I Prefer Paris: Café de Flore Reunion

June 20, 2022

Café de Flore Reunion

In the early 1980s, Vincent and I brought my niece Sarah and her best girlfriend Alexandra to Paris for about 10 days in May. At the time, Sarah and Alexandra were 16 years old, living in and going to high school on the upper west side of Manhattan, and they were already cosmopolitan girls on the go, partying at Studio 54 and avid Rolling Stone groupies.

We stayed at a small hotel on the Boulevard Saint Germain, and every morning we would cross the street and have croissants and coffee at Café de Flore.

In an agreement unbeknownst to their parents, we allowed the girls to go by themselves to see the Rolling Stones in London for four days. Remember, in those days there was no email, internet, or cell phones, and even long -distance landline calls were expensive and difficult to make, so there was almost no communication between us during the four days, just a wing and a prayer. However, they had a safe and sure place to stay with the best friend of Sarah’s father’s girlfriend at the time and the girls ended up hanging out in some of the musician’s hotel suites, the ultimate groupie fantasy fulfilled. (Sarah and Alexandra swore they behaved themselves by not doing the perfunctory sex and drugs usually associated with rock and roll groupies)

Sarah had lost touch with Alexandra for a long time but about eight years ago they reconnected online. Alexandra lives in the East Bay and Sarah lives in Scarsdale, New York. When Alexandra learned I was living in Paris and emailed me in 2014 to say she was coming to Paris with her two young daughters, Delphine, and Natasha, and wanted to do some tours. We met and had a great time, and it was lovely to see her again.

Earlier this year Alexandra informed me she was coming to Paris again in mid-June with her daughters. A few weeks later my niece Sarah told me she was also coming to Paris in June with her daughter Avery, and when I looked at the dates, there was an overlap of three days when they would both be here. I immediately said we must have a Café de Flore reunion, and last Thursday night was the big day. We met at 6pm and had drinks inside. I had not seen Delphine, and Natasha, for a long time, and they were now budding mademoiselles, age 12 and 17, instead of cute, little girls. Natasha had just graduated high school, so coming to Paris was part of her graduation celebration. Delphine and Natasha both attended a French and English grade school, and I was impressed with their proficiency in French. My great niece Avery had just graduated Columbia grad school last month and was traveling over the summer before she starts her new job in September.

We had a delightful time at Café de Flore, reminiscing about our trip, while Alexandra filled us in on some of the missing details we had forgotten. The ironic part was Avery was going to see the Rolling Stones on her own in London next week. (Mind you, Avery is a mature, well-traveled, and worldly 25-year-old, who has been to more places than I have.)

We were having such a great time, that I canceled my dinner reservations and we all had dinner together in an outdoor café in Les Halles.