Dedicated to Alexandra from 5W, with whom I had coffee at 7pm, and who enabled me to see the beauties of my neighbourhood
Alexandra was my second contact through 5W. We met at the station tobacconist, and wandered past gracious buildings to the Café Rüdiger-Hof, one of Vienna's old coffee houses in an Art Nouveau building. We sat and talked over evening coffee (something I'd only ever contemplate in a Vienna coffee house!) and a pink-iced square of cake laced with rum. We discussed the failures of management wherever you live, her fascinating work and study history, the poor state and status of nursing in Austria, the possibilities of nursing with the flying doctor service, bringing up children in the city. As I walked home, I began to notice how beautiful my surroundings were, and got up early the next day to capture them in magic morning light.
I'd already found the great alley of the Naschmarkt, lined with stalls selling an astonishing variety of pretty well everything, invitingly displayed in the evening light. I was sorry I'd already shopped at the supermarket: it catered for just about every possible desire: olives gleamed in piles of green and red and black; everything conceivable was stuffed with something else; gaudy clothes hung next to cones of spices and dried fruit and dried beans; noisy crowds filled the qeating places.
So my reconciliation with Vienna is under way.
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warsawandbeyond2014 