Sidewalk Cafes

[icyfroth]

They're nice if they're on a nice esplanade or a nice street like the Champs Elysees, but for the life of me I can't see the attraction of sitting on a narrow, downhill tilted, grimy littered footpath on a heavy traffic road, right next to a pedestrian crossing. Gulping carbon monoxide along with your latte or cappuccino.

Sheesh. Get outta here.

[lakeland27]

say hello to the laneway behind the Austral for me

[freshwater-2]

Icy, the outdoor cafes on the Champs Elysees are not a good comparison...or any sidewalk cafe in France.

OK, the traffic is not bad,, but you have to put up with legal smoking, wading through cigarette butts and dog poo and urine (for which Paris is well known).

[donnashuggy]

That's true, they have banned smoking in outside cafes here.

[icyfroth]

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@freshwaterbeach wrote:

Icy, the outdoor cafes on the Champs Elysees are not a good comparison...or any sidewalk cafe in France.

OK, the traffic is not bad,, but you have to put up with legal smoking, wading through cigarette butts and dog poo and urine (for which Paris is well known).

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Sounds like some of them around here, freshie. In all fairness, some of the cafe's off the main drag are quite nice, but there's no way I'd want to sit on a main thouroughfare like Military Rd  having coffee with exhaust fumes.

Actually, I didn't like the Champs Elysees much, it was overrun with tourists, you couldn't find a loo anywhere, and it was way expensive. Paris was not what I imagined from the movies.

[boris1gary]

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@donnashuggy wrote:

That's true, they have banned smoking in outside cafes here.

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not here they haven't.

[mourn*er*12]

I actually hate the patronisers of sidewalk cafes.

There's nothing worse than walking through a cloud of cigarette smoke, tripping over outstretched legs and handbags on the ground.

Just like working class mothers with prams, sidewalk cafe patronisers think they own the pavement.

[jean2579]

Why working class Mothers Mourner. Don't upper or lower class mums use prams.

[mourn*er*12]

Yes they do jean, but they are courteous and polite out in public and don't believe the world owes them anything.

edit: include lower in the working class in this instance.

[ca04]

I love outdoor eating and coffee places, nothing is nicer. Stuck indoors with air con is unpleasant. We have recently lost my favourite cafe in town,  the council wants to start charging thousands for little cafes to have chairs and tables outdoors, even though having some outdoor activity has proved to deter  street crime. Can't help thinking its got something to do with a huge, horrid shopping centre with the obligatory "food hall" being built nearby.  

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Just the inherent greed that most councils suffer from. 🙂

[i-need-a-martini]

I always choose outside to inside cafe visits.

I love watching the parade of cars and people. Plus i hate the inside noisiness of cafes - people shouting to chat over the food prep clatter, music not to my taste etc.

Would never sit outside on the street for a restaurant meal tho.