[srs_sput]

From my experience, this is quite common in Europe. I can't think of a cafe that I have been to that I ever felt rushed. I have always needed to call the server over to get my check to leave.

The cafes are where people relax and people watch. No need to rush.

[mercer]

Yeah, it's a bit odd for me to realize that this is not a normal thing everywhere. I've spent quite a bit of my student years showing up at a restaurant/cafe at around 10:00, hanging out until 18:00 or so, friends of mine coming and going, and deciding to stay for dinner and possibly some singer-songwriter performance.

While cost kept me from doing it on a daily basis, I quite regularly ended up spending entire days (8+) hours at the hotspot-du-jour, only leaving for brief periods for some errands nearby.