One Day In Paris - Breakfast

I’ve been to Paris before and ‘ticked’ the main tourist sites. The lure of the city did not appeal. I was surrounded by beautiful French towns that had so much history in themselves but, an hour on the internet and I decided to go.

The loose plan was based on a circular walk around the Latin Quarter with plenty of time to just sit and write. To soak in the atmosphere and pretend that whatever I was going to write would one day make me a living.

Plans never survive the beginning, nor necessarily should they. I had my list, my notebook, 3 friends, a map and an adventure in mind.

The Cité Metro unveiled its treasures as we emerged into the sunlight. Completing an accidental loop around Notre Dame, primarily with petit déjeunér coffee on our minds, we came across the gloriously rustic ‘Ma Salle â Manger’ on Place Dauphine.

The chequered tablecloths, spindly metal garden chairs and seclusion offered a window to life in Paris on a Sunday morning. A group were taking in life and the sun through the ancient art form of Tai Chi.

It was not just outside that this café offered surprises. The staircase in the tiny salle â manger tightly spiralled down to the kitchen where a giant of a chef seemed to be doubled over as if in a scene from Alice in Wonderland. The huge mirror in the loo made you wonder who was coming along with you! You became Alice as you stooped to manoeuvre around the smallest version of the smallest room in the house.

Even coming back up the stairs I was greeted with a visual explosion of all that I considered to be breakfast in Paris. What a joy!