Grab a Paper, Spend the Day (Cafés 2)

Other places have clubs or pubs, trattorias, bars, bistros; Vienna has coffee houses. The rules are simple: find a seat, order a cup of coffee, grab a newspaper, then another one, talk to a friend, spend the day - without placing another order. The server will let you be. He might replace the glass of water that comes with the coffee with a fresh one every once in a while, but he will not bug you. When you decide to leave and ask for the check he might take his time, showing you that he couldn't care less. It's a game, it takes practice.

Vienna's coffee houses are the L.A. antithesis: they are slow and they have no regard for those who seek to produce themselves.

Pictures: seating area and newspaper rack at Café Zentral

Comments

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June 23, 2010 at 5:50 AM

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