cafe life

I saw a cafe...The smallness of it, the intimacy of it, the humanity of its proportion, the absence of arrogance, the absence of gloss and glitter touched me and once again opened me to tenderness as Paris has always done...One could sit there and feel unique, in tune with the world, or out of tune, feel human, open to human emotions and wanting to weep. One could sit there if one felt the world too big, too barbaric, and once more experience a human setting, a proper setting for a human being who does not feel arrogant, glossy, powerful. The small cafe and tenderness were not gone, the patina of much living, the worn, the tired, the wistful, my cafe, my Paris, where a soul can be a little worn, where it does not have to be shop-new, shop-glossy, hard and brittle.

- Anais Nin (Paris Revisited)

Comments

[Brit]

i love these pictures, but even more paired with anais's words. :)

[Stephanie]

I thought these words were your own as I read them. Lovely..."One could sit there and feel unique, in tune with the world, or out of tune, feel human, open to human emotions and wanting to weep."

[Nichole]

I am writing this comment while in a cafe/bar. Earlier in the day, I shared laughs with other patrons, listened to fantastic mellow music, and said hi to a dog who followed his human in. My cafe experience in Paris was tarnished by an incident (http://merci-me.blogspot.com/2009/07/retroactive-blogging-paris.html), but I understand and appreciate the sentiment just the same. Thank you for sharing!

[Jenna/The Word Cellar]

I thought these were your words, too! Thanks for sharing such a lovely quote and such lovely photographs.