Coffee Shop Journal

This is part of Watercooler Wednesday at Ethos - a cultural watercooler. Go check it out!

I found this description of the kind of community that happens when people are forced — for one reason or another — to leave their homes and wander through the town! This quote is from the book “The Piano Shop on the Left Bank,” by Thad Carhart. Its subtitle is “Discovering a forgotten passion in a Paris Atelier.” How can you resist a title like that? It is a great memoir of a man who rediscovers his delight of playing the piano for entertainment and private enjoyment. The writing is descriptive, and I almost feel like I am living in the quaint quartier of Paris myself. Which could explain my sudden craving for chocolate croissants.

Summer set in early and the sidewalks in the quartier came alive after hours. In a city where few apartments are air-conditioned, the terraces of cafes and restaurants become the common refuge from a whithering heat in the evening. The long light of June and July encouraged those gathered at the outdoor tables to linger well into the night, while swallows threaded the air with their shrill whistles. Before the August dispersion, everyone in the neighborhood seemed to revel in the slower pace that the heat imposed.

Something about that paragraph just caught my eye. I came away with several thoughts.

1. The people lived in a walkable neighborhood that had services like cafes and restaurants built into it.
2. Something that could be seen as a disadvantage (not having AC), was really an important part of creating a nourishing lifestyle.
3. The heat imposed a slower tempo on everyone — no one could escape it. Community events like heat waves foster a sense of “we’re all in this together.”
4. I want to sit at those cafe tables and chat with my friends until late into the evening. Now I just need to find the right cafe, coffee house or restaurant. And time. And people to chat with.

Doing a google search on left bank cafe’s yielded this review of one venue. It can be found at this site.

When you feel like having a coffee in a classic Left Bank café setting but shudder at the thought of neighboring a group of starry-eyed tourists (which is almost inevitable if you go to either the Café de Flore or Les Deux Magots), I have an alternative suggestion.

A few blocks away from the two oh-so-atmospheric stalwarts of Parisian café life sits a slightly less frequented etablishment: Le Rouquet.

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People-watching here is as good as at the other two and you’ll feel better knowing that you’re not falling into one of the two biggest tourist traps in Paris.

Food is just okay, but that’s beside the point (well, unless you’re hungry). You can simply order a coffee (around €4 at the table; €2.50 at the bar, check Hillary’s advice on how to order coffee) and consider it your license to stay indefinitely. Watch the shoppers, read the paper, write a novel - whatever you wish. It might take you a few €4 drinks to finish the novel, but basically that’s the formula.

Founded in 1922, the café barely changed since its inception. Frommers informs us that the latest renovation happened in 1954. Tant mieux, as far as we’re concerned.

Who’s up for a trip to Paris?