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Boulangerie A.R.
Knecht, Neuchâtel |
Boulangerie A.R. Knecht is on the
corner of Rue Coq d'Inde and Place des Halles in the center
of the old town. We lived on Coq d'Inde for some years. I could see
the bakery if I leaned out of my 4th story window and looked down the cobble
stone street to my right. In the morning after I had progressed from a state
of sleep to semi-consciousness I would pull on my clothes, stumble down
several flights of stone stairs and walk sixty seconds to this boulangerie.
Though we later moved into an apartment a little further away I still often
make it here in the mornings. There is something comforting in a daily routine.
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| The boulangerie has a normal
Swiss assortment of delicious tarts, rolls and breads that prejudices
you against the average North American sliced bread for the rest of
your life. |
Pies, Tarts, Rolls and Breads
Enlarge |
| But in the back of the bakery is a little seating area of
about seven or eight tables where you can sit down with a cup of coffee
and croissant or anything else you happen to spot behind the glass counter
as you enter the Knecht.
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Serving Coffee,
Boulangerie-Knecht, Neuchâtel. Enlarge
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I have been visiting the
boulangerie for so long I am nearly as familiar as the door knob or
the kitchen sponge. I walk in, sit down at a table with a newspaper,
book or my laptop and without my saying a word the waitress brings
out a bowl of cafe au lait and a chocolate croissant. You can't find
bowls of coffee everywhere. At most Swiss coffee shops and
restaurants, you are served the normal Swiss-size cup of coffee, which
amounts to little more than a sample. |
| A bowl of coffee
gives you enough coffee in the morning to really get the gears turning.
And, when you get half way through the bowl of coffee and the chocolate
croissant you start feeling that life is not really so bad after all. |
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Counter Service,
Boulangerie-Knecht, Neuchâtel. Enlarge 