The Secret of an empress
„Then the Prater became the roundezvous of Viennese high society. Then the Freudenau, at the time of the races, was a blaze of fashionable magnificence. On every day was a great stream of carriages along the Hauptallee (the principal avenue of the Prater), in which could be seen the equipages of all arristocratic families, those proud names which made the Viennese Court world-famous for its pride and exclusiveness – the Liechtensteins, the Montenuovos, the Schwartzenbergs, the Metternichs, the Fürstenbergs, the Kinkys, the Harrachs, and hundred other illustrious houses.
At the beginning of the Hauptallee were the coffee gardens and restaurants where the citizens resorted to spend their leisure in social gossip, [...]. Here, under the stately trees whose leaves whispered strange tales of past glories or mournful defeats, the middle-class frequenters gathered to enjoy their beers and cheese, or drink their coffee or and eat little Viennese rolls, in full view of the great avenue [...].“"Far down the avenue, quite away from other cafés and standing aside the Hauptallee, was the Krieau, a sort of idyllic little farm planted in a great park. [...]. This was the exclusive resort, patronised only by the distinguished people in art, literature, finance, politics and society. It was here that all the noble dames and cavaliers came to sip their coffee, their tea, their chocolate, in aristocratic seclusion, [...]. Very few foreigners knew of the Krieau; but it was none the less one of the most interesting and curious resorts in Vienna in spring. [...]
And now it was spring, and of course the Krieau was the one desirable resort for Laura and her mother. So several times a week we drove down the Prater and had tea there."Book with similar publication date: Kinder der Sehnsucht by
Nearby fragment: pp 8 from Amok: Novellen einer Leidenschaft by