Spring In Vienna - District 13 Hietzing

Hietzing Exploration

After leaving the Schönbrunn, we (Vicky and Tyler) continued on our adventure. After passing a few embassies, notably Poland and The Netherlands, we then stopped at a cute coffee house, Café Dommayer, at the corner of the street. It's no surprise to see a coffee shop in Vienna because you can find a coffee house every one mile you walk.  I hold the view that most of the coffee shops in the center are for visitors, not for local people. This makes me excited as most of the guests in the small coffee shop are locals of Hietzing.

 Although it's the time for dinner, we decided to go in, checking the special Vienna coffee culture and the difference between the coffee shop in Vienna and those in the United States. 

We ordered a Latte, Mélange, similar to Cappuccino, and Himbeer Tartelette. Coffee and Cake, bitter and sweet, seems to be best partners. I highly recommend the Himbeer Tartelette. For the Himbeer Tartelette (raspberry tartlet), the base is covered with soft melting chocolate, filled with cream made with raspberry and yogurt. To top it off, the tart has a fresh raspberry on the top. It tastes natural and is not too sweet. I loved it so much. In the leisured atmosphere of the Café, people are meeting friends, reading the newspapers, or even just sitting alone and let the time pass. I spoke with an old lady who told me that Vienna people's obsession with coffee is just like it with music and waltz; deep in their bones. Coffee houses are to them, a place where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill. 

If you are ever exposed to the wondrous Viennese Coffee Culture, please keep these ideas in mind!

When you are worried, and you have trouble of one sort or another -to the coffee house!

When your shoes are torn and dilapidated - coffee house!

When your income is four hundred crowns and you spend five hundred - coffee house!

If you are a chair warmer in the office, while your ambition led you to seek professional honors - coffee house!

If you could not find a mate to suit you- coffee house!

If you hate and despise human beings, and at the same time you cannot be happy without them - coffee house!

You compose a poem which you cannot inflict upon friends that you meet in the street - coffee house!

When you feel like hiding, you dive into a - coffee house!

These small anecdotes come from Peter Altenberg's poem "to the coffee house". A friend of mine showed me that two years, when I living in Beijing.  I couldn't understand why Peter asks people to go to the coffee house with such enthusiasm until now, I can partially feel that.