So with apologies to the Indigo Girls, but I went seeking solace or possibly a friend this afternoon. I wanted to have a drink at the Buddha Bar or Hemingway's Bar at the Ritz. Needed some time for my self. So off I go to the Buddha Bar and I am in that no man's time - Brunch is just ending and yet it is too early for the bar or restaurant to open (didn't know there was such a thing for a bar, but ok) - they let me in any way but nothing on the brunch table appealed to me so off I went - Hemingway's Bar sounds like a perfect place to have a drink on a gray, Parisian afternoon. Nope, the Ritz is still undergoing renovation. Well, damn. Now what? So I start walking down rue Saint Honore, I now really want to have a nice glass of champagne in a nice French bar. As I approach the Louvre, I remember the hotel I stayed at with Nina, so many years ago - The Regina! That will have one of those lovely, elegant hotel bars. And so there it is, across from the Louvre and covered in scaffolding! ACK! but it is open so in I go - the bar is a wood-paneled, velvet sofa retreat, just what I needed.
I strike up a conversation with the waiter - about how I ended up there and that I had stayed with my dearest and best friend in the hotel so many years ago and how elegant and lovely I thought the hotel was and that I had tried the Buddha Bar and the Ritz and was so very disappointed. He informs me that the Regina too will be renovated in six months. I beg him to tell me that it won't be turned into some monstrous, new, modern thing - ah, well, you see the tourists that are coming now want sleek, modern - they come from Asia and Russia and don't like the old classic look. This is ridiculous - then why are they coming to Paris?! His answer, they want to honeymoon here but don't want the old stuff but rather the clean modern look. My answer, then go to Hong Kong or Shanghai! Leave Paris alone! Nope - the lovely classic hotels are all being remodeled and updated and that lovely Parisian charm will be lost - I even found out when the contents of Plaza Athenee will be auctioned off! So here is a picture of old Parisian hotel elegance - enjoy because soon all of the high end hotels will look the same with their glass and chrome and leather and clean lines - say goodbye to the wood paneling, the velvet sofas and the Aubusson carpets - all gone, in the name of progress.