I had the pleasure of going to France for business in February of 2003 with my company, Audio Plus Services. We stayed a couple nights in Paris and had a chance to walk around the city and see the sights. We went to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre (although we didn't go in to see the Mona Lisa), the Arc de Triomphe, and Place de la Concorde. We saw the artists and bohemians on the Left Bank, toured Notre Dame Cathedral, walked by the Opera House and Moulin Rouge, and we walked the length of the Champs d'Elysee - twice.
But what I wanted to do more than anything was to go to Harry's New York Bar and get a Bloody Mary. Now, the guys in our group kind of looked at me like, "Huh?" But when I explained to them that Harry's invented the Bloody Mary in the 20's, they all followed suit.
Actually, Harry's wasn't that far from the Opera House or our hotel. It's not a huge place, but it's very ornate with a lot of dark wood paneling on the walls, covered with pictures and other offerings from over the years. It's definitely got an English/American feel to the place as the staff and bartenders all spoke English - quite well, actually.
We all had a Bloody Mary and it was a spot hitter. It was a little expensive - 9.50 Euros, which, at the time, was about $9.00 US. But what the hell. I had two.
We looked around the place and ended up going downstairs into their piano bar room. One of the waiters let us go down, even though it wasn't open. It wasn't very big, almost gave me a clausterphobic feel to it. The waiter said that George Gershwin used to play the same piano they had in there when he was living in Paris years ago. He said that people such as Elton John, Harry Connick, Jr., and Diana Krall had all been in the piano bar in recent months playing the piano. Unfortunately, the lid was down and locked or I would have played chop sticks.
The walls of the piano bar were also adorned with some interesting French sketch art. I kind of liked it, but some of the guys in the group were making noises about being bored, so we took off (always happens when you're in a group of people).
I know that Harry's isn't a beer bar, and it probably isn't a destination, per se. But I'm glad we went.
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