Viennese Moments

Viennese Happy Hour
View of Graben from Stock-im-Eisen Square
Square or street, no one cares,
the Viennese know their "Graben" is no longer a moat
- or trench, as it is usually translated -
but gold-plated pavement to saunter along
after a hard day's work.

Seven Ladies Astrolling
and each holding an ice-cream cone!
They are walking from the Meinl building -
where Graben meets Kohlmarkt to the left
and Tuchlauben to the right -
towards Stock-im-Eisen Square
next to St. Stephen's Cathedral.

I turned left towards Kohlgraben,
not feeling too sorry for the marathon talking busymen
with their coffee and cell phone melange
at Meinl's outdoor café.

Quick, how many pairs
of sun-glasses?
The sun was sending off the day's last few blinding rays,
past the Esterhazy Palais at Wallnerstrasse,
illuminating the fashionably accessorized ladies in
the Chanel windows on Kohlmarkt.

Der Rosenkavalier
"I see bloom and bough reaching out to her,
and dancing upon the breeze ...
with her who is more lovely than the roses!
Will she gently take my hand and
walk with me through garden paths?"
So dreams our Knight of the Rose,
in Tommy Hilfiger's window,
ready to affix in desperation a few more sheets of music
onto the unforgiving sheet of glass
that separates him from Chanel and his beloved
on the either side of Kohlmarkt.

This scene almost stops
me in my tracks:
Happy Hour by the sea,
who wouldn't rather
want to dream there?

At the end,
I am one hour late,
but luckily my friend,
a patient soul,
held out for me.

And this is where
we headed,
after putting Demel's between
a hectic day and the evening's persuit
of satiating our thirst for
knowledge of secrets of the past.

Good night, knowledge,
good night, world,
no more secrets
be revealed
today.

*

Photographed by Merisi
on the evening of June 2, 2009.

The first image - of Graben -
is a photograph of the cover illustration
of an Ernst Hausner publication,
"Vienna. Strolling Through a Beautiful City"
I took the picture at Berger's bookstore at Kohlmarkt.