Rosie and The Operator are visiting the exquisitely opulent city of Vienna for the very first time as part of a 24 Day Roadtrip around Eastern Europe. We are staying in the Judenplatz suburb of the city and love the quietness of the area and the ease of being able to walk to all of the tourist sites we wish to see daily.
As part of our daily routine we have breakfast in the Backerei Arthur Grimm, mere steps away from our front door. The bakery is down a narrow alleyway and has been baking bread from this location continually since 1536. The yellow light spills out of the windows in the early morning and illuminates the lumpy cobblestones outside as it has done for the last 450 years.
Stepping into the shop, over the dip worn in the stone entryway from thousands of footsteps before, it is always super warm and cosy from the huge bread ovens. The smell of fresh, yeasty bread and the array of produce that has been baking since 4.00am are so artistic in their finish and are always beautifully displayed on the shelves. There are only three tables in the little bakery and Rosie and The Operator know to get in early to make sure they get one.
No one speaks English in this shop but it is easy to point at what you want and Rosie is an expert in any language when it comes to ordering coffee. We sit and watch the early ebb and flow of locals as they come in to buy their bread, a bite for breakfast or a roll for lunch.
Everyday that we have been here a little old lady sits at the same table reading the newspaper with a coffee and a roll. This wrinkled, wizened woman is the epitome of vintage elegance and class from a bygone era. She wears a calf length coat of lush looking brown, animal fur over a dark woolen suit dress. This lady by the way, has been wearing this coat long before the world became outraged at the slaughter of poor defenseless animals sacrificed for the rich and well heeled. A huge diamante broach sparkles on the lapel and a pair of leather gloves sit on the table beside the silver coffee tray. On her grey, perfectly set curls, delicately poised, is a matching fur hat with a rakish bunch of feathers clustered on one side. She wears large gold globe earrings that stretch her lobes and her powdered face with a splash of red lipstick is impeccable for the early hour of the morning.
Rosie glances over and smiles upon seeing her for the third day in a row. The lady smiles back and in the most perfect, high brow English accent with a slight inflection of European she wishes Rosie a Good Morning and asks where we are from. We answer that we are from New Zealand and she wistfully sighs and says that she wishes she undertook ‘the passage down under’ in her younger days whilst on her ‘Grand Tour of The World’.
The lady reveals she is Viennese from birth and has always lived in this city. Rosie remarks on how excellent her English is. She says she hasn’t spoken it in awhile and, after all it should be…my parents paid a fortune to send me to the finest Swiss finishing schools and I can speak half a dozen languages fluently, she nonchalantly replies as she arches her perfectly painted eyebrow, sips her coffee and recrosses her ankles whilst still maintaining her beautifully straight posture and poise.
Rosie catches the eye of the young girl behind the bakery counter as she grins and rolls her eyes at Rosie. Has she heard a version of this all before?
Rosie and The Operator exchange goodbyes with The Lady and wish each other a good day. It is a shame we have only just spoken, Rosie would have loved to talk again with The Lady, she is sure she has many great tales to tell, but we are leaving Vienna early tomorrow morning.
Later that afternoon Rosie and The Operator are crossing the Judenplatz on their way home. In the middle of the square they cross paths with The Lady who is hurrying in the opposite direction. We pause and say Hello.
The Lady slows and says she cannot stop as she must get home to change as she has the best tickets in the house to The Golden Opera for the evening and is running late. We wish her a lovely evening and watch as she scurries between the buildings. Rosie and The Operator turn and look at each other and smile.
Over a meal, looking out over the square Rosie reflects on The Lady and cannot decide whether the lady is re living a vivid wonderful past from the most amazing memories of times gone by or…living a vivid wonderful life, still making the most amazing memories right here and now. Rosie sat in the square and googled The Golden Opera…this picture came up and Rosie stared in wonder at The Operator.
Rosie sure wishes she could have another coffee at the Bakery to find out more about The Lady…but we will never return. The Lady in the Coffee Shop in Vienna is an enigma that Rosie thinks of often.
Ps….These photographs are not of the actual Lady. Rosie has snatched them online….but the similarity is spooky.
Do you want to to see more of the beautiful City of Vienna…Rosie can take you sight seeing.
Check out the amazing daytrip we had to Schonbrunn Palace and Melk Abbey.
