It's official:"Viennese Coffee Houses have a unique Placewithin Austrian and World Culture."

Intangible Cultural Heritage in Austria
Viennese Coffee House Culture
"The tradition of the Viennese Coffee House Culture goes back to the end of the 17th century and is given distinction to by a very specific atmosphere. Typical for Viennese Coffee Houses are marble tables, on which the coffee is served, Thonet chairs, boxes (loges), newspaper tables and interior design details in the style of Historicism. Guests can choose from the selection of meals and drinks from early morning at 6am until midnight, while sometimes also enjoying readings and musical soirées. The coffee houses are a place 'where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill.'”
UNESCO United Nations
Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization
Austrian Commission for UNESCO
4th Inscription, October 2011

Let's start celebrating
at the venerated
Café Hawelka
Where once upon a time is now!

"... it must be said

that the Viennese coffeehouse

is a particular institution
which is not comparable to any other
in the world..." *

* Stefan Zweig,
"The World of Yesterday.
Memories of a European"

I remember reading those lines
for the first time, far from Vienna,
and I have reread Zweig's poignant memoirs
a few times since.

It still seems unreal
that I live here now and
more than five years have passed
since I first set foot into Hawelka's.
I still think of Stefan Zweig
when I go there.

Hawelka's coffee Melange is among Vienna's best.
I often need two, to last me through my readings,
with a soft-boiled egg - brain food, you know.

Photographed by Merisi
on a Saturday morning in 2011
at Café Hawelka
Dorotheergasse
Vienna