Sunday 17 June 2007

Aida Café: Painting the Town Pink



Aida Café
Stock im Eisen Platz

View of from the Do & Co Hotel
in the Haas Haus









Saturday evening, 7 pm
Aida Café
Stock im Eisen Platz

(next to St. Stephan's Cathedral)

Aida (sometimes spelled Aïda, with a diaeresis)
is a chain of 26 espresso bar and pastry shops
(Café-Konditorei) in Vienna, Austria.
They have a devoted clientele, for whom Aida has achieved near-cult status. Business hours are from early in the morning until the early evening; the shops are open every day of the year with the exception of Christmas Day.

Ten Aida shops had been established before the Second World War, but they were all destroyed during the air raids on Vienna. After the war, Felix Prousek (1918-2003) took over the management and started rebuilding and expanding. His innovative approach to coffeehouse culture resulted in an alternative to the sheer Gemütlichkeit of the traditional Viennese café. Prousek was also one of the first to introduce Italian-style espresso machines in Austria.

However, for decades now, Aida has been resistant to change of any kind. This is first and foremost true of their interior design, very similar for all shops and reminiscent of the 1950s-1970s. Their trademark colours are pink and dark brown. Most of the furniture is made of plastic, and there is mostly seating without upholstery.


(Quoted from Wikipedia.org)

Aida's home page (click here), reflects the spirit of the laid back atmosphere this Viennese institution offers its guests.

Click here
for more pictures.
(Note: While it is true that the present post
will be shown again,
if you scroll past,- in this case down -,
you will reach the previous ones
.)

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous17 June, 2007

    How charming......but if I click for more pictures it only takes me to the top of the page again.....

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  2. but, naturally,
    i am in love
    with all that yummy pink!

    :-)

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  3. Hmmmm.... I'm not sure about all that pink! What do you think of it, Merisi? Although.... I did see Pink Temptation at your earlier post - groan groan.

    PS. if you get a chance could you stop by my blog and see if you can identify some plants for me - you seem to know your plants - or maybe some of your readers could help?

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  4. Oh. let`s go there today!!!!

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  5. Britt-Arnhild:
    I wished I could find a way to avoid that the currant post shows up at the top!It's a bit confusing, but if you scroll down, you will realise that beyond the top one there are also the ones I wanted to link to to.

    somepinkflowers:
    You'd feel right at home in all that lovely pink. :-)

    freefalling:
    I have added a bit about the history of these cafes, to make it easier to understand what it's all about. :-) I must confess I've come to be sort of attached to it, it takes courage nowadays to stick with the old. ;-)

    Gypsy Purple:
    You would not regret it, espescially this particular location, being able to see St. Stephan's cathedral, the Haas house and the beginning of Graben while having a good cup of tea is not too bad. :-)

    simon:
    It was the sun that was low on the horizon at 7pm, enveloping the whole scene in this beautiful evening light, that made me stop in my tracks (I walk by there so often, by now it takes something extraordinary to stop me *g*).
    I love the one sunworshipper in the second picture, right before the camera shutter closed, she had adjusted her position just so. ;-)

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  6. Thanks for your comments Merisi. I had almost forgotten how lovely Vienna is, a visit is definately overdue. Who knows, maybe already in July.

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  7. I have to have one of these chairs! I'll place it in my balcony and soak in the sun like the lady on #2.
    Thank you for stopping by. Glad you did.

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  8. Anonymous20 June, 2007

    Is everything as pink as it looks or is it the light..?

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  9. So lovely - and pink is such a flattering colour to in which to surround one's self.

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  10. Anonymous22 June, 2007

    The bow on the waitress' apron is what i like the best. It ties the moment perfectly together!

    Great detail!

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