Puttin' on the Ritz

There are moments which need to be experienced when living in Paris. One of these moments is and now was a cocktail at the Hemingway Bar in the Ritz. After having read so many positive articles (my favorite by Jefferson Hack) about it, my baby had the brilliant idea of having cocktails at the most glamorous bar in the world (this is at least what it used to be).

I was in pleasant anticipation....it might be like: Forget the picture. I made a total different experience.

When we arrived everything was great. A classy decorated bar with classy waiters and extraordinary cocktails. With the first sips we enjoyed the last romantic minutes at this place. The ambiance was gone when two young men with sprinting shoes and jeans entered, ordering cocktails and talking disturblingly loud. I don't want to be discriminating so I leave out telling where they came from.

We tried to arrange with the noise when suddenly two big, and I mean really big women, mother and daughter, entered. They got seated at the table beside us and everything needed to be rearranged in order to get adapted to their body size. They were dressed dobious with mini dressed (the most mini mini-dresses I have seen so far) and started their conversation cursing loudly "Merde, putain..." and other words you should not adopt when you learn french. This procedure was followed by showing each other different ring tones on their cell phones and it was time for us to leave. Cetait vraiment désagréable! I told the waiter, he excused and made us pay.

To have at least a little fun at the Ritz, we went to the elevator to stroll around the corridors and see if everything is allright. This was fun and interesting. We greeted some of the guests chummily and went down again. To be clear, we did not steal something or spend some illegal fun time in one of their rooms. No, nothing at all plus I am sure the older guests enjoy to have some charming young couple around. When we came down one of the security persons stopped us and called us "respectless" and "misbehaving". Dazed by the alcohol I did not really listen to him but as far as we know it was an invitation to leave.

Where has all the glamour gone? These days you find restrictions everywhere. It is forbidden to smoke in bars (although it did not affect anyone for years), you are not allowed to wander around in the Ritz without being a guest - but you are allowed to enter a bar inappropriatelly dressed, talking as you were alone, eating and drinking without manners if you are willing to pay. Now I ask myself who is really respectless and misbehaving?

Hôtel Ritz
Place Vendôme

F-75001 Paris

+33 1 43 16 30 30