Brasserie Wepler is just up the street from my work.  It’s one of those famous artists’ cafés that could have easily fit into Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris (i.e., Picasso, Utrillo, and Modigliani slurped here)…if it were still in its original state.  It’s not, but who cares?  It’s still a great place to go and drink coffee and watch the world go by on Place de Clichy.

So after gulping down another formule (prix-fixe menu) at one of the cute sandwich/salad places on rue de Clichy, I went for a coffee at Wepler.  It was a suitably soggy Thursday, and the view from the covered terrace was suitably gray and Paris-like.  The Place de Clichy is probably as noisy and crowded as it was in the days when Henry Miller hung out there, though the café itself was much more scenic, if the paintings by Bonnard can be trusted for historical accuracy (somewhere along the line it got a boring, modern revamp).  I imagine there were less cars and more people milling around the enormous bronze statue dedicated to Maréchal de Moncey.  This huge trilogy of symbolic figures hovers over the circular square, giving an otherwise average Parisian traffic circle a touch of drama.

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