Parisian Cafés

I have always had a fascination with France ever since I was a child.  I would often dream of sitting in a outdoor cafe in the center of Paris, under the bright shining sun as if the time stays still, just like in the movies.  This scene has been romanticized in my head many times. 

Two of the most popular cafes in Paris is located on the Left Bank in the St. Germain des Pres quartier, not too far from each other.  They are the Cafe de Flore and the Cafe les Deux Magots.  Famous French, English, and American writers frequented these two cafes, and now they are a sure destinations for tourists charging an unthinkable amount for a cup of average espresso.   

The most expensive coffee that I know in Paris is located on, not suprisingly, none other than the Champs Elysees.  With a cup of tiny espresso coming to a tab of 7.90 Euros.  Yes you read that right, close to ten big bucks for a bad cup of coffee along with equally bad service.

Parisian Cafes come in a variety of forms, and prices vary from a simple brasserie, a fancy cafe, or of course there's always Starbucks!  Prices also differ depending on whether you want to stand at a bar to drink your coffee, sit inside, or sit on a terrasse.  If you decide to do what many French do, which is to order at the counter, the coffee is usually more or less around one euro.  I quite enjoy doing this because it's interesting to see the locals come in and chat a few lines with the owner along with their coffee and newspaper.  Also, because I'm cheap and I don't want to pay extra just to sit!  In the mornings many brasseries will also offer a tartine or croissant for breakfast at the counter. 
Of course if it's sunny outside and you have plenty of time to kill, then there's no reason to stop you from sitting at the terrasse, which costs double the amount of a coffee at the counter.  Rumor has it that cafes have to rent the outside space from the city, therefore, it's only fair that they charge you for using it.

But the best experience I've had was in the city of Narbonne, in the region of Languedoc Roussilon.  The weather was sunny, with not a cloud in sight.  The temperature was just right, I was comfortable in a light sweater (this was in March 2010).  We hadn't planned on sitting down for coffee, but it was simply too nice outside not to take advantage of it.

If you're not familiar with coffee in France, if you ask for "un cafe", it means a very very tiny cup of strong espresso that you can down in one sip.  If you want something a little less strong, go for a "cafe allonge" which is similar to our version of cafe Americano (it's bigger, and hence more American like right?)  You can almost never find drip coffee in restaruants or cafes, and free refills, forget about it!  In a restaurant, the coffee is always offered at the very end of the meal, after you have finished your dessert.
I would recommend going to different places to enjoy the coffee experience, there is not one way that's better than the other.  It's all about the experience!

Parisian Pickpocketers and Scammers

Paris is probably one of the most touristic cities in the world.  And for good reasons, the city has an endless list of things to offer to tourists.  But of course, as we all know, with the good, there comes the bad. 
Tourists are easy targets for skilled pickpocketers and scammers.  As I myself have experienced both. 
I consider myself a fairly careful person, but obviously I was outsmarted a few times, or at least almost.
Two years ago, I took my parents to France on a three week trip.  Paris was our last stop.  We took the TGV from Bordeaux to Paris Montparnasse.  We got on the metro with our huge luggage, and immediately a young girl offered to help us with our luggage.  As soon as I got on the metro, I thought, I had better check my messenger bag.  Surely enough, the buckle had been undone.  Luckily for me I had stuffed my smaller purse inside of it, so it was hard to take anything from inside.  As soon as I realized this I look to my mom, and saw that I could not see her purse.  I told her to immediately check for her things, and she too realized that someone had unzipped her purse.  But for some reason she had a towel at the very top of her purse, so again, it was hard to take anything from inside.  A few minutes later, a lady picked up my dad's wallet from the ground and gave it to him, saying that someone had tried to take it from his pocket.  All three of us had been targeted, and I guess we were just extremely lucky that nothing got stolen from us. 
The thing is, pickpocketers often work in groups.  They target tourists, especially ones with a lot of stuff on their hands.  They use kids as a distraction while the adults get to work.  It's rather sad actually to have young kids exposed to this type of lifestyle at such a young stage in their life.  So, now I always tell people when they visit Paris, or other cities like Rome or Barcelona, to never have their purse of bag outside of their eyesight when they are on the metro, near a touristy site such as the Eiffel Tower, or in a big crowd of people. 

Another thing happened to me today.  I live near a pretty touristy area, but I thought that it was a sign that it would be relatively safe since there are always people around.  I was withdrawing money from my bank.  Just after I had entered my pin code, a young man held up a piece of paper on the screen and started mumbling stuff.  I told him to leave me alone but he wouldn't stop.  I started to get nervous at this point.  At the same time a young French lady came up and told the guy to leave me alone or she's going to call the police.  He still wouldn't budge, and she started dialing her phone.  The guy ran away, and I realized that 300 Euros had came out of the ATM, when I had not specified the amount I wanted.  It was obvious that he had done something to the machine while trying to distract me with the piece of paper.  A few seconds after, the police came.  She explained the situation to the police, and he informed me that his colleague is going to go after the guy and see if he actually took any money from me.  I waited a few minutes with the police officer (and this is when I had to be somewhere in the next hour!).  He informed me that all seemed fine, his colleague didn't find any big sum of money on the guy.  I guess I was extremely lucky that the French girl had intervened, or who knows, I would've ended up losing 300 Euros!! 

So with these experiences, am I considered lucky?  It was bad luck to encounter these events, but at the same time lucky that nothing really was lost?

Needless to say, what a great way to start 2012.