Café de Flore

Look to your left: on the opposite side, you’ll find Café de Flore. Do you recognise this place? For more context, Emily, Sylvie and Julien had met up here with Pierre Cadault in episode 6. Quite a disastrous meeting as Pierre will call Emily “ringarde”, meaning that her sense of fashion is lame! Right after all this chaos, she’ll sit here, in Café de Flore, and meet Thomas sitting at the table beside hers. She’ll tell him what happened and he’ll answer that she isn’t as unfashionable as she thinks as she’s sitting in one of Paris’s most trendiest bars, where Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir used to come too. He explains that, in the past, Les Deux Magots café was the most popular. Turn around, it’s right behind you. Open since 1884, many big names have come here, such as Verlaine, Rimbaud, or Guillaume Apollinaire. This place progressively became a true haven for literature lovers, alongside Café de Flore which, on the contrary, had a slower start. It would finally develop into a famous artsy and literary café after World War I. The golden age for Parisian cafés is definitely during the 1930s, because artists would often shelter inside to escape from their cold and humid attic rooms. During the German occupation of World War II, soldiers were often in Montmartre and Montparnasse. Hence, many residents withdrew to the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district. It’s at this moment that celebrities such as Boris Vian, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Albert Camus became regular customers of Café de Flore. It was understandable, given its advantages: a massive wood stove heating the whole house up, as well as welcoming artists the whole day without having to consume much. A home to working artists during the day, a place for party-animals at night. Consequently, this café quickly grew to become the trendiest and most frequented in the capital. You can stop by to have a bite or drink, but don’t be surprised when seeing how much it’ll cost! Given its growing popularity, prices have shot up these last few years. Anyway, we won’t forget this memorable scene where Emily will realise where she’s sitting thanks to Thomas, who she will have a short relationship with afterwards.