宏偉酒店:神話般的巴黎地標的復活

It's where Proust met Joyce and Kissinger ended the Vietnam War. John Lichfield reports on a ￡350m facelift to restore the city landmark
就是在這裏普魯斯特(法國意識流作家)會見了喬伊斯(愛爾蘭作家詩人)。這裏也曾是享利‧基辛格(第56任美國國務卿)結束越南戰爭的地方。約翰‧利奇菲爾德就這起花了3.5億英鎊翻新以恢復這個城市地標的事件作出了報告。

JOHN LICHFIELD PARIS Friday 25 July 2014
作者: 約翰·利奇菲爾德2014年7月25日於巴黎

On 18 May 1922, Marcel Proust and James Joyce, the two greatest novelists of the 20th century, met for the first and only time.
1922年5月18日，20世紀兩位最偉大的小說家馬塞爾‧普魯斯特和佔姆斯‧喬伊斯，第一次會見也是唯一的一次。

They did not get on well. Joyce described their conversation as "all questions whose answers were 'No'." He outraged the asthmatic French writer by lighting a cigarette as they shared a car home.
兩位作家的會面並不愉快。喬伊斯描述他們的談話爲『所有問題的回答他都說“不”』。因爲他點燃了一根香菸激怒了這位有哮喘的法國作家，那時他們共乘一輛車子回家。

The soirée for modernist painters, musicians, dancers and writers had been arranged by a rich, eccentric British couple, Sydney and Violet Schiff. The other guests included Pablo Picasso and Igor Stravinsky. The dinner took place at the Hotel Majestic, 19 Avenue Kléber, in Paris.
一對富有的、古怪的英國夫婦悉尼和紫羅蘭希夫給一些現代派畫家、音樂家、舞蹈家和作家等舉辦晚會。其餘的嘉賓包括了畢加索(畫家)和伊戈爾•斯特拉文斯基(音樂家)。晚宴在巴黎克萊貝爾大道19號的宏偉酒店內舉行。

Now fast-forward to May 1928. The American composer George Gershwin wrote the “blues” section of his orchestral poem An American in Paris while staying at the Hotel Majestic, 19 Avenue Kléber. He was influenced, he said, by the sound of cars honking as it they circumnavigated the Arc de Triomphe 200 metres away.
現在讓時間快進到1928年5月，美國作曲家佐治‧蓋希文寫好了他的交響樂詩篇《一位美國人在巴黎》裏的其中《藍調》的章節，當時他住在克萊貝爾大道19號的宏偉酒店。他表示: 由於汽車圍繞着凱旋門200米處行走，他受到鳴喇叭的聲音所影響。

Fast-forward again to 27 January 1973. The peace agreement to end the Vietnam war was concluded by, inter alia, Henry Kissinger after four years of talks and mutual insults. The talks, insults and final signing took place in the French government's international conference centre, formerly the Hotel Majestic, 19 Avenue Kléber.
時間再快進至1973年1月27日，結束越戰的和平協議在這裏簽署。在歷時四年的談判和相互侮辱之後，尤其是亨利‧基辛格，那些會談、侮辱以及最終簽訂都在法國政府的國際會議中心舉行，其前身即克萊貝爾大道19號的宏偉酒店。

An exterior shot of the Majestic Hotel
宏偉酒店外部拍攝圖

The Majestic, one of several long-lost, mythical hotels in Paris, will be reborn next Friday, 1 August.
宏偉酒店， 幾個久違了的在巴黎如神話般的酒店之一，即將於8月1日週五重生。

After more than 70 years in other guises, the Hotel Majestic will rise again as the Peninsula, one of a new generation of super-luxury hotels in the French capital.
在宏偉酒店在70多年之後以另一個面貌--半島酒店的身份再次升起，這是一幢位於法國首都的新一代超級豪華酒店。

A partnership between the Qatari government and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Group has invested around EUR900m (￡711m) – half to buy the building from the French government and about the same again to restore the hotel to its original 1908 splendour. With 200 rooms and suites, including five with their own roof-top gardens, this makes the Peninsula Paris, room for room, the most costly hotel ever created.
一個由卡塔爾(國名，於阿拉伯半島東部波斯灣沿岸)政府和香港上海大酒店集團組成的合作伙伴投資了約9億歐羅(約相當於7.11億英磅)，其中半數用於從法國政府手上買下這幢建築物，另一半用於翻新酒店使其恢復到原來於1908年的輝煌。酒店客房和套房共有200間，其中包括五座自己的屋頂花園，這使得巴黎半島酒店，這房中之房，成爲有史以來最昂貴的酒店。

The new hotel – close to both the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower – has a breath-taking roof-top terrace and restaurant and an underground spa and swimming pool.
這全新的酒店， 其附近是凱旋門和艾菲爾鐵塔，擁有令人歎爲觀止的屋頂露臺和餐廳，還有一個地下溫泉和游泳池。

For decades, tourists and Parisians walked past 19 Avenue Kléber without knowing its extraordinary story. This was a place where the history of the French capital in the 20th century was made, both the light shades and the dark.
幾十年來，遊客和巴黎人走過克萊貝爾大道19號卻不知道它過去的不平凡往事。這是20世紀法國首都創造歷史的地方，包括了光影與黑暗。

It was at the Majestic that the British government delegation (including the diplomat-politician-writer Harold Nicolson), lived in 1919 while negotiating the Versailles peace treaty which formally ended the First World War. It was in the ex-Majestic that the German army , the Wehrmacht, set up its headquarters after France's conquest in June 1940.
在1919年，就正式結束第一次世界大戰的凡爾賽和平條約展開談判時，英國政府代表團（包括外交官，政治家，作家哈羅德‧尼科爾森）等就是住在這幢宏偉酒店內。 1940年6月法國被佔領後，德軍納稅國防軍曾設此酒店前身爲總部。

After the war, the building was briefly the headquarters of Unesco before sinking into anonymity as a French government conference centre and then as offices.
戰爭結束後該建築落入匿名人仕手中，在成爲法國政府會議中心辦事處之前，曾一度是前聯合國教科文組織總部。

The old Grand Hall
酒店舊大堂

“By the 1990s, the building was, frankly, dull, dark and unattractive. You could walk past without seeing it,” Nicolas Béliard, the director-general of the new hotel, told The Independent. “We have spent a lot of time and money to uncover, study and recreate the original spirit and beauty of the building. It took two years to build the Majestic in 1906-08. We have taken four and a half years to recreate it as the Peninsula.”
『到了20世紀90年代，坦白說，這建築已變得蕭條、黯然失色而且毫無吸引力。你可以走過它的旁邊而毫不察覺它。 』新酒店的總幹事Nicolas Béliard這樣告訴獨立報記者。 『我們已經花了很多時間和金錢去發掘、學習和重新建設這個建築的原創精神和美感。這建築從1906至1908年共耗時兩年打造的大氣磅礴，我們用了四年半時間來翻新重建成爲現在的半島酒店。 』

The Independent was given a sneak preview this week. The results are stunning. The old ballroom of the hotel, where the Vietnam peace talks took place from 1969-73, has become a sweeping, light-filled breakfast room, tearoom and lobby, with the original stone mouldings and ceiling paintings beautifully restored.
獨立報本週被准許先睹爲快，其結果讓人震驚。酒店的舊宴會廳，就是從1969年至1973年展開越南和平談判的那個，如今以原石造型和天花板裝飾畫精心修復了，成爲一個廣闊的，明亮的早餐室、茶室和大堂。

In January 1973, The New York Times wrote: “The agreement was signed at the gigantic round table, covered with a prairie of green baize, where the four parties to the Paris conference have been speechifying at each other, and often vilifying each other, almost weekly for four years.”
1973年1月，紐約時報寫道：『該協議在巨大的圓桌上籤署，圓桌上覆蓋了一幅草原綠色的粗呢布，出席巴黎會議的四方代表之間高談闊論，並常常醜化對方，這樣的會議幾乎每週都舉辦一次並持續了四年。

"The great ballroom of the former Hotel Majestic, where the table stands, is crammed with crystal and gilt chandeliers, lush tapestries and ornate gilt mouldings. But the scene was as glum as the drizzly, grey Paris sky outside. The men all wore dark suits."

『前宏偉酒店其中具代表性的大宴會廳，裏面掛滿了水晶和鍍金枝形吊燈、豪華的掛毯和裝飾華麗的鍍金圖案。但是，當時的場面憂鬱如巴黎灰色天空外下着的毛毛雨。人們都穿着深色西裝。

Nearby is the small oak panelled room where, it is said, the archetypical “man in a dark suit”, Dr Henry Kissinger, President Richard Nixon's national security adviser, initialled the final peace agreement. Each of the original, wooden panels has been sent away for meticulous restoration. The room has become the hotel's main bar.
據說，附近的小橡木鑲板的房間裏，典型的『深色西裝的男人』，亨利‧基辛格博士，尼克松總統的國家安全顧問，草簽了最後的和平協議。這裏的每件原物，木製板已被送往做細緻恢復。這個房間已經成爲酒店的主要酒吧。

Henry Kissinger signs the Paris Peace Accords in 1973 (Getty Images)
亨利·基辛格於1973年簽署巴黎和平協議(Getty圖片)

There will be no plaque on the wall to remind guests and visitors of the room's place in 20th-century history. “But the chandelier is based on a typical Vietnamese style,” said Mr Béliard. “Just as a little wink and a nod to those who are interested in the story of the building.”
酒店牆壁上沒有任何牌匾提醒客人和訪客有關房間位罝在20世紀的歷史。 『然而這裏的吊燈採用了一個典型越南風格，就像朝着那些對這建築物的故事感興趣的人眨眼或點頭一樣。 』 Béliard先生說。

Also on the ground floor is the reborn hotel's restaurant, LiLi, which will serve Cantonese cuisine. This space was also the original hotel's restaurant. It is assumed that the Proust-Joyce (and Picasso and Stravinsky) encounter of May 1922 took place here.
另外在一樓樓層是脫胎換骨的酒店餐廳《麗麗》，這家餐廳將供應粵菜。這個位置也是原來酒店的餐廳。據推測，1922年5月的普魯斯特、喬伊斯（還有畢加索和斯特拉文斯基）的會見就是在這裏。

Various accounts of the evening have been handed down, All agree that Marcel Proust, a recluse and only six months from the end of his life, arrived disgracefully late in white gloves and a fur coat. James Joyce arrived even later, apparently drunk, and fell asleep at the table.
當晚的各種不同報道一直流傳下來。大家都同意，隱士馬塞爾‧普魯斯特，那時離他生命的盡頭還剩半年。他戴着白色手套和穿上一件裘皮大衣尷尬地遲到了。而詹姆斯‧喬伊斯甚至更晚纔到，而且顯然是喝醉了，並在桌子上睡着了。

Each said they had not read the other's work (which in Joyce's case was probably untrue). They discussed their ailments. "My eyes are terrible,” said Joyce. “My poor stomach,” said Proust. “It's killing me."
每個人都說他們沒有看過對方的作品（這在喬伊斯的情況看，很可能是不真實的）。他們討論到各自的疾病。我的視力差得可怕。喬伊斯說。我胃不好，這簡直是想要我的命。普魯斯特說。

"Are you acquainted with the Comtesse of so-and-so," asked the legendarily snobbish Proust. Joyce said: "No."

你認識像某某的伯爵夫人？ 傳奇自負的普魯斯特問道。喬伊斯說：沒有。

The exterior of the hotel today
酒店現時之外觀

The dinner has gone down, all the same, as one of the cultural high watermarks of Paris of the 1920s when the city was the undisputed avant-garde capital of the world.
當時這個城市是世界上無可爭議的前衛之都，這個晚宴也完全一樣, 成爲1920年代巴黎文化崇高的水印之一。

The Hotel Majestic closed in 1937 after only 29 years. The family which built it also owned two smaller luxury hotels nearby. For reasons unknown – possibly the great depression of the 1930s – they decided to sell their flagship hotel to the French government as a conference centre.
在只經營了29年後的1937年，宏偉酒店關閉了。建造這幢的家族在附近還擁有兩幢較小的豪華酒店。其關閉之原因不明，可能是受到1937年的大蕭條影響。他們決定出售自己的旗艦酒店給法國政府作爲會議中心。

The original hotel had 400 rooms. The Peninsula Paris will have 200 rooms and suites, at prices ranging from EUR1,095 to EUR25,000 a night. For the month of August only, there is an "introductory" offer, a snip at EUR695 a night.
原來的酒店有400間客房。而巴黎半島酒店將有客房和套房共200間，價位從1095歐羅到25000歐羅一晚。酒店推出了一個“介紹期”優惠價，僅限於八月份有效，特會期只需695歐羅一晚，價廉物美。

Four of the top-class hotels in Paris, including the Ritz and the Crillon, are currently closed for extensive renovations. Two other, brand-new five-star hotels have opened in recent years. When all these hotels are open, will there not be a surfeit of top-of-the-range hotel rooms?
巴黎的四家頂級酒店， 包括麗茲酒店和克里翁酒店，目前已關閉正在大規模修繕。另外的兩家全新五星級酒店已在近幾年開業。當所有這些酒店都開放營業，頂級酒店的房間數量會不會過剩呢？

"We have no worries about that," said Mr Béliard. “Everything suggests that there is plenty of demand. We are a small group, already well-known in Asia and the United States. This is our first hotel in Europe but an agreement has recently been signed to build a Peninsula in Grosvenor Square in London. We expect many Asian and American visitors but we are not targeting them specifically. We are confident that we will also appeal to people from Europe and the Middle East."
『我們並沒有擔心這個問題』Béliard先生說。 『一切都表明市場有大量的需求。我們是一個小團體，早已聞名於亞洲和美國。這是我們在歐洲的首家酒店，另外我們最近簽署了一項協議，計劃在倫敦格羅夫納廣場建一間半島酒店。我們預計有許多亞洲和美洲的遊客，但我們的具體目標不是這些。我們有信心將吸引來自歐洲和中東的人。

The size of the Paris market for super-luxury hotels may, according to rumour, be tested even further. Another “lost, legendary” hotel of Paris, the Elysée Palace on the Champs Elysées, was closed in 1920, three years after the dancer Mata Hari was arrested there as an alleged German agent. The building is now the French headquarters of HSBC but is said to be coveted as a possible hotel by Middle Eastern investors.
根據傳聞，巴黎超豪華酒店的市場規模大小可能會進一步被測試。另一家“失落的，傳說中的”酒店是在香榭麗舍大街的巴黎愛麗捨宮。舞蹈家瑪塔‧哈里以一個所謂德國間諜的罪名在那裏被逮捕，在事件發生三年之後，酒店於1920年被關閉。該建築目前是香港上海匯豐設於法國的總部， 但據說中東投資者覬覦將其變成一家酒店。