Old Vienna: Coffee at Demel and Central

Amidst the boxes I'm happy I finally found my box of photo CDs.  I'm delighted the DVD reader reads them well and the photographs are still there after almost a decade.  I shall have to back them up.  With digital cameras, I take more pictures but print less and then end up losing some when my harddisk crashes. Technology.  Looking through my Vienna photos, I am reminded of the coffee culture there.  There are cafes or "Kaffeehaus"  on almost every road.  Each with their own atmosphere and their own unique style.  Stories abound as to how it all started.  Some say when the Turks were defeated in 1683 they left bags of coffee,  hence started the coffee culture in Vienna.  Fascinating.  Now coffee is known worldwide.

I have two favorites in Vienna.  Cafe Demel and Cafe Central.  Demel is wonderfully beautiful and dates from 1786.  The Hofburg towers above the small road from Demel at Karntnerstrasse and the selection of cakes and candies are in such intricate little boxes I want to keep the packaging.  They not only look good, they taste good.  Empress Sissi of Vienna is said to have ordered candies and other goods from this coffee shop.  When you enter, you immediately see a long counter of candies and snacks.  There used to be seating in the front room, but now they have converted the entire area to a little shop.  Luckily, I had the opportunity to enjoy the ambiance of the old room that dates back over 200 years.  It's a small coffee shop and there are crowds of people but the atmosphere is just wonderful. Inside you can watch them making chocolate and there is even a little museum.  (http://www.demel.at/) There is also plenty of seating in the back.



However, if you want to go to a more spacious coffee house and enjoy coffee with live classical music, go to Central cafe. Housed in the Palais Ferstal which was originally built for the Stock Exchange, it is in a beautiful architectural style of late romantic historism. (According to their website: http://www.palaisevents.at/en/cafecentral.html not exactly sure what that term means, but I like the architectural style anyways)

Central Kaffeehaus is a place for philosphers, thinkers and writers. Even Sigmund Freud and Trotsky used to come here.  I like it.  There are newspapers in various languages for you to read free of charge.  If you go there in the afternoon around 3pm there will be live music of either Strauss or Mozart or other famous classical music  performed by a Violinist, Cellist and Pianist.  I forget if they play everyday or not, but I suppose you could call and ask.   Nevertheless, the music sounds magical.  Especially so when its cold outside and you need somewhere warm to just sit and relax.  I remember going there amidst the snow fall.  It was cold and getting dark, but the warmt that greets you inside clears all that away.  The high archs, painted ceilings and lighting that take you back in time makes you feel warm and fuzzy.  All this whilst taking it in all with one sip at a time. This is the soul of Vienna.  This is what I love.  

Even if you don't drink coffee, like me, you can just go there for tea or cup of hot chocolate.  Their chocolate there is good, more than good.  It's rich and chocholaty. Just the way I like it...yeah.  Their Apfelstrudel is also so good. I like Apfelstrudel.  Somehow the ones in Bangkok just don't taste the same.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eggs for Easter

Happy Easter! Its Easter Monday today and eggs are in fashion. Okay, in Thailand we don't have the whole big Easter vacation with easter eggs and egg hunting, but its something I always liked as a child growing up in europe. We get to eat chocolate easter eggs and get our hands dirty painting them...ahh, those good old days. What about eating eggs then? Are they good for you given that they are high in saturated fat and cholesterol (211mg versus daily recommendation of 300mg) ? According to nutrition data, a large egg has only 70 calories and are filled with lots of nutrients. Eggs are a good source of Riboflavin, Vitamin B12 and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Protein and Selenium. These nutrients are especially beneficial for you as they a good source of energy, help build up your immune system and also help your mental health. According to Harvard Health, "Eggs are also a good source of choline, which has been linked with preserving memory, and lutein and zea
Read more

It's all in your Mind

For everything we want to achieve in life, I think the most important factor to its successful achievement depends on our ability to control how we think and keep ourself motivated. When I first started out running, I was so unfit I could hardly run for 1 minute.  I gasped for breath and my face would turn completely red.  My stomach and chest would feel a pain and a little voice inside my head would start telling me to stop running and just walk!   The little voice would get louder and LOUDER the longer I ran.  It would tell me all sorts of things, such as "You've done enough running, you've done a great job, just stop and walk."    Sometimes it would say "Your chest hurts and your stomach is having stitches, something must be wrong.. therefore STOP!"   On other occasions it would tell me the time and say "You are running late today, cut your workout short.  You have a long day ahead, save your energy." At times, it would tell me, "I hate thi
Read more

One for All and All for One

The other day I got this fascinating Forward from a friend about decision making. It tells the story of a group of children playing on railroad tracks. One child is playing alone on the unused railroad track, while five children are playing on the active rail. Suddenly, a rain is spotted on the tracks heading straight towards the five children. You have to decide what to do. 1) Do you divert the train onto the unused track to save five children while sacrificing the lone child on the other track? or 2) Would you let the train continue on its path towards the group of five children? What would you do? Most people would in an instant answer that they would sacrifice the lone child to save the group of five children. Sacrifice one in the name of saving many. It's the rational and logical solution. It's for the better "good" of society. One death is better than five. However, there is more. There is a dilemma. The great critic Leo Velski Julian (do you know
Read more