Friday 22 July 2011

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 already for 106 years -
he will be there to serve you
as soon as you lift your hand
for more coffee or call out
"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
Images and Text © by Merisi

* Clicking on the name
will lead you to an article in the
New York Times -
if not for any particular reason but
for an amusing misspelling of the German name
for Vienna, twice: Wein and Weiner, instead of Wien.
Now I am not so sure anymore,
is it Wiener or Weiner Dog
?

+

Nota bene
This is a re-post

The New York Times
has corrected the spelling
since I published this post
on 13 May 2010

12 comments:

  1. Your words are beautiful! I love the 'orchestra's worth of flowers" and "on your island between the lines."

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are unanimous and needs to be appreciated by everyone.

    Apple iPhones

    ReplyDelete
  3. I always take my own book when I go to a resturaunt or cafe.

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  4. A quiet escape. Hoping all is well with you.

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  5. Café Prückel,what a fun name and it is a charming little place too. Those newsprints and magazines, look like they could be the husby's desk of the morning~

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  6. Oh OH
    I wanna B there now!!
    YUM

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  7. I need to be there. I have a book I've been trying to finish for ages.

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  8. Anonymous23 July, 2011

    I invite you on my new blog.
    Will be a lot of pictures, music, films, cars etc.
    It would be nice if you'll visit my blog sometimes :)

    http://bianchii.blogspot.com


    I have a lot of photos from Vienna too you can see if you want :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. How perfectly civilized - wonderful! I love to read or work in cafés.

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  10. Hello, I do love this cafe -- and have fond memories of breakfasts here, when my husband and I visited Vienna a few years ago. We were staying at the Hilton nearby (using up "points") and didn't want to pay the ridiculous amount of money for breakfast on site. We tried this cafe the first morning, and it became our regular stop. I love it!

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  11. I wish there was a place like that here in California.
    I would love to sit and read and wile away the time just because I want too.
    Everything is just too rush, rush.

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  12. Are these zinnias or gerbera daisies?

    ReplyDelete

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