Friday, September 30, 2011

In Search of a Café

I am embarking on a new mission: to find a café in Wien where I can become a 'regular' to do my homework, research, blogging, email responses, etc. Because I'm now living north of Vienna, I'd prefer to stay in the city and work there during the day rather than go home after my morning trek into town, sit alone in the house, and return in the afternoon. I have some favorite cafés in Vienna already, but the one I'm currently in search of has slightly different requirements:
  1. Free internet access. For more than 90 minute periods every 24 hours (sorry Coffee Day - seemingly Vienna's version of Starbucks. Well, not really, but it's a chain, there are a lot of them around the city, and they're relatively popular with the locals. Oh, and they have fabulous carrot cake)
  2. Either a good tea option or a caramel coffee (or hot chocolate as it starts getting colder). I'm afraid Vienna will make a coffee drinker of me yet. But for now, I can only really (semi-)enjoy the caramel-flavored stuff
  3. Good atmosphere. I want to feel inspired, especially while I'm writing
  4. Not Starbucks. Come on! I'm in Vienna, the city of Coffee Culture!
Additional details that may become the deciding factor(s) between finalists:
  1. Outside of the first district - sure would make finding a parking space easier (and not having to move my car every two hours is an extra bonus)
  2. Comfortable seating/a good little nook I could adopt as my own
  3. A charming waiter or a place that would potentially have friendly, witty, and enlightened patrons in their mid-20's
  4. A more traditional atmosphere - none of that contemporary Starbucks stuff with pop music playing (though I suppose Starbucks goes for more of the Indie scene feel, huh?)
  5. Not a chain
  6. Good torte/brunch offerings
Currently I'm at Café Weimar in the 9th district, just down the street from the Volksoper. This is my first attempt. Well, second if you count me going to Café Aumann - remember that place? for as much as I found it just mediocre, I sure happen to find myself there often - yesterday assuming it would be the type of place with internet. Wrong.


All around, not bad, and it does have some neat history, but it is distinctly lacking in a younger crowd (perhaps just the time of day, then again, this is probably the time of day I'll be frequenting my new favorite café), and it doesn't have a caramel coffee option. I opted for a Franziskaner (a Melange - The Viennese coffee - with whipped cream rather than foamed milk), trying to ascertain if my taste for this caffeinated stuff that so many people can't seem to function without has increased, but alack! For now, I'm still in need of either some tea or a touch of caramel. Thus I think I'll try my luck with somewhere else on Monday...

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