Aby-a-Day – 7 Juli: My first visit to a cat cafe…in Paris! (Special Sunday(

As I mentioned yesterday, whilst we were in London, we took a daytrip last Tuesday to Paris.

Our first stop was Le Café Des Chats, my first ever cat café!

I know, I know…cat cafés are a thing…but this is the first one I’ve ever been to.

They had laminated cards with photos and backstories of every cat. Those came in wicked handy.

One cat, Simba, decided it was his job to manage the front desk.

Simba was up there, managing, most of the time we were there.

It was so adorable, how seriously he took his self-appointed job.

Then there was Zan.

Zan spent almost the entire time we were there (from the café’s opening at noon) up on his shelf on the wall.

The café has an ingenious system of steps, bridges, and old furniture mounted to the wall to create a “cat superhighway” (™ Jackson Galaxy). Seems like it’s working.

The resident cats clearly knew that they were in charge. The only rules were “don’t feed the cats” and “don’t wake a sleeping cat.”

This is Salem, owning his chair.

Here’s Alaska.

According to his bio, he was born in the street to a neglected housecat. Not sure why he’s called Alaska…but it suits him.

The table we sat at had books that patrons could read. This book, “Secrets of the Cat,” was one of them.

It had a two-page spread dedicated to the “indefatigable players” – notably, the Abyssinian and the Singapura.

Abys’ playfulness needs no explanation…

…But the part about Singapuras is particularly adorable. It says, “The Singapura is an expert in clowneries.” Sounds about right.

The café also has this brilliant poster featuring famous felines.

And it really is complete. Look at #62: It’s Zunar J-9/5 aka Jake the Cat From Outer Space!

Then there was this old print in the washroom. That “wild cat” looks a lot like an Aby, don’t you think?

But the best part about the café was this lovely lady.

Her name is Izmir.

At first, she looks like a white longhair…but she isn’t. She’s a lilac Turkish Van; you can barely see it in photos, but her tail is lilac, not white. She also has one yellow eye and one blue one.

Izmir was a very polite cat. She came up to me and sat on the table, waiting for permission before engaging.

Then, a gentle headbutt.

Then she decided to crawl onto my lap.

She has the longest whiskers I have ever seen on a cat.

She settled down and made herself comfortable. The leather couch was rather slidey, so I was half sitting, half lying on it when Izmir settled. It was a bit awkward.

But how could I move? She was so comfy.

And she was purring!

She stayed on my lap, purring and kneading, for the longest time. I didn’t really get to interact with many of the other cats…but after almost a week of not having any kitties to cuddle, she really made my day.