Hi Brit!

I just wanted to comment on the blog post.

I found it interesting and very much in agreement with my impressions of Viennese history. Especially that bit about the mixing of classes (it used to be done on the Ringstrasse where everyone went to be seen and at the Oper), I just never applied that to clothes and the way people dress. It makes sense though.

I also recognize the Austrians are reserved about wealth, but I never knew they were suspicious of it. I’ll be thinking about that for a while and perhaps tying it into the lack of a monarchy and the collapse of the empire less than a century ago.

I knew they were very much attached to the idea of ranks and titles, but the idea that they are important because they signify a solid, hard working citizen hadn’t occurred to me. Here in the US, I feel that those titles are prestigious because they represent earning power or that someone has come from a wealthy background (if you’ve spent 12 years in school and not working, the money has to come from somewhere).

I rather like the Austrian perception better and I think that’s how it used to be in the US before our now perverse fascination with rich people behaving badly. There used to be a solid Protestant Work Ethic, meaning that hard work produces a reward both in physical comfort and spiritual well being. Wealth was to be enjoyed then, as it was seen as a blessing from god as well. However, there was also a strong philanthropic streak to that way of thinking (Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller) that has now been lost since the “Me” generation of the 1980′s and the financial cowboy wizards of the 2000′s.

Anyway, those are just some random thoughts. Your reader still didn’t explain why the shopping in Vienna is not the same as it is in Munich (or Berlin, or Paris) though. Or is it just that the Viennese wouldn’t visit an upscale (but not haute) store?