't be easy for a chef whose name is so easily mistaken for legend. To ease into his job, Legendre is reprising a number of his greatest hits, like chaudfroid of watercress with caviar. Dabs of sevruga on quenelles of lemony whipped cream look like coal on snow.