B07 PARIS: YESTERDAY AND TODAY

Posted by detoprod on June 4, 2011

Yesterday we had one of those relapse days where we couldn’t get to sleep and then couldn’t get up. LA must still have its teeth in us. Today dawned bright and clear (the weather has been spectacular…warm and moist.) We set off on the promised mission for AFNer Richard Amaral who asked if we could verify that Harry’s New York Bar was still at 5 rue de Danour. He and his wife visited it in the late ’50’s and have good memories. Well, the exterior is still there but, being from Hollywood, we had to make sure it wasn’t a facade.
Inside it looks like nothing has changed since Hemingway used borrowed pencils to scratch out his novels. Sorry Richard, I mentioned your name but the bartender said he wasn’t born until the ’70’s but his father might remember. They’re celebrating 100 years and the bar is still in the family.
To further verify the veracity of the bar, I had a beer in the honor of Richard and his wife. It was a small effort to salute a long-time marriage.Our daughter insisted on equal time and dragged us past the Opera Metro stop
and on to a unique Starbucks. It appears to have once been a bank so Starbucks just put coffee service in where the tellers normally worked. Another clever way to download your money without realizing it is draining away.
The place was packed and not just with tourists. Our daughter insists that French coffee tastes like rubber and is made by Michelin. The French have taken to our Seattle import to their bosoms.
The lounging rooms are almost palatial and I’m sure would make any budding novelist uncomfortable because it is so…comfortable. Harry Potter could never have been written here.
More equal time was demanded by Louise who wanted to purchase a special brand of tea. We ended up alongside the Madeline Church in a shop specializing in teas from around the world.

The odors inside the store were exotic and it was hard to keep focused on just the brand of tea she desired.

Well, just the thought of tea creates inner urges in Louise that are hard to deny…even while on a busy Parisian street. Some 50 years ago we recall there were plenty of Pissiors available for the men to relieve themselves but nothing for women.
Well, all that has changed and Paris has installed facilities that accommodate both men and women but not at the same time.
Louise was so relieved.