97PREVIOUS PAGE: The Ritz
Paris’ luxurious suites have
hosted nurmeous high-rollers.
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT:
Claridge’s Hotel London’s
ballroom in the 1930s; the
Claridge’s has been a royals’
favourite throughout history;
Bar Hemingway is named
after Ernest Hemingway, who
liberated the bar when the
Nazis retreated
July/August 2017 AsiaSpain its dining room. The Germans invited in
some high-profile Frenchwomen as lovers.
The French actress and singer known only
as Arletty stayed at the Ritz with her Nazi
boyfriend. And the designer Coco Chanel,
who ended up living at the Ritz for more
than 30 years, spent the war years being
pampered in luxury thanks to her Nazi
officer lover Hans Gunther von Dincklage.
Perhaps the best account of all that
happened during the war years is the tale of
Ernest Hemingway personally liberating the
bar as the Nazis were retreating. Having been
working as a war correspondent he got news
of the end of the war and jumped in a jeep
full of stranglers from the war and zipped
up the Champs-Élysées and stopped outside
the hotel. He led the motley crew into the
bar, proclaimed its liberation, and ordered
champagne for everyone. Little wonder the
bar was renamed the Bar Hemingway.
http://www.ritzparis.comAMAN VENICE
In 2014, when the ‘eternal bachelor’ George
Clooney decided to marry he chose a