Vienna, Austria 1: Cafe Central
Hello Vienna! We were in the City of Music recently. Although we didn't have a chance to attend music concerts, we certainly appreciated the city's coffeehouse culture that was officially included in the UNESCO National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in November 2011. A part of UNESCO's statement said "The coffee houses are a place where time and space are consumed, but only coffee is found on the bill." Only coffee? That was impossible. Vienna's coffeehouses offer various treats, from savory to sweets, especially, many kinds of beautiful and delicious cakes.
In fact, one of the coffeehouses, Cafe Central was the first place for us to eat in Vienna. Opened in 1876, the cafe is one of the most famous Vienna's traditional coffeehouses. According to the cafe, "A revolutionary (Trotsky), a psychoanalyst (Freud), several writers and poets (including Polgar, Zweig and Altenberg) and an architect (Loos) walked into a café." When we were there, the cafe was pretty busy with tourists, but luckily we got a table without waiting too long.
Beautiful stone columns and high ceilings with elegant arch lines - the interior was marvelous. I wished I had a big appetite, but I didn't after an early morning flight and heavy road traffic from airport. My choice was fresh orange juice, fruit salad, a soft boiled egg and a Vienna roll, which seemed to be the same as a Kaiser roll. Everything was delicious! Just what I needed.
J had smoked salmon and scrambled egg on dark bread, I think. He enjoyed his dish, I believe. He also enjoyed sipping two cups of Melange, a specialty coffee in Vienna, very similar to Cappuccino.
We saved our dessert time for later even though it was so hard to leave the place without tasting their cake. The cakes looked amazing. By the way, there was a figure near the entrance. I didn't know who he was at the first; then, later found out that he was Peter Altenberg (1859-1919), a writer and poet from Vienna, Austria near the entrance. It is said that Cafe Central was his favorite coffeehouse, to which he even had his mail delivered.
After the lovely brunch, our discovery of Vienna began!
To be continued...
