Ronnie Polaneczky: Jailed Einhorn's digs in France still picturesque

I WAS INTRIGUED, to say the least, when I scrolled through the Web site for Moulin de Guitry, a lovely old windmill and former bakery in southwest France that's been converted into guest lodging.

The Web site so oozes Cezanne-esque charm, I swear I smelled fresh-baked baguettes each time I clicked a new link.

The estate's rustic mill dates from the 14th century; other integrity-laden structures on the property date from the mid-19th to early-20th century.

And the lush grounds! Flowers bloom from every corner and sheep graze on Moulin de Guitry's two acres, which lie between two giggling creeks.

I imagined myself swaying in a hammock after rowing across Moulin's sweet pond in the skiff the house provides. Or strolling its garden paths after a spin through nearby Champagne-Mouton on one of four bicycles Moulin provides to guests.

But I just didn't think I could book a week in its two-bedroom apartment, no matter how attentive Moulin de Guitry's on-site hostess, Annika Florenstam, might be to my needs.

I'd worry about getting a rash from sleeping in Ira Einhorn's old bed.

Yeah, that Ira Einhorn.

It's been almost eight years since Philly's most notorious counterculture weirdo went to prison for beating girlfriend Holly Maddux to death in 1977 and stuffing her corpse in a steamer trunk.

He'd gone on the lam on the eve of his 1982 trial for the murder, eventually making a life for himself at Moulin de Guitry with a Swedish-born wife, former model Annika Flodin.

By the time police arrested Einhorn, he'd been living a silky life on the breathtaking estate for five years.

Neighbors knew him as tunic-wearing Eugene Mallon: a semi-charismatic, British gasbag of a writer with a cultish following among wannabe hippies so dazzled by his pontifications, they christened him Vieux Baba Cool - Old Cool Daddy.

They'd all bloviate for hours over lazy, wine-soaked meals in Moulin de Guitry's garden (where Einhorn also enjoyed having sex with the fetching Flodin in full view of neighbors).

Einhorn's arrest caused an uproar among the French, who fought his extradition to Philly, where he'd been tried and convicted in absentia for Maddux's murder. In the two years it took to bring Old Cool Daddy to justice here, Moulin de Guitry was so overrun with reporters, supporters and the curious, it seemed doubtful the hideaway would ever return to its pre-Einhorn days of verdant calm.

That was then, and this is now.

 
"I do not wish to speak to reporters," Annika Flodin - now known as Annike Florenstam - graciously told me when I called to ask about life at Moulin de Guitry, post-Ira.

When I suggested that a column about Moulin de Guitry might boost her lodging business, she said, "I will let the Web site be my only commentary."

So I was not able to learn if Flodin/Florenstam eventually came to believe that Einhorn was guilty. She told the French press, when he was arrested, that her husband never could've killed Holly Maddux.

"He is the opposite of a violent man," said Flodin/Florenstam, who'd lived with Einhorn for 10 years. "He is a pacifist."

I didn't get to ask if she'd done a hazardous-waste cleanup of Moulin de Guitry's pond, where Einhorn - a slovenly, unhygienic lover of group sex in his smelly Philly days - used to float like a cork, naked, in the dappled sun.

Nor could I ask if she stays in touch with Einhorn. Or if she'd consider donating any of the 500-euros-per-week rental income from Moulin de Guitry to the estate of Holly Maddux, which a jury decided deserved a multimillion-dollar award from Einhorn in a wrongful-death suit.

And I wondered if, above the four twin beds in Moulin de Guitry's rental apartment, she's posted placards trumpeting that "Ira Slept Here."

If so, I hope there's plenty of Purel on the nightstand.

E-mail polaner@phillynews.com or call 215-854-2217. For recent columns:

http://go.philly.com/polaneczky. Read Ronnie's blog at http://go.philly.com/ ronnieblog.