Wow, how lucky am I!! – In Vienna now, sitting in Cafe Jelinek on Otto-Baur -Gasse just off Gumpendorfer Strasse in what feels like a very authentic, old fashioned cafe, the wall paper is dirty and peeling off in places, is glamours with its satin like prints in bold floral patterns and in a way that has seen better days. . So there are old wooden club chairs, old sofas and arm chairs covered in dark green velvet and black and white marbled table tops placed on a solid ornamental iron post attached to a round iron disc at the bottom which is resting on 4 lion feet touching the floor. There are candelabras hanging from the ceiling and brass wall lamps with uncovered bulbs, all adding to the look and feel. I can’t decide whether this old 30ies look is a style that has carefully been inserted on this place or whether it has just evolved into the state where it is today, in an organic way.
A long solid wooden side table is placed just as you enter the place covered with daily newspapers for people to help themselves to read and there are books in a corner, you can have a dip into. A wall is covered by one big mirror and an adjacent wall has got a collage of miscellaneously framed photo portraits of famous people.
I like the feel in here, it is a cross between visiting your grand mother, and having to behave, (as my grandma was nice and loving, and also a bit formal in her approach to kids and keen on good manners), and a modern retro cafe. Weird and wonderful too! The guy serving me is polite, formal, and friendly. When I try to order in German, he helpfully says, I’ll give you the menu in English 🙂 . Roast coffee, scrambled eggs, hot chocolate with cream, mother with baby, friends talking , guy writing on his note pad + answering calls, people reading newspapers or books, people writing, the waiter comes and asks you what you want to order and you sit and wait for them to bring it. Sugar sachets with pictures of star signs on , all coffees are serviced with a glass of water in coca cola glasses with the original coca cola signature, strange, but it all ads to the character of this place.
Own source of roast coffee.
Okay I couldn’t wait any longer as I have grown really curious about the origin of this place. So I asked the guy who was serving me if it was an old coffee shop and he confirmed that it has been around since 1910!! – Great I’ve found an old local place – that is a find 🙂 I later found out that this year info was also on a sign outside
While I was sitting in there a company I bought my new blogging domain roundthecornerworld.com rang me up and wanted to talk about different deals they could offer me to host my domain. I have had several companies phoning me up about this before, but none of them could offer me what I was looking for. In the end this company were able to offer me a suitable package and my website is now ready to become live as soon as I have constructed it. iI could happen while I’m still in Vienna and my first blogs can begin to go on air. Exciting. It felt a bit surreal to sit and talk ‘business’ in an old cafe from 1910 in Vienna, but on the other hand it is a lovely story and memory to have of the setup of my first blogging venture that it was agreed in this cafe.
After having been in the area a couple of days, I got to learn from one of the people in a nearby shop that all their cakes are baked by themselves and that there is a ‘friendly’ saying about the cafe that none of the carpets have ever been washed – hm I don’t think this is going to go down well. While I’ve written this piece I’ve been trying not to check out their website in case it would ‘colour’ my first impression. Now I’ve written it, I’ve gone to their website and can
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