Wednesday 6 April 2016

Coffee, Anyone?
Espresso with Cream at Café Prückel


Your Choice
Single red Zinnia
to the left


or single red Zinnia
to the right
of your reading lamp


Having a hard time
deciding which side your zinnia should lean to?
No problem, simply sit down
and enjoy the view of an orchestra's
worth of flowers on top of the
glass vetrine with the sweet
t e m p t a t i o n s


and order your
espresso with cream
on the side


Select a newspaper
or three or a magazine,
but feel also free to read
your own book
from cover to cover


Your waiter will let you get lost
on your island
between the lines,
as lost as you allow yourself to become,
because everything stands still while you read
or contemplate or create in the far corners
of your mind.
Time does not exist here,
no waiter will nudge you to consume more,
and if it takes you a hundred years
to finish your thought or your book,
he will still be there -
he has been for 110 years so far -
and he will be there to serve you,
as soon as you lift your hand,
for more coffee or the bill,
"Herr Ober, zahlen bitte!"

*

Photographed in the late afternoon
of Wednesday, 12 May 2010,
at one of the famous Viennese Ringstrassen Cafés,
Café Prückel, founded in 1904
Corner of Wollzeile and Stubenring

Images and Text © by Merisi

23 comments:

  1. The place feels positively Viennese, of course!

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  2. Black coffee for me :)

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  3. I'd take my zinnia any which way at all, if it meant I could sit for hours in that cafe!

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  4. And this is why I love Viennese cafés. Thank you for making me very homesick... I think a visit to Vienna is imminent...

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  5. My Kind of place. Elegantly lazy.

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  6. What an elegant place!

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  7. i am so happy that you 'bite the bullet' for us and visit/sample all these amazing coffee houses and then share them with us

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  8. Now that is the way to enjoy a cup of coffee! I can't imagine a more relaxing way to spend a my time. Some day, Magali, someday!

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  9. ARRRGGGH! I know you are Merisi! Don't know why my fingers typed Magali! Maybe because she is the next in my queue of blogs to read! Sorry about that!

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  10. I would love to sit and read . I would have a hard time choosing where to sit. Think I would chose the orchestra of flowers !

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  11. Beautiful pictures,beautiful words, it looks like a perfect place Merisi

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  12. I would sit with the orchestra of Zinnias 😊..

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  13. HOW GORGEOUS is this little SPOT!

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  14. A very civilized way for a waiter to treat the patrons!

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  15. Jane Campbell12 November, 2015

    Sounds like my kind of haven!

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  16. I'm pretty sure this was part of my "Cafe Tour" when I was in Vienna. I long to go back, such a wonderful city with lots of traditions that I enjoy. :)

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    Replies
    1. Oh yes, the Viennese know how to live! ;-)

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  17. TO THE RIGHT PLEASE...............beve per me anche!

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    Replies
    1. Lo farò, senz'altro! :-)
      I hope you will join me too, soon.

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  18. I think I'd have to build an extra day into my Vienna trip in order to spend an entire afternoon enjoying coffee in this cafe!

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