Cat from Paris {France}

The two-story bookstore Shakespeare and Company, founded in 1951 by the American George Whitman, is one of the must-see places in Paris if you love books and cats.

Author Henry Miller called this famous bookstore “a wonderland of books.” The accumulation of books is huge - mainly literary classics, but we also found cat-themed books (such as this one). The bookstore also features a sofa, an old piano, typewriters, and... a world-famous resident cat.

Shakespeare and Company is currently the home of Agatha, their eight cat. Agatha is a docile, female tabby, accustomed to the comings and goings of passing writers and customers.

"Agatha used to be a stray cat. She often visited the bookstore's office and eventually made it her home," the shop assistant told Traveling Cats. "When the bookstore's former cat, Kitty, passed away in 2016, Agatha took her place as Shakespeare and Company's official bookstore cat. She's now the face of many of the bookstore's leaflets and brochures."

You can often find Agatha sleeping in her cat bed tent in the piano room on the first floor. When the crowds thin out, she comes out and picks a human lap to nap on. But don't you dare reading a book at the same time, because Agatha wants the attention all to herself.

Practical info:

Address: 37, rue de la Bûcherie, Vᵉ arrondissement, Paris.

Open seven days a week, from 10 am to 11 pm.

You can see pictures of the stunning interior of the bookstore here.

Pictures by Sobi