Cats from Nice {France}

VISITING THE CAT CAFE LA RONRONNERIE IN NICE, FRANCE

I'm currently at the Cannes Film Festival in France, scribbling this text while waiting in line for Woody Allen's new movie Café Society. Just before I got here, I made a quick stop in the nearby city of Nice to visit the cat café La Ronronnerie (ronron being French for 'purr').

La Ronronnerie is a little different from other cat cafés. Usually, the cats come from shelters, but in La Ronronnerie they are pure breeds. There is Atys the Oriental, Edguard the Spynx, Léon the American Curl, Evoli the Selkirk Rex and Jaya the Bengal.

"I've always dreamed of having special cat breeds, but it never happened because of the high cost. La Ronronnerie was an excuse to make my dream come true," explains owner Logan. "I also wanted to show people how different cats can be, depending on the breed. The Bengal is almost always awake whereas the other cats sleep the entire day. The Sphinx is the one that loves to cuddle the most. He loves being on our shoulders."

Another aspect that's different about La Ronronnerie is that the cats are seen as an extra instead of the main attraction. "We wanted a real café where people relax and talk and eat a bagel without cats sitting on their laps all the time. Our visitors usually forget about them after a while," says Logan. "It was also important to us that the cats feel that the café is really their home, that they can be and do whatever they want. That's also the reason why we have only five cats. One of the breeds didn't adapt well and now lives happily at our home."

La Ronronnerie is currently the only cat café in Nice (the other one - Nice Cat Café - closed down several months earlier). It's right in the middle of the center, close to the shopping district and the old town, so it's easy to get there and to combine it with other activities.

Address: La Ronronnerie, 4 Rue de Lépante, 06000 Nice, France.

Open between 11:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

Find more info and photos here.