The super cool ice wall and other contemporary art at Le Meurice in Paris

Take Le Meurice as an example. During the years that I've lived in Paris, I've visited this lovely palace hotel on the Rue de Rivoli for drinks at Bar 228 and afternoon tea at Le Dali on numerous occasions. That's why I was so surprised when the bellhop showed me the super cool ice wall, where guests are invited to etch comments, when I checked into the hotel for #EmbraceParis. "Is this new?" I queried. When he replied that it wasn't, I shook my head in wonder. How had I missed it?

Something else that I learned during my three-night stay at Le Meurice is that Salvador Dali was a regular visitor of the 180 year old hotel, hence the restaurant that bears the name of the famous Spanish artist. To carry on its role as a patron of the arts, the palace hotel founded the Meurice Prize for Contemporary Art in 2008 under the impetus of general manager Franka Holtmann. In doing so, Le Meurice asserted its support of young artists.

The Meurice Prize for Contemporary Art is an international award with an endowment of €20,000. It concerns all disciplines in the visual and plastic arts (painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video, etc.) and distinguishes a project of international stature, proposed by an artist and their gallery, two weeks before the FIAC contemporary art fair in Paris.

Lesson learned: I'm going to start dedicating more time to noticing my surroundings and less time to running from here to there. Maybe I'll even start hanging out at Le Meurice like Salvidor Dali. It will give me the opportunity to more fully appreciate the Dalinien chair with feet in the form of ladies shoes, a lamp with drawers and Le Meurice's recognizable lobster on a telephone in Le Dali.