1901 Cafe
Last week when I planned to go to Beitang, I hoped that we would be able to make a side trip to a coffee shop housed in a church-ish looking building my friend Sarah raves about. The 1901 Cafe happens to be right around the corner from the Cathedral. It started to rain just as we were leaving the art exhibit, so it wasn't hard to convince the kids we needed to get there in a hurry.
More after the jump.
In various magazines and local Beijing expat blogs I've read conflicting histories about this building. From the Cafe management themselves comes this:
The Cafe occupies the second and third floors of this building. The second floor is an open space with ample comfortable seating. Best of all for us from Changping, the cafe is non-smoking.
The third floor is more attic like, with cozy tucked-away nooks for quieter company.
The kids fortunately chose to remain on the second floor, enjoying the soft sofas and natural light to read. I love that Myles will happily read Fancy Nancy to his sister. She's such a great character with adorable stories in her name, and Myles has his sister as an excuse.
The coffee was good. Brigid enjoyed her fresh apple juice and Myles his smoothie. I was surprised that on a chilly, wet afternoon there were no requests for hot chocolate. Brigid was determined, though, to test out their juicer.
Myles was at one point easily distracted from reading, either his own books or to Brigid. At the seating area next to ours a young man was playing Let's Golf 3 on an iPad. The iGolfer noticed Myles' interest and offered him a chance to play, too. This has been happening to us often recently, especially on the Beijing Metro. Myles will take a peek at whatever game some stranger is playing on an iPhone or iPad. The stranger will then HAND OVER HIS DEVICE TO MYLES. Seriously. Such trust you don't see everywhere.
As much as we LOVED spending an hour (or so) at Cafe 1901, it's probably a good thing we don't live closer to it. It would be very hard to resist the temptation to linger here for hours at a time. We would not only be a homeschooling family, but also a cafeschooling family as well.
More after the jump.
In various magazines and local Beijing expat blogs I've read conflicting histories about this building. From the Cafe management themselves comes this:
The Cafe occupies the second and third floors of this building. The second floor is an open space with ample comfortable seating. Best of all for us from Changping, the cafe is non-smoking.
The third floor is more attic like, with cozy tucked-away nooks for quieter company.
The kids fortunately chose to remain on the second floor, enjoying the soft sofas and natural light to read. I love that Myles will happily read Fancy Nancy to his sister. She's such a great character with adorable stories in her name, and Myles has his sister as an excuse.
The coffee was good. Brigid enjoyed her fresh apple juice and Myles his smoothie. I was surprised that on a chilly, wet afternoon there were no requests for hot chocolate. Brigid was determined, though, to test out their juicer.
Myles was at one point easily distracted from reading, either his own books or to Brigid. At the seating area next to ours a young man was playing Let's Golf 3 on an iPad. The iGolfer noticed Myles' interest and offered him a chance to play, too. This has been happening to us often recently, especially on the Beijing Metro. Myles will take a peek at whatever game some stranger is playing on an iPhone or iPad. The stranger will then HAND OVER HIS DEVICE TO MYLES. Seriously. Such trust you don't see everywhere.
As much as we LOVED spending an hour (or so) at Cafe 1901, it's probably a good thing we don't live closer to it. It would be very hard to resist the temptation to linger here for hours at a time. We would not only be a homeschooling family, but also a cafeschooling family as well.
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