Special Settings for Sitting! Paris
 

One thing I enjoy much in Europe cities is finding a bench or chair somewhere or any place to sit on and watch the passing show or gaze at broad vistas. It may be a break from the rigors of sightseeing or a nice picnic spot but these are places I always go back to whenever I can.

I have several such favorite places in Paris - foremost of which is a bench at the west end of the Tuileries Gardens overlooking the Place de Concorde- watching the non-stop traffic whizz around it and pedestrians gingerly walking across it.

You can see across the Place to the heavily-barricaded at time American Embassy and the square has all those mammoth statues. The Eiffel Tower looms in the near distance.

I also love sitting in the Luxembourg Gardens by a fountain basin and watch the crowd of walkers and joggers go by and in The Tuileries proper at the basins where kids rent boats to float around it and again see the parade of walkers and joggers constantly go by.

A third local I love is to sit on the Trocadero esplanade smack across from the Eiffel Tower in the nice arm chairs there and watching the fountains splash and skate boarders and break dancers often performing for the crowd. Lovely seeing the peniches and tour boats floating by too.

And just about any cafe with outdoor tables is a great place to people watch the passing parade out front.

DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL SETTINGS FOR SITTING IN PARIS?

1. the terrace of Au Père Tranquille on rue Pierre Lescot
2. Place de la République
3. along the lake at the Buttes Chaumont

On a bench on Champ de Mars having a picnic and gazing at Eiffel Tower

Any one of four choice benches at the top of the Parc de Belleville

By the fountain at the Palais Royal

Anywhere with a horizontal surface my knees will allow me to reach that isn't in a road.

I sit on my velib then go on. Earnest, I never sit for more than a few minutes. Unless with a good beer.
In that case, I go to the Green Linnet in the 5th. Outside, with a book.

Below and to the side of the Trocadéro, in the leafy portion below the Musée de l'Homme, halfway down the hill, are a number of benches. During the winter, on a nice day, because there are no leaves on the trees, I remember seeing across to the Eiffel tower and beyond.

Outside the Musée Galliera de la Mode, behind (?) the strange "triptych" along the round lawn with the skinny statue/fountain. A bit of an oasis.

Somewhere in the Jardin des Plantes or near the scupltures by the Jardin Tino Rossi on the Quai de Seine or on the Allee Jacques Gamerin in Parc Monceau, but as a runner I prefer to go for a jog along all these places in the morning.

As for sitting, well I guess I can sit when I'm dead.

My most rewarding sit may have been in a little park in the 18th behind Sacré-Cœur watching a game of pétanque.

Bookmarking

Any chair in a church.

I love the terrace at Brasserie Isle St Louis so you can see the Seine and the foot traffic coming across the bridge (and the street performers on the bridge).

The park behind Notre Dame is also a nice spot to sit (especially with some Berthillon ice cream).

Honestly, any seat in Paris makes me happy.

Great thread!

The Parc de Belleville.

The park beneath the Pont Neuf. We love to have lunch there with a small bottle of vin rouge, a baguette and cheese.

The benches outside Cluny Musee des Moyens Ages.

The tiny Square du Vert-Galant at the pointy (downstream) end of Ile de la Cite. The park is dedicated to Henri IV and his many mistresses, and has a number of benches from which you can watch the Seine flow by and see some of the other bridges. I think it is the same park that Cilburke mentions above.

I had a lovely sit-and-watch in the little garden at the foot of the Tour St Jacques last May. Full of folk, but still somehow peaceful:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrick...7601670143924/

So many wonderful places to sit and watch the world go by. Others have listed most of our favorites, though I would add Le Jardins de Plantes.

Bookmarking these great "sitting" suggestions, some of which I have availed myself,
but many I'd love to try. These days my feet are always ready for a break.

Ah yes the Jardin des Plantes-I often sit there waiting for trains at Austerlitz station- the station I always come into Paris on from Orleans when staying at my son's place.

Watch the gardeners work - joggers circle and see and here animals from the small zoo.