A few years ago, I’d had to thread a maze to be amazed by this very coffee shop. Take one of the mouseholes in the New Town tenements (don’t get misled by the tricky name, Prague’s New Town was founded in 1348), which may resemble a block of Emmentaler to those familiar with all the concealed paths. Sneak around a few tourist traps, find the right doorbell to ring, hope for someone to buzz you in, climb up to the fourth floor, perhaps meet a guy who walks his favorite goat to the establishment, and then find the right door… to enter Reading Room. Roughly seven out of ten adventurers got lost; remembrance ceremonies used to be held every other month.
As time passed, the piles of cadavers started bothering other tenants, and eventually the city council. Reading Room had to shut down, appearing only in city folklore and campfire horror stories of decaffeinated coffee. That is, up until recently, when Reading Room rematerialized in a new spot, and yet again, a completely random one. In between rails and tracks, where only a major back road (or minor front road, who knows) occasionally baffles drivers. This time, you have to walk through city wastelands, but at least the path is rather straightforward. The casualty rate dropped to almost zero, the only fallen ones are those who have finally succumbed to alcohol poisoning, a common occurrence in this nook of the world.
Perhaps I officially joined the guild of Prague coffeehouse layabouts too young. I have spent years climbing up the original route, knowing where to step, when to duck, how not to chicken out when a trap several floors above me snapped shut. Never had I experienced a moment of doubt, never had I hesitated, not a wee bit. The new location, however, just seems quite off. I do come every now and then, anyway. I do come and wonder:
Is such a place place-dependent?
It certainly is. The original Reading Room was basically somebody’s apartment. With chatty budgies and taciturn regulars dozing in their favorite chairs. The chairs were rescued and given new life here. So were the tables, the books, several pieces of furniture, crockery likely seized from a bunch of elderly cat ladies… All has remained the same. And yet it’s not the same for me.
Which doesn’t mean the new Reading Room isn't a superb place for culture-loving caffeine addicts like myself. You still get great coffee at a great price, be it an espresso I sipped when taking pictures for my post, or filtered brew I enjoyed with @honeydue a few days ago – or last year, depending on how you see it. Not a specialty coffee, yet a proper caffeine kick that keeps you going through the entire night of reading. Or playing board games; the options are plentiful. Or creative writing, which is what I mainly used to come for.
Or you can just come to be yourself. Reading Room is welcoming to anyone who respects others enough to share the same space with them. Come, and be. Sit for a couple of hours, sipping a single coffee. Or beer, once the evening turns into night, as we’re in Prague, and not drinking at least fifteen beers a day makes you look quite suspicious. Come for a concert, a movie screening, a poetry reading, a vernissage, a chess tournament; they all happen here. And with a bit of luck, you can still meet the Goatman, although he currently roams Prague with another goat.
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