Despite the luxury of business class, that first day, post Atlantic crossing can seem a little groggy. After some beauty rest and unpack, we venture close to home on foot on the left bank: a favorite friend is always there with the comfort of warm classic french food and historic ambiance befitting its age. Intellectual discourse might not be on the menu. But the walls talk with 300 years of ideas. If time travel is possible for a second, Procope is a jolly try. If you are at the wrong table, it can feel like a pastiche of all the wrong assumptions. Yet, with a warm experienced waiter and good company you can quickly slip into 18th/19th century dreams of Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Verlaine and an American: Benjamin Franklin.

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