Merisi of Vienna chose this month's City Daily Photo Theme Day theme.
Vienna, coffeehouse capital of the civilized world! -- Merisi must have a thousand choices.
She is asking us CDP bloggers to share a favorite coffee place in our neighborhood.
Actually I am not a café type of person so I have few photos of such places, especially not Israeli places.
This strange one that I show you, well, I never sat there.
But I LOVE walking by it.
Why? Because it is in the Departures terminal of Ben-Gurion International Airport, and that means I am on the way to a gate to a plane, to fly away somewhere!
The tables in the big circle are surrounded by over-priced coffee and cake stands; I think you just buy what you want and go sit down.
In the center a fountain does its water show under the high dome, adding its noise to the general clamor.
All around the circle are duty-free shops and fast-food places.
For some reason an "artwork" that always reminds me of a totem pole is part of the "decor."
People, a lot of them, sit and eat, drink and talk, and happily watch the screen on the wall show their flight's departure time getting closer and closer.
(We have to be at the airport at least three hours before, because of all the security checks.)
If you want to see a real coffeehouse in the grand style, see my post on Café Museum, to which an Austrian friend took me in my first-ever hour in Vienna last November.
And check out the wide diversity of coffee places that City Daily Photo bloggers will be posting starting now.
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More about our nice airport in these earlier posts.
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What lovely, bitter-sweet thought about the coffee place you chose!
ReplyDeleteSomehow it is not so far from a certain Viennese way of using coffee houses. A place to be home away from home, for example. Or as the great writer Alfred Polgar once put it, the place to be alone amongst other people.
I hope you will walk by again soon, at that special coffee place.
Best wishes,
Merisi
P.S.: Did you see my post with the picture of the interior prior to the currant one?
The totem pole is unlike any I've ever seen, Dina!
ReplyDeleteGood one for theme day
ReplyDeleteClever. I have been wondering what non-coffee drinkers were going to do with this theme.
ReplyDeleteWilliam, you know, I enlarged the photo a few times just now and it no longer looks like a totem pole! Just some kind of funny "art." So I edited my sentence in the text about that. Thanks for your comment which opened my eyes.
ReplyDeleteNext time I'm at the airport I'll take a closer look at the thing.
Thanks, Jim.
ReplyDeleteJack, it's not that I don't like coffee, but somehow it's not fun for me to sit alone in public and drink it. And all too often I'm alone.
But now Merisi's comment gives another way of looking at that. Hmm . . .
Merisi, well, now that I've had two good teachers for Vienna coffeehouse ways, maybe I will try harder next time to go solo.
Wait, where exactly is your post about the previous Drechsler? (It's 1:30 a.m. and I'm getting a bit blurry.)
Dina , do you know why the Native American totem is placed in the cafe? It is different and looks out of place .
ReplyDeleteI think people enjoy coffee house because it often provides an intimate place to enjoy a good beverage, just as I suppose a tea house would afford. Coffee in an airport is not something that would move me to partake, even tho I love coffee houses.
ReplyDeleteDina Just like you I rarely sit down to a café at airports, everything's so over-priced! But I love the atmosphere of these places, the sense of imminent adventure, the coming and going is different to that of any street.
ReplyDeleteI've been lucky to rarely be alone at airports. We either travelled as a family or as a couple, and whenever I was alone my parents were there at CDG to greet me when I came home. It won't be any more. I've lost them both.
The totem is weird.
Thanks for your visits to my blog, you're such a faithful friend. I hope you're well.
Good place to take a coffee, to relax before leaving.
ReplyDeleteFor the reason Merisi said, I like coffee shops. I'm alone a lot, too. But in a coffee house, one is usually among "alones".
ReplyDeleteI love the one you shared!
Janis
GDP
Not my favourite place to be enjoying a coffee. I prefer to be relaxed with lots of time.
ReplyDeleteTake a last coffee... and fly !
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the not enjoying coffee at the airport Dina, coffee is pretty expensive in Perth anyway but at the airport even more so AND it's not even that good :) but it looks like many fellow travellers don't agree with us :)
ReplyDeleteOnly mine is worse than this!
ReplyDeletedefinitely not where I would want to have to eat/drink - amazed that some people do actually think they are OK
ReplyDelete:-) I can understand the reason but I'm with you and all the others. I try to avoid airport cafés because they are horribly expensive for not super quality...
ReplyDeleteIt is fun to see your airport and hopefully those people are enjoying whatever they are eating or drinking. Have a good week.
ReplyDeleteAirport cafés have their own special attraction!
ReplyDeleteAlice, no idea about that pseudo totem.
ReplyDeleteEverybody -- thanks for your nice and interesting comments!
Yeah, I always bring a cheese sandwich, or maybe peanut butter sandwich, and energy bars and a banana and a bottle of water for the long trip to, and wait in, the airport. Picnic time! :)
It would never come to me to nominate any of the coffee bars at airports as favourite places and yet... You make a valid point.
ReplyDelete