If it's a warm day, try a tea with fresh mint leaves. Is all the rage during the summer months and it's really refreshing. Or try one of the Mariage Freres salons (or L'Esplanade, the chic cafe overlooking the Esplanade des Invalides in the 7th by the LaTour Maubourg metro stop--good cocktails and a nice selection of MF teas).

I'll add the cafe on rue de lutece, on Ile de la Cite. Large patio, near Law Courts, Notre Dame, St Chapelle...good breakfast place. There are also a couple on Place de la Bastille where there is much world going by.

And I'll second the Place de la Bastille, although I don't think I know the names of any of the cafes there. But it doesn't matter--just pick a table and watch the show.

Ahhh, I had not heard that, Elle. Thank you!

bookingmarking

ok, so I can't spell. bookmarking. :)

I second Beatchick's vote for Cafe de la Mairie. My morning routine while in Paris typically includes getting a pastry at Gerald Mulot on Rue de Seine, eating it while sitting in one of the park benches in Place St. Sulpice and then having a cafe creme inside the cafe while reading my book. It didn't take but two days for the waiters to recognize me. It's also very lively in the evenings.

I'm glad to see a couple people choose the Place de la Contrescarpe and one person mention my favorite there, La Chope Café. I stayed near there in August'98 and spent each evening at one or other of the cafes. It's a great coloful, local spot; not toristy but with lots of tourists walking across to the cheap ethnic restaruants at the top of rue Moufetard. Plus locals going home with string bags full of groceries; Sorbonne students in leather and spike hair; and motorcyclists who hang out, their bikes propped against the fence around the fountain. The first night I was there the dirt around the fountain was bare, but by the second nights the parks people had put down sod, and before I left Paris they had the fountain working again.

"Le Dome" didn't sound familiar to me from our stay at Hotel de Turenne a few years ago, so I looked it up..
It's located on place du General Gouraud, where aves. Rapp, Bourdonnais and St Dominique meet up. There's an Eiffel Tower view from the terrace tables.
(not to be confused with Le Dome at Montparnasse)..

Friends living in Paris for seven months tried hot chocolate all over the city and said that in their opinion Cafe Flore had the best.

Joe18:
Sadly, when we were at Place Contrescarpe in June, La Chope was gone and is now sort of a modern, "hip" looking cafe. Darn.

What nothing on the Boul Mich?. I guess most of the good ones have also become non descript clothing stores.
Hopefully Deux Magots and Flore will always be there although they are a lot more touristy than they used to be.

I second Chez Francis. Perfect place to sit outdoors at night and have a great dinner while watching the Eiffel Tower twinkle. We ate there the first night of our honeymoon and it was just perfect.

Café Beaubourg (Hôtel de Ville)
Café Marguerite (Hôtel de Ville)
Café de la Musique (Porte de Pantin)

Just wanted to post here that I took Elle's advice & did people-watching at Café des Phares on the Place de la Bastille. I've posted the photos (fashion shots - what people are wearing) here:
www.pbase.com/beatchick

Thanks, Elle - it was a great experience!!

beatchick:
Fabulous photos. I LOVED theyellow sneakers. Oh my gosh, those picts made me want to go back to Paris so bad...

We enjoyed Le Dome near the Eifel Tower. We've also enjoyed many cafes that we just happened by and stopped in.

I suppose we must have gone to the Cafe Flore in a parallel universe. It was the worst meal in seven visits to Paris. The onion soup tasted like bath water, the waiter was surly and bread was non-existent. We love Paris and this is the only absolutely negative experience we have had there.

Chez Francis, (sigh!) I have the menu framed from my visit there over 25 years ago, my new favorite is the Brasseerie de L'Isle Saint Louis on the Quai de Boubin that faces the bridge where a jazz group plays and I watched the tourists and locals walk by. I recently found out it was a favorite of a friend who lives in France and also has taken a photo of a jazz band on the bridge but long ago.

Any votes for La Palette? I didn't actually get to sit down there, but I have a Parisian friend that loves it. In the 6th, rue de Seine. Crusty old waiter.

adding to my notes...<font color="red">great !!</font>