Shakespeare and Company is an offbeat English language bookstore on Paris' Left Bank in the Latin Quarter, just across the river from Notre Dame. Founded in 1951, the shop has gone from being a mere bookstore to being a Paris institution. Young and old appreciate the quaint building- a tiny maze of nooks and crannies, stacked floor to ceiling in new and used books of all kinds. Old theatre seats, iron gates, petite chandeliers, a worn red staircase, old type writers, a piano to play at will, a taxidermy crow... they are all crowded into Shakespeare and Company's cozy cave of books. Books, books, piled everywhere. Some marked, some not yet marked, no one minding if you pick up the latter and just haul it to the desk to be priced. There is hardly room to shimmy between a reader and the shelves anywhere in the store, but dozens of people duck in for a quick look around this most singular establishment. Some visit quickly, some find a tiny alcove to encamp themselves for a couple hours. There isn't any regulations either way, just as artsy and curious sort of atmosphere and a general sense of goodwill. Its a hipsters dream, but frequented just as often by older folks, real artists and writers:) I found it rather busier on this trip than on my last, when i was idyllically alone to wander into the upstairs and sit at the threadbare window seat...but it was still very much worth the visit. Love people watching there, and rummaging through the old books.
