November, 2025

I arrived in Vienna just over a decade ago, freshly 21 with one suitcase. Someone recommended me Cafe Kafka. I walked in, looked around and thought to myself... why did someone send me here? It’s so rundown and the walls need some fresh paint and such a random mix of people.. and it’s about time to replace the furniture. I don’t think I even sat down for a coffee.

I had arrived from New Zealand where I appreciated my third wave coffee houses and our idea of a place with history was an 80s pub with slot machines - where the classic was a coke with raspberry syrup.

Its been an evolving relationship with Vienna - I loved it at the start and thats why I stayed (and another reason) - but then I was travelling so much… the last 6 years especially where I was more often not in Vienna then I was - what did Lady Gaga say again? Bus. club. bus. another club? For me it was Paris, Milan, New York, Shanghai, Seoul, Paris again. And during this time I appreciated Vienna, sure, but I was also disconnected.

Then came a big shift in my life which led me to be here in perpetuity for the last four months - the longest stretch since my early 20s - and this time I rediscovered Vienna all over again. But this time in a way that reflects who I am a decade later.

While the first romance was with Pratersauna, Travel Shack (…I am being extremely vulnerable here so please don’t make me regret it), the modern architecture of the WU uni campus, and how much I loved a käsekrainer on the way home (some things never change).

But this time, a decade later - it's an evolved love - one that sits back here in Cafe Kafka (I think the first time since), reading a book - and well now at this exact moment due to a wave of inspiration - writing this. Looking around at the atmosphere and the characters who are: writing in their journal - some (literally and I’m not saying for dramatic effect) sketching - an old man in his tweed jacket and glasses reading a newspaper - a middle aged woman enjoying a glass of red wine and cheese (its 4:41 on a Wednesday) not actually doing anything but looking into the abyss of Kafka looking content. And looking around, listening to the music and soaking in the atmosphere… I just got an overwhelming wave of... how do you say it… I don't think I can think of an English word for it, I heard in German you guys call it HEIMAT.

And on that note I think I’ll switch from my bergkräuter tee to a glass of house red wine… in honor of that lady sitting next to me. But it’s now 4:53 so that’s appropriate right? After all it’s been dark for over an hour.

Ruby Arabella Wallen tracks the city’s pulse, observes its culture and characters, and works with a small circle of her personal muses to create you a weekly Sunday Dispatch - your blueprint to the week ahead in Vienna.