"... it must be saidthat the Viennese coffeehouse
is a particular institutionwhich is not comparable to any other
in the world.
As a matter of fact,it is a democratic club
to which admissioncosts the small price
of a cup of coffee.
Upon payment of this miteevery guest can sit for hours on end,
discuss, write, play cards,receive his mail, and,
above all, can go throughan unlimited number
of newspapers and magazines."
Café Hawelka
Dorotheergasse
Vienna
Images
© 2010 by Merisi
Quote:
"The World of Yesterday"
"Die Welt von Gestern.
Erinnerungen eines Europäers"
by Stefan Zweig
© Viking Press 1943
The University of Nebraska Press
I love the look of that coffee!
ReplyDeleteI would guess that someone might also be able to fall in love while in a Viennese coffee house. The setting is perfect.
ReplyDeleteSuch a Civilized institution!
ReplyDeleteGood morning :). Wish you and I could have a little chat and sit there! Have a good week. I begin classes again today.
ReplyDeleteThese are amazing shots! I must ask if you don't mind what type of camera do you use? However I know that the camera does not take the photo, the person does, but I am just wondering!! They are just wonderful...great for a Monday morning.
ReplyDeleteBadger,
ReplyDeleteyou'd love even more drinking it, it's that good! ;)
Frances,
I actually have friends who met and fell in love in a Viennese coffee house! She is a well-known writer and he a distinguished translator of the works of English authors into his native language. They were guest teachers back then, at the university here. "She" made an ironic comment on the pile of books on "his" table and that's how their romance started. I bet there are many more encounters like this, but probably not too many non-Viennese from different countries meeting there and later marrying.
Vicki Lane,
ReplyDeleteyes, civilized indeed!
I felt withdrawals symptoms during the last few months, suffering from a dearth of coffee house visits. Yesterday, I sort of made up for that by having breakfast with a houseguest at Café Dommayer, then heading towards Diglas for lunch with another friend, throwing in a melange at Café Hawelka in between because otherwise I would have shown up too early for lunch. ;-)
She Writes,
ReplyDeletethat would be fantastic!
I am sure you'd love to write there.
A wonderful start into the new term!
NYC, Style and a little Cannoli,
ReplyDeleteno problem at all divulging the type of camera I use:
I have a Nikon D80, long since eclipsed by the brilliant D90, which is the one model I would recommend to look into. Vicki Lane has a D90, check out her pictures, they are glorious!
If you can get ahold of a well-priced second hand D80, there is nothing wrong with it as an entry model. Adding an 18-200mm lens and a 85mm macro, you'd be set for almost any type of photography (with the 1.5 conversion rate these are actually 300mm respectively 130mm lenses - the last one a great portrait and still life lens).
It does take, in my humble opinion, a little time to get used to and the best out of a digital single-lens reflex cameras, and serious study of the handbook.
A cheap D80 would be a very good learning tool and by the time you want to upgrade to a D90, that one will have gone down in price even further, while you will still be able to continue to use your original lenses.
I speak only for myself, though. I have many friends who love their Cannon cameras. I simply like the Nikon body best, it feels right in my hands, while the tactile element was a bit out of sync with a Cannon. For my hands, that is.
Btw, I am not working nor being paid by Nikon! :-)))
I could sit for hours on end here!
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking--what a perfect way to wile away the hours...that first photo is like a painting. I had to look closely to be sure it wasn't one!
ReplyDeleteWillow,
ReplyDeleteI know you would love it! :-)
Sue,
after all, the word photograph means "drawing with light" in Greek! I think of my camera as a tool to capture and compose with light in such a way to create a picture, at least this is what I aim to learn one fine day, to create exactly the image I compose in my mind and not one that is dictated mechanically. It's a long way, but I shall continue to try and study the tools to achieve it.
I'm dreaming of a leisurely cup of fragrant coffee, whiling away the morning with magazines and that book I have been meaning to read...and something sweet to go with the coffee too.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder nothing has ever changed in Vienna!
ReplyDeleteEVERYONE is sitting in a coffee haus schmoozing...
Sounds and looks like a pretty good way to spend time if you ask moi..
:)
We also have a few out of the way places like this, however your captures generate a feel that ours would not come close to. The closest thing I could ever try is the little tins of International Vienna flavor Coffee~
ReplyDeleteI often wondered how on earth the coffee shops made a profit. People sit for hours with only one cup of coffee. Is there a mystical secret to it I wonder?
ReplyDeleteSitting in cafes for hours--one of the things I miss most about Europe.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the Nikon D90--it is fantastic.
Ahhhh...cafes are some of the things that Europe does best! Thoroughly enjoying this vicarious visit.
ReplyDeleteWe recently had an opportunity to have coffee at Cafe Hawelka. It reminded me graduate student evenings spent at the Hungarian Pastry Shop in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in NYC...I miss those days of sitting for hours with coffee and books
ReplyDeleteI love your fotos and I love the way you group them. This blog is realy funny and pretty. Congratulations....
ReplyDelete