Boozing On The Broadside

Paris iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Boozing On The Broadside ~

Boozing On The Broadside, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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It's surprising how often 'cafés' comes up when you ask people what they love about Paris. There seems to be something intrinsically special about sitting drinking overpriced beverages watching the world go by as the world watches you watching it doing whatever it's doing.

I've heard that there used to be three times as many cafés in Paris as there are now, which is kind of hard to believe, but I'm sure it's true that many have closed, although many are certainly still open. Venturing off the beaten track will introduce you to many less showy more intimate affairs, where the real locals hang out. Sometimes to the extent that you hardly dare cross the threshold for fear of disturbing some intimate ritual or cabalistic ceremony of which you could never be part.

Belleville and Menilmontant are great areas for discovering the other kind of café, where people smoke chi-cha or whatever it is - hey, can they still do that these days - and nibble on exotic eats as eastern music wafts through the air.

The café above was nothing of the sort and could hardly be less touristy but it serves its purpose for this shot well enough. We're looking, or we would be if we weren't looking down a row of empty tables, diagonally across the Seine to Notre Dame, next to the busy Quai Saint-Michel and the Petit Pont. I think it was inventively called Le Notre Dame, just in case you hadn't realised that's what you're staring across at.

Anyway, I couldn't remember much after that Leffe and what preceded it, so let's just enjoy this café-moment and have done with it, Our Lady permitting.

And why not...

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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