Advertisement
Published: November 30th 2012
"Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools". Napoleon Bonoparte
The last few days I made it my mission to get around this big city which I thought would be "impossible", but I did it!! (Obviously I do not have a fool's dictionary!)
I have to say, love is in the details here and much of that credit for the details has been given to the city planner Haussmann, who was hired by Louis Napoleon III to modernize Paris.
By the mid 1800's, Paris was suffocating; the population had more than doubled, it was unsanitary, dangerous and congested. So Haussmann, created new roads, public parks, ornaments and most importanly to squash disease from spreading they installed new sewage systems. He completed transformed Paris from a medieval city to the magnificent, "City of Light". On bus tours, his name is frequently mentioned.
So I always thought if I got to Paris, I'd love to see the opulent Ritz Hotel and have a drink in the infamous Bar Hemingway. I have always had a fascination of sorts with the Hotel Ritz; watched a few movies based on the hotel & read about the infamous
"goings on" there. Irving Berlin's song, "Putting on the Ritz" was in tribute to this swanky hotel. As you probably remember and on a sad note, Princess Diana was last seen leaving this hotel before she and Dodi Fayed (his father Mohamed Al-Fayed owns Harrods Store & the Ritz at the time) were killed in a car crash shortly thereafter.
The Bar Hemingway is named of course, after Ernest Hemingway. His memoirs, A Moveable Feast, was about the years he spent in Paris as part of the expat American group of writers, back in the 1920s. I read an interesting article in Vanity Fair this past summer (long before I knew I was coming), and it told stories from its veritable long history. Papa Hemingway spent many a nights drinking the night away with such notable friends as F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and Coco Channel, Cole Porter and Ingrid Bergman. Word has it he liberated the bar when the Nazis were being driven out of Paris. Salut!
Now here's the funny thing, when I described Place Vendome, I completely forgot to mention that it is the square that the Hotel Ritz is in! Last night we couldn't
see much, because of the construction, but today I went back to see if there was any way of getting a picture of the entrance to this world famous landmark with all the construction going on. I darn near climbed scaffolding to get a peek. No wonder Place Vendome is such a magical place with the home of Hotel Ritz there.
I really enjoyed walking around today, and doing some last minute shopping, and touring more of the Champs Elysees area, and the little streets that run off of it.
After a big sightseeing tour today, Marth met me after work at a little Italian joint on the Champs Elysees,and I spotted her through the window & waved. As I turned to greet her, I heard this loud noise. Marth had not noticed there was a big step-up into the restaurant, and tripped & hit the floor hard, nearly flying into the table of some tourists. I scrambled to help her up, quite frightened that she might have broken her cheek bone or her hand, it was that bad. And no, can't blame it on drinking because she was just coming from her conference.
Anyhow, she managed
to collect herself, with me continuing to ask if she needed ice. She took some Advil to help with pain & swelling. She kept assuring me she was alright, and we finally left for dinner elsewhere.
Once we left, she said to me, "you know the manager stood there and didn't lift a hand to help me". At the time I was so worried about her, but I did notice he didn't rush to her defence, as he stood there in his skinny black pantsuit. Perhaps he was scared of a lawsuit because while we were there, another lady came in and tripped on the same step. When I l left I said to a waiter, perhaps you should bring some of those flashing Christmas lights inside & put them on this deadly step. He smiled and said something in French (which could have been "I really don't give a croissant what you think since you have paid your bill.) What a peckerhead.
I'd like to go back and give him a piece of my mind, but I think I've had enough incidents with the locals here ;(
I will send my comments through Trip Advisor though.
TRIP Advisor; no pun intended but that's what I will comment on; watch out you don't trip at this restaurant cause unless you have a friend named Sally there to help you, you are bleep out of luck because management won't lift a finger.
Marth is alright tonight, as far as I can see, although she's repeated herself twice & lost her wallet once. Whew actually, that's normal, so I'm reassured all is well...(PS I just read that to her and she killed herself laughing).
So we left the Champs Elysees and took a bike taxi home. Now talk about my kind of fun. We sit back, while a man has to peddle our butts back to our hotel. What a thrill biking through the streets of Paris! Is it safe? Who knows? They had seat belts in these bike taxis but they don't even tighten. God knows everybody drives like a lunatic here, so you take your chances, but it was more fun than a barrel of monkeys!! Or is it a barrel of Sally & Marthas???
So the best part, our bike taxi, dropped us off at our little bar, La Bombe. So we get
out, go in and Alexandre is waiting to greet us. The place is packed, and we get a table, and he surprises us with this charcuterie and cheese platter on the house. (Groan; we had just eaten). He then suggests dessert; which is a crepe that he pours a sugar mixture of rum over and flambees at our table. What did we do to be so special? Wahoo, what a night?!
I don't know if anyone ever arrows to the bottom of these blogs to see my family & friends's comments but I've decided to post them in the next blog tonight. So stay with me, put your PJ's on, grab a drink and away we go!
(It's taking a long time to download my pics for some reason. but I've got some below!
9 out of 10 dentists like this blog.
Toothy Grin 😊
Advertisement
Tot: 0.087s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0507s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mom
non-member comment
Facinating
Sally, you have a wonderful way of putting words on paper and making it all so interesting. You surely have found your calling and I am so proud of you. I have been waiting for your blog and I sat down after supper and here it is. I think that I am going to print them out for future references in case I should head over there. HA HA Wat time is your flight? Lot "O" Love XO