After the madness of India I’ve come to Paris, and this morning I enjoyed a cappuccino while looking out of the cafe window across to the unmistakable Paris landmark of Notre-Dame. I’m sitting inside the cafe of Shakespeare And Company, an English-language bookshop that I’m told something of and landmark for anglophone writers and readers.

The cafe is a fairly new addition to the bookshop which has been here since 1951. In the early 17th century, the building was originally a monastery, La Maison du Mustier, but there is little evidence of that now as coffee drinkers sip their latte’s, cappuccinos and espressos. It is perhaps the perfect place to acclimatize myself to Paris as Spring begins to blossom.

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Stand at this location using Google street view.