A Very Willian Sunday at the Kleines Cafe

Here's a visual for you...inspiration for the Gigi bird!

For anyone who really knows me, it is fairly obvious that outside my realm of parenting, there is absolutely no method to the madness. And I only make that caveat because my eldest daughter has forced me to remain consistently schedule oriented for the past (nearly) four years, lest her world should come crumbling apart.  On my own, I fly by the seat of my pants, letting shiny objects distract me as they please.  For these reasons and many more, I have received the monikers: Willian, Gigi, and Gigi-bird. So, when I refer to myself as any of those, I'm indicating that the situation was laced with unplanned, ill-advised spontaneous events.

So, as far as my systematic review of Vienna's coffee houses goes, I may have an overall goal to patronize every cafe whose name and address I have indiscriminately scribbled down on a piece of yellow legal pad paper (and maybe spilled food/coffee on...multiple times), but there is absolutely no order other than the whimsical musings of the Gigi bird ten minutes before leaving the house.  Which means that sometimes I end up walking to a cafe that isn't open...or changing my mind en route.  Sometimes I do all of the above in one afternoon.

It's amazing that John has been able to stand living with me for this long.

What I'm getting around to in true Willian fashion is that this Sunday was no different.  We were running behind (how does that happen when your to-do list has one item...and that item is: go to playground?) and I wanted to be back home before we started doing our video chats for the evening, so I picked the cafe on the list that was closest to home: Cafe Sperl.  I left the apartment feeling ready for my adventure.  And quickly realized it was going to rain...so I ran back up the stairs for my umbrella and THEN it was on!  The world was my oyster!  The route to Cafe Sperl is a familiar one since it sits on the opposite side of the Nashmarkt from us.  I walzed down the streets I have traversed so many times with my babies and smirked to myself thinking I'd just make it to Cafe Sperl in time to wait out the rain and pop back home before anyone even noticed I was missing.

Then I saw the sign.

The one that says Sperl is closed on Sundays in July and August. (I know you were just singing Ace of Base in your head.  You can admit it.) But no worries!  I'm flexible!  I'm spontaneous! I'd find another cafe!

Then the rain started.  And I had to chose between keeping my most excellent umbrella from flipping inside out or letting the general public see my rear since the accompanying wind was working double duty on my skirt. So I joined the crowds I had poked fun at weeks ago, standing under an awning with my umbrella clutched between my legs willing my suddenly flirty skirt into submission.  In the end, I was detained for maybe five minutes before the wind and rain let up enough to walk without clenching fabric to my legs and I headed towards the first district, knowing my best bet would be one of the bigger, more popular cafes I had previously vowed to avoid like the plague until the deserted dead of winter.

As I neared Cafe Mozart and the Sacher Cafe, I started giving myself a pep talk: "You can do this, Willian.  They're just tourists.  It'll be fine!  You'll totally be able to relax and enjoy yourself!" 

...I said as I skirted around them both and practically ran a full retreat down Kartnerstrasse.  I can't do it, you guys.  The Sacher Cafe isn't even written down on my piece of paper...it's just the reserve for when the pickin's get slim. 

The tiny Kleines Cafe

Instead, a stroke of genius hit me, in true Willian fashion.  Kleines Cafe is down a little-known side street near Stephansdom and it's name literally means "small cafe" almost all of their seating is outdoors...in the elements which had so recently been acting in my favor.  As I rounded on the cafe, I saw servers diligently wiping down the deserted outdoor seats and tables, but decided to peek inside to see if there was any chance one of the very few tables were free.  And fortune was on my side.  I scored a table squished so far into a corner that I doubt a child could've fit behind it...actually it was more of a small indentation on the wall next to the bar, but I plopped down and staked my claim.

The lengths I'll go to for a Grosser Brauner...

In the end, my coffee break was perfect.  This cafe is so small, so unassuming, so very Gigi.  It was almost too intimate for people watching, but you know me.  It's hard not to mimic a tree when you're shoved into a tight corner.  I eavesdropped on German and English conversations alike, savored my coffee and reluctantly headed back home.  The Kleines Cafe most definitely scored a place in my heart, even if I had to take a serendipitous route to get there.

Drinking my Grosser Brauner, squeezed behind the bar.