Cafe de l'Est, Paris, 18:30
Just outside of the train station stands this lovely art deco cafe that is positively brimming with coffee drinkers - and even the occasional tea drinker - trying to get something warm in them while they await their trains or before heading off in the direction of one business or another. It's reasonably busy inside as evidenced by the quick bustle of waitresses scurrying about to the tune of coffee demands and money changing. There do appear to be a few other guests of the Orient Express in evidence here, however, judging by the timetables sitting on the table in front of them or beside their coffees.There is a French couple clasping hands over one such timetable while gazing in each other's eyes as though the only things that mattered to them in the world was each other. They both have a flat white coffee sitting in front of them but they have hardly either touched them - nor the croissants.
The woman says with a flutter of her eyelashes, The man says gently, The woman says with an air of rebellion, The man says with false grimness touched by good cheer, The woman says firmly, There is another couple in the room who are obviously going to be taking a trip on the Orient Express, though they seem far less pleased with each other. The woman has an itinerary held open around a saucer and she reads it while clutching her coffee cup, seeming to studiously ignore her husband. The man, on the other hand, simply scans the crowd with a look of utter boredom on his face though his gaze does roam over the bodies of any attractive women in the crowd. They are both obviously Meditteranean. Perhaps Greek or Italian?
