Parisian Weekend

This weekend I spent, literally, 95% of my waking daylights hours out in a cafe with my book. On Thursday I went down to the Rive Gauche, directly south of Notre Dame and Ile de la Cite, to find the old English bookstore Shakespeare & Company. It was founded in the 20s and, so I learned, became a haven for young no-namers like James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, and a slew of other French, British, and American poets and authors of the time.

I went in there looking for some reading about the Catholic Church and/or Papal states in preparation for my trip to Rome, but ended up getting a book about the Nazi occupation of France from 1940-1944. The book's called "Americans in Paris" and chronicles the exploits of the relatively large American population that stayed behind in Paris when everyone else fled the city to escape the encroaching Nazi forces. The majority of these Americans then became an integral part (and often leaders) of the French resistance. What initially drew me to the book is that the summary on the back of the book, which described a few of the main characters in the American/French resistance movement: "...and Silvia Beach, owner of the famous bookshop, Shakespeare and Company." I knew that Shakespeare & Co. had a lot of history behind it - including being the first publisher of Joyce's 'Ulysses' when America found it too obscene to publish - but had no idea the role it played during the Nazi occupation. I, therefore, was obliged to purchase and read the book. Thus, the majority of my weekend has been spent in cafes outside the Pompidou Centre (and a short and cold period in the Tuileries gardens) reading with a 4.50 euro cafe au lait at my side.

Friday afternoon I spent next to the statue fountains adjacent to the Pompidou Centre at the Jardin de The (tea garden) Cafe. Saturday I moved to the Chavelier Bleu (blue knight) about a block closer to home for a cafe au lait twice as big and cheaper by 20 cents. Saturday's highlight was also getting my first cheeseburger in four months; a big surprise considering it came from a legit Parisian cafe. The Paris Beaubourg cafe next to the Pompidou served it up real similar to the 'wild style' of In And Out Burger. I'll pay 15 euros for a burger that good anyday. And, today (Sunday) to wrap up my Parisian cafe weekend, I headed down to the Tuileries gardens with a sack lunch and my book, but after 45 minutes in the cold wind without the sun making a reappearance, I changed venues for the comfort and heaters of the Chevalier Bleu. I like that place, among the various other Pompidou cafes, because the plaza in front of the Pompidou is one of the largest open spaces for people to congregate, so there's always good people-watching and performances by musicians or artists going on right in front of you. I have a lot of reading to do in preparation for my trip to Berlin and Bob and I's tour of World War II sites in France, so I'll assuredly continue my cafe au lait and reading binge over the weeks to come.