Tuesday 16 March 2010

Old McDonald has a Coffee House
McCafé along the German Autobahn

It Was the Morning After
the day after the Big Oscar Night.
I was on the road from Vienna
towards Munich, driving on the West-Autobahn,
where I have not ever found a single cup of good coffee
in any of the Autbahn service areas I tried over the years.

And there they were,
all of a sudden appearing on the horizon:
Golden Arches, promising good coffee
in their coffee-house-style McCafé!

Yes, I did it,
I have fallen head over heals
for their first-class cappuccino.


I was still swooning
over that java experience
when I passed Lake Chiemsee,
its frozen shores a splendid sight!

You still talking to me?

Photographed 9 March 2010
Images and Text © by Merisi

19 comments:

  1. My word, even your McDonald's is lovelier than ours :)

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  2. Such a pretty cup your coffee was served in at McDonalds! I'm glad you found an acceptable cup of coffee ... even in the most unexpected of places. I love it! Beautiful pics convey the chilly temperatures.

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  3. Very nice picture of a Black-headed Gull (Lachmöwe) in winter plumage. It should have its black head in a week or two.

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  4. That McDonald's cappuccino looks so much better than the one's in the USA. I am a lover of their iced coffee here as pretty tasty and price is reasonable. Great photos as usual!!

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  5. Oh. My. God. Can it be?

    Do they have Kentucky Fried Chicken over there?

    Pull yourself together, Merisi!

    I count on you for Old World splendor!

    (But I'm glad the coffee was good!)

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  6. Hahaaa! Only YOU could make that coffee and those arches look so fabuous, Merisi! Take a bow, please...

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  7. I really like your pure white coffee cups. I have started to ask for a real coffee mug and the Border's Bookstore. It is a bright red one the same shape as yours, but much larger. No more styrofoam cups for me if I can help it. Beautiful shots below.

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  8. Believe me, the Mickey D's "first class cappuccino" experience does not translate well on Canadian shores! Blecht! But any port in a storm, Merisi, or on the autobahn.

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  9. oh, mcdo has good coffee?! since when? bleah! but you tell the story so well, that my opinion on mcdo does not matter anymore :))!

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  10. Mackie Dee does nice coffee?

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  11. What gorgeous sites of winter. It's amazing how good McDo's coffee it. I was very surprised, but pleased. Personally I think it's the best on the road.
    Sam

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  12. Do try their macarons (though not the caramel-pheh) while you're at it cherie!
    Bonne chance
    xxcg

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  13. Ah yes, Mcdougals coffee, it smells wonderful, but I'm not a coffee drinker! Pretty photos, but brrrrr, I'm so ready for spring, and we are having rain again! Guess it is better than the 5 year drought we had.

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  14. Dear readers,
    it sounds incredible, but the espresso drinks at McCafé are excellent! Sam is right, there is not better coffee on the road, except in Italy, where bad coffee seems to simply not exist.
    I have noticed, though, that coffee at regular MacDonald's does taste different, but is not bad either.

    @ Paris Breakfasts:
    Carol, I have not noticed any macarons there!
    What I did see where giant macarons at the IKEA store in Lyon, France. They were so big, I did not try them (they cost Euro 1.50, btw.),

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  15. Magic little bird in the last photo.

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  16. OK, the world has officially ended. We're just lingering on in a twilight world of post-apocalyptic horror. :)

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  17. ok, on Friday I'll go at this mcDo @ Schwechat airport and try a cup there, so I can have at least solid arguments: pro or contra :))...

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  18. Maegaret Benbow,
    there were hundreds of them, but they all took flight when I took my camera out. ;-)


    Charles Gramlich,
    *giggles*
    Many of the truly original Viennese coffee houses are still filled with cigarette smoke. Starbucks has been an alternative for many young people who'd rather not breathe secondhand smoke, and now there is McCafe. I really appreciate their effort to offer truly good coffee, in a smoke-free environment. And after all, it is local people who work there, wherever the mother-ship may be hovering around.

    Lara Neusiedler,
    I discovered your "local" McCafe one fine Saturday afternoon, arriving with friends from the Hungarian border, pushing towards Vienna, but lusting for a good cup of coffee. Rust is usually packed on weekend, so we decided to take the back roads and have coffee somewhere in a small town. Well, we drove all the way to Neusiedl without finding a place to sit down and have coffee (except in a Wirtshaus, but we did not want food). Just before getting back on the Autobahn, did we spot a McCafe. All four of us enjoyed our coffee (our friends were from France), thanking the gods for having led us there. ;-)

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  19. I see that McDon. adapted to the European style -we get our coffee in a plastic cup:( But you probably pay more too:) Breathtaking landscapes along the road!

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