Café de la Mairie

This café stands to the left as you face Saint-Sulpice. It's a good fallback if it's raining or you'd rather sit down than head to the park. It's also close to Pierre Hermé, where we just picked up macarons.

Café de la Mairie is a classic Parisian bistro more than 100 years old, with a view of Saint-Sulpice. It is also the setting of a book by the French writer Georges Perec, who wrote it while observing the square from this café. It's often praised for the sunset hour. Online ratings, on Google and elsewhere, aren't especially high, but for a single drink and a low-key taste of Paris, it's not a bad choice.

Paris may bring to mind sidewalk cafés and the green chairs in the parks, but sidewalk cafés can feel intimidating at first, with tables packed close together and plenty of smoking. Here the tables are more spread out than elsewhere, and service is fairly quick. Opinions on the service are mixed, though, and the food is rather ordinary for the price.

Drink portions are small. The lemonade was gone in one gulp, and even a Coke is tiny in Paris. Yet the price was a full 7 euros.