Once upon a time,at the Café de Paris
Rue du Mont-Blanc 261201 Genève
Switzerland
Opening time,and the first guest
has already settled down with coffee
and the morning paper
Croissants,under covers,
awaiting their ultimate destiny:
Who said mornings
speak of joyful anticipation?
The waitstaff has barely arrived
and some patrons are already
lost in an intense card game!
My double espressowith hot milk on the side:
Never attempt to order a "Viennese Mélange"
when in France or Switzerland!
Never even utter the words "Mélange" + "coffee"
in the same sentence and do not think "Viennese" -
unless you want to have a lengthy conversation
in a language you definitely are not the master of!
How to Order CoffeeI had already had my first lesson
in coffee ordering
a few mountain ranges earlier, in Feldkirch,
one of the westernmost towns of Austria:
There, a Coffee Mélange arrives
in a tall glass looking suspicially like
a classic Italian or Viennese caffè latte.
The waitress - in a small bakery,
at 7 in the morning - was offended
when I tried to explain that
I had not ordered a caffè latte!
Quelle horreur!
!!!Viennese Java Assumptions
are déplacé that far to the West!!!
Imagine if I had asked for café-au-lait,
secretely hoping to get one like
they serve in New Orléans?
Memo to myself:
Trade carefully when speaking of coffee.
Calling that venti latte the wrong way
nowadays could as easily provoke a war
as a defenestration in Prague
in the good old times!
Café de ParisGenève
Photographedin the early morning of
13 March 2010
© 2010 by Merisi
Clicking on the second picture from the bottom will take you to the website of Café de Paris in Genève, enjoy! :-)
ReplyDeleteA wonderful day to all of you,
Merisi
Btw, I used my little LUMIX camera here.
ReplyDeleteSomehow the white balance was off balance, so I tinted the pictures sepia.
I only use my little MacBookPro tools, still not able to use Photoshop. One day soon .... ;-)
so wonderful ...wish we had more cafe's in the US - I like the look of the kind of old fashioned photos
ReplyDeletevery relaxing on this morning before the craziness of my office!!
Ahah I don't use photoshop, too! Your sepia are perfect with the theme of old cfé.
ReplyDeleteThe warmth of sepia, all we had when I grew up, along with black and white. It gives these captures a feel all their own and then the colour ones at the end, give it the kick to show the previous ones off even greater~ Have a lovely~
ReplyDeleteLovely pictures -- and I was grinning to think of coffee ordering as a kind of shibboleth! "You're not from here, are you?" their looks will say!
ReplyDeleteSimply put: I adore these :)
ReplyDeleteMerisi - a lovely visit with you, as always. Do stop by my blog, I want you to see my newest creation - I think you would like her!
ReplyDelete- M
I'm sure I would make many mistakes ordering coffee in these lovely cafes you visited. I love the sepia treatment. its perfect for the atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteAlways so delightful visiting your blog Merisi.
How lovely and inviting. Everyone of your pics remind me of coffee.
ReplyDeleteI don't use Photoshop, either; surely it's a program with many nice functions.
ReplyDeleteVery funny your description of the coffee order! :-)
Pietro,
ReplyDeleteI was so close to Torino, but had to hold myself back from driving to from Aosta directl to Venice. One more detour simply was not possible in the time frame I had. Soon, I hope! :-)
What a wonderful post :-)
ReplyDeleteLove these monotone photographs! Looks like a wonderful place to hang out.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips on ordering coffee. I like the way Europeans drink it better anyhow....that croissant looks perfect, yum! I too enjoy the photos.
ReplyDeleteI love the sepia tones of this photo...they seem to reflect your subject beautifully...a post about coffee in coffee colors...lovely! You are not only a coffee gourmet, but you are a true artist! ~Janine XO
ReplyDeleteIf only I was a morning person oh the joys. And thank you for the coffee lesson...honestly, those small situations for me overseas are intimidating somehow. yikes, but yum.
ReplyDeleteI thought the sepia was on purpose and very appropriate for the wonderful shots Merisi.
ReplyDeleteBtw there is bad coffee in Italy... but even that seems to better than most "good coffee" elsewhere ;-)
In Sion, I saw the "Café de Paris de Genève à Sion". :)
ReplyDeleteWhatever you use, your photo's always do the job. They take me away from Florida.
ReplyDelete