The café attached to Meaux station — or rather, positioned directly across the square from it — serves the commuter trade and does so reliably. Trains from Paris arrive every half-hour or so, and this is where drivers from the surrounding villages wait, where businesspeople stretch their legs, and where day-trippers arriving without a plan work out what to do next. Coffee, beer, a simple plat du jour at lunch. The terrace catches the afternoon sun. It is not the most characterful place in Meaux, but it is the most convenient, and the staff have given directions to the cathedral so many times that they can tell you the fastest route without looking up from the coffee machine.