Yes, Prime Minister

Tuesday. Paris.

Students from the program were invited to a private guided tour of the Hôtel de Matignon, which is the Prime Minister's residence in Paris. The residence isn't usually open to guided visits, and you need to be invited personally by the Prime Minister to visit, so we did luck out.

A bit of French politics 101: the Prime Minister is the chief of the government, whereas the President (everyone's favorite little man, Monsieur Sarkozy) is the chief of state. The Prime Minister has no real executive power, and only carries out the directives of the President. Given that, he's not the most important political figure in the country, but he still is le Premier Ministre nonetheless.

The property is set in the heart of the 7th arrondissement, which makes for prime real estate (hobnobbing with the Eiffel Tower, Musée d'Orsay and the Hôtel des Invalides among others), and apparently has the largest private garden in the city, even bigger than that of the Palais d'Elysée itself. The Elysée is the President's official residence on the other side of the Seine.

Of the parts of Matignon that we did get to see (the official meeting and dining rooms), I wasn't surprised to find them resplendently decorated a Baroque/Roccoco stye. Walls were adorned with tapestries depicting scenes from Don Quixote and marble inlays. We also happened to see a table laid for the Conseil d'État's breakfast the next day along with a tiny menu of what each Minister takes in the morning. Monsieur le Premier Ministre, it seems, is content with just an espresso.

The visit was a short one, as the council was scheduled to meet right after we were supposed to leave. Now you can't have 30 foreign students roaming around the Prime Minister's residence while affairs of the state are being put into action, can you?

PS We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the building.