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A Moveable (exorbitant) feast
By Ann | September 18, 2008
If you’ve read Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, you know all about his hand-to-mouth days as a young writer in 1920s Paris. Oh, those romantic days, when the fireplaces weren’t simply ornamental, when fisherman worked the Seine, when a young man — Hem — could spend his days poor, happy, and writing in cafés, and his nights drinking at the Ritz Hotel with the epoch’s literati: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound…
Inspired by the book, we decided to have a drink at the Ritz’s famous Bar Hemingway, a tidy, cozy corner decked out in Hemingway memorabilia. Except, when we got there, the tiny bar was full (of Americans). No problem, we were offered a table in the adjacent bar and promised a spot in Le Bar Hemingway as soon as one came available. We waited. We sipped our icy martinis — I especially enjoyed a martini a la framboise, augmented, as our waiter informed me in Australian-accented French, “with just the essence of framboise” (he spoke the truth — it was not at all sweet, but delightfully fruity) — we munched bar snacks. We had almost given up hope.
But then hope arrived in the form of a white-jacketed waiter, who whisked us to a tiny table (photo above) in the Bar Hemingway. We wedged ourselves in and finished our drinks. I admired some of the photos of Hem and first wife, Hadley. We considered having a second round. Decided against it. We got the bill.
Would you like to guess, mes amis, the cost of two martinis chez Bar Hemingway?
60€
Looks like we’ll be taking our feast elsewhere in the future. Good thing it’s moveable.
Topics: Oenophilia |
2 Responses to “A Moveable (exorbitant) feast”
Comments
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October 2nd, 2008 at 6:25 pm
this made me laugh. did you read that book by adam whats-his-name something like “paris to the moon” where he talks about ordering hot chocolate at the ritz for his kid?
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:49 am
Oh yeah, I’ve read the book but somehow managed to block out that section with his kid (though there are so many!). But don’t they get a membership at the Ritz pool?