Travel-Bug Tales/Review: Cafe Neko....and my cat day in Vienna!

Meow....Reaching Cafe Neko in Vienna, Austria!

It has been no secret that I am a massive fan of cats, and have a Garfield looking handsome boy that I adore to absolute bits...so saying how I love cats might even be slightly understated. Seeing the recent enticing photographs as well as articles about the newly opened cat cafe in London called Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium, has made me want to rush straight to the next available booking slot, but considering the mixed reviews I have seen I wanted to let the fuss die down a bit before visiting. There are a few reasons for this....one; I would probably love to have a cat cafe one day when I'm much greyer...two; I can't bear it if I were to dislike a place that is meant to be a happy cat place....and three; I've actually really enjoyed visiting the cat cafe in Vienna called 'Cafe Neko' last autumn! Whilst I can not tell you much about the new cat cafe in London, I can tell you a little bit more about my miraculous cat day in Vienna and how a cat cafe can actually work positively too...

Though having a love of travel, there are times that I often get home-sick or BouBou-sick when off in a far away land (in fact BouBou just agreed by jumping on to my laptop to type 78)....so when Judita took the day off to take me to Vienna's very own Cafe Neko I was so excited I could barely stop myself from jumping about. Being conveniently located, it was easy enough to find and travel to....there was a certain sweet simplicity about this cafe. Entering through two set of doors I was welcomed by a clean cream interior lit by a warm yellow glow and a scatter of tables with seats, but what caught my eye was the make-shift cardboard fort in the middle of the room, which must have been a fun play area for the residents of Cafe Neko. Sitting down we were presented with a menu as well as an introduction card about the varying personalities of the different resident felines, which we found very cute. Ordering a very reasonably priced Macha latte (Japanese Green Tea) for myself and a cappuccino for Judita, we sat studying the introduction card for a little while.

With the eagerness to coo over some kitties our first instinct was to try and spot where the cats were, then we observed how others were moving over to individual cats to say hello quietly or to gently stroke them....as though they were already friends and knew how they needed to respect the resident feline. Seeing there was a little man of the name Thomas who looked a bit like my BouBou, we decided to move to his table...mind you I did ask him if he minded before we sat down. Occupied only with a few other cafe-goers, I was aware of the staff gently hovering around with a friendly smile to ensure no one gets out of hand with any of the cats. After all a cat cafe is not like other cafes, it is an environment where cats can become or feel vulnerable if care is not taken, and it was really impressive how Cafe Neko offered a home-ly vibe rather than the zoo-like entertainment feel. Perhaps this is why the usual visitors of the cafe seem to have such care and respect for the cats...so much so that the visitors on the next table started whispering when they realised the nearby resident feline was snoozing. As for me, I was excited to share a table with the lovely resident felines and enjoyed watching them snooze...well also stroking a few new feline friends. So when in Vienna you can find your way to Cafe Neko following this address:
Blumenstockgasse 5, 
1010 Wien, 
Austria
[Find out more about the lovely Cafe Neko: here]

Can you spot little Momo who came to hide under my chair?

BouBou's almost double in Vienna....the lovely Thomas!

Meowing a Bye...outside Cafe Neko!

After a cat morning, we ventured to the Belvedere museum to have more tea and see the famous Gustav Klimt paintings....mainly the Kiss. The cafe at the Belvedere actually makes a Klimt cake which we tried, but I must say I was more taken with the painting of the Kiss as marzipan happens not to be one of my likes. In fact, I was so taken by Klimt's Kiss that I started crying silently as I stared into the wonderful painting, and even made a promise to myself that if I should ever have a daughter one day I shall have to take her to see this beautiful painting. It was strange as I had never been moved to cry tears by a painting before, but the miracle didn't stop there. As we stepped out of the Belvedere we saw a rainbow and I knew something special would happen....but little did we know that it would have something to do with cats!

The chocolate and marzipan Klimt cake at the Belvedere Museum cafe in Vienna....

As we were getting ready for bed that very same night after seeing Cafe Neko and Klimt's Kiss, we discovered a buzzing fly in Judita's flat. Not wanting to kiss or kill the fly, we dimmed the lights and decided to try to lure it out through the balcony door. As we stood silent near midnight, I suddenly heard meowing from outside and almost instinctively knew it was a kitten. Throwing a coat over my pjamas and wrapping a scarf over Judita's full head of curlers, we raced downstairs to investigate. The meowing had stopped, so like the cat-mad lady that I am I started meowing-out towards the dark abandoned waste ground in front of us...surprisingly a little meow answered me back! Then from the top of the raised ground we saw a little fluffy tuft run towards us. Darting over I picked up a shaking and wet little fluffy kitten in my hands. Racing even quicker upstairs we wrapped the little one in a towel, Judita held him close to the radiator as I ran a bath and prepared some milk we had in the fridge. Combing through the tangled bits of grass as well as mud, we realised that the kitten was actually very young (probably only 3 or 4 weeks old) and still had baby blue eyes. Cuddling the little miracle as we fed him warm milk with a teaspoon, we decided to name him Gustav in honour of Klimt and the unusual day we had. Perhaps just like the Kiss, little Gustav represents a lot of hope, beauty, love, warmth and kindness...there is a lot to be learnt in the unexpected happenings of life.

The miracle that is Gustav!

Finally I must apologize if I have bored you darlings with this longer than usual post, that has taken me longer than usual to write...and next up shall definitely be something a bit more fun as well enticing....if you have seen my 1940s teaser with Caroline Opacic Photography on Facebook then you will know what I mean. Have a positively cat-abulous start of the week darlings!

Until the next time,

♥ May xx

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