In the words of Agnes, "'Doctor' [was] the first name of most Nahariya farmers." (123) Here, the German way of life prevailed; the farmers held
Kaffeeklatsch gatherings, organized choral groups, founded a Nahariya art society, and attended performances of the German-language revue Nahariyade, by Fritz Wolf, as well as other plays and musicals--all, of course, in German.
This is not a
kaffeeklatsch. They're paying you a lot of money!"
This charmingly renovated 1926 B & B and restaurant in downtown Bradenton used to be the London Inn, and they still offer traditional tea along with a new German
kaffeeklatsch and dinner--and a brand-new beer garden, too.
Afternoon coffee at
Kaffeeklatsch, just down the road from the Congress Centre, with a fine selection of home-made cakes.
The value of this alpine
kaffeeklatsch is that it can tell you when ideas have reached critical mass.
Indeed, a sort of biblical
kaffeeklatsch seems to be taking place.
In its evocation of Tupperware parties, the
kaffeeklatsch, Mary Kay cosmetics saleswomen stopping by your home--all traditions that have fallen, or are falling, by the wayside--home shopping hearkens back to the past in another way: it speaks to women as they were before women's liberation.
It was a wonderful opportunity to tuck into a big piece of kaesekuchen (cheesecake) and listen to the
kaffeeklatsch (gossiping while drinking coffee) around me.
The Germans have a fantastic word, '
Kaffeeklatsch', which has no direct translation, but means any informal gathering with cake and conversation.
The typical Viennese 'Kaffeehaus' is also the birthplace of 'coffee klatsch' ('
Kaffeeklatsch'), further stimulated by nibbling at delicious pastors such as apple strudel ('Apfelstruded').
And Stephen King describes an early Ray Bradbury story involving "an undertaker who performs hideous but curiously moral atrocities upon his 'clients'--for instance when three old biddies who loved to gossip maliciously are killed in an accident, the undertaker chops off their heads and buries these three heads together, mouth to ear, so the can enjoy a hideous
kaffeeklatsch throughout eternity" (Danse, 326).