In the meantime, I still see if any of you make comments, so please feel free to continue to share your thoughts. Open dialog is, after all, the purpose of a blog.

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I have to admit that I like Stockholm a lot. Though Vienna is a clean city, Stockholm is even cleaner. Both cities are great for walking. Both cities have good public transportation. Both cities have good food.

What Stockholm has that Vienna lacks, however, is a lot of seafood and a lot of beef. I like both so this was a piece of heaven for me. Also the people are really nice in Stockholm. Perky, happy, helpful. Such a nice change to the cranky Viennese. Also shopping is good with stores open on Sundays! A miracle.

Let’s get to the heart of what is really important to me. The ocean. Water is everywhere in Stockholm and I love it. Austria is landlocked and I would have to drive for five hours to get to the ocean. I try to convince myself that I no longer miss the ocean. However after months of not seeing it, then flying into a place like Stockholm, I almost weep with homesickness for the ocean.

However there are two things which Stockholm cannot keep up with concerning Vienna. The coffee there is no good (but for you poor Americans probably still an improvement) and the pastries just aren’t what they should be. Vienna knows its cakes and pastries like no place else.

To sum up Vienna and Stockholm. In Vienna throw a rock and hit a church or a coffeehouse. In Stockholm throw a rock and hit an H&M.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz7F9Pbt_X0&feature=player_embedded

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The fact that this group won their protest made me stop laughing at them. I thought about it for awhile and have decided this. I need to give the cranky Viennese a break and actually thank them instead of making fun of them. They protest about anything that doesn’t suit them. They put up a fuss until they get what they want. They form a group and in an organized manner, nip and nip and nip at the government until, in exhaustion/exasperation, the government just gives the people what they want.

So thank you dear Viennese for being so damn cranky. Thank you for standing up to what you perceive as unjust or unfair. Because if you did what a lot of other cultures/people do, and look away as the city deteriorates around them, Vienna wouldn’t be the #1 city to live in.

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Rome
The architecture is amazing. The huge size of buildings, one right after the other, continues to awe you. The intense beauty of the churches just makes you want to weep in appreciation. The fact that precious artwork is everywhere is staggering.

The people are really friendly. For a big city like Rome, you anticipate that the people will be a little cold, a little hard around the edges. Not the Romans. People helped us find our way. The waiters were efficient and patient. The sales people at stores helpful.

There were three downsides however. The first was the trash everywhere. It seems that people don’t have much respect for the Eternal City. Also the crowds were near unbearable. Anywhere you went there was an insane mass of people. Want to see any important sight? Stand in line or pay to get around it.

The third is the high price of food. So as not to eat ourselves poor, we ate breakfast at the hotel, had panini sandwiches while sitting in a piazza for lunch, and then went out to eat in a restaurant for dinner. This made our food budget manageable.

The basic impression of Rome is: Big buildings, nice people, but dirty. 

Vienna
Vienna cannot compare to Rome on the size of its architecture. You don’t see any building that overwhelms you. Also Vienna’s churches in no way display the wealth and power of those in Rome.

Vienna has many museums, but does not house the masters the way Rome does around every corner. Often the Viennese museums borrow great works for an exhibition but don’t own any big names.

Also the Viennese as a people have a reputation, like the Parisians, of being rude and unfriendly. I still struggle with this unnecessary attitude even though I’ve been living here for three years. Remember people, a smile and a small helpful gesture doesn’t cost anything.

However Vienna is very affordable. No gouging the tourists with crazy high prices for hotels, food, or sightseeing. Vienna is not as popular a tourist destination as Rome, so no crowds of people and waiting in line.

Though Vienna is smaller in scale to Rome and doesn’t have the churches like Rome does, it has its own staggering beauty. The Inner City is so clean and beautiful that you could spend all day just looking at the pretty buildings and feel happy.

Overall Rome was fun to visit, but once again, I am happy to be living in Vienna.

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Dear Austria, thank you for being so eco-friendly. I appreciate it. I admire it. I hate it (right now). Go ahead and give me an awesome public transportation system. Go ahead and make me walk (don’t need a gym membership). Go ahead and make me separate my trash 4 different ways. Go ahead and make me buy energy efficient light bulbs and appliances (thanks, I save money). But for the love of god, do not take my air conditioning away.

I come into work a snarling beast because my U-Bahn ride was hot. I won’t go to lunch with my co-workers unless the restaurant has air conditioning. My husband has to call me home from work because I’d rather stay there (where there is air conditioning) than sit in a hot apartment. So what do I suggest? That we get a friggin’ air conditioning unit. Typical Austrian, he says no(!).

This is torture. Do I now need to flee Vienna twice a year rather than only once (February of course)? I was complaining to another American about this and he made a good suggestion. Now is the time to visit the mountains. It’s gotta be at least 5 degrees coolor there, right? Usually I avoid the mountains because we L.A. folk get a nose bleed if the air quality is too pure, but I might re-consider.

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Pros Nice
Ocean
Good shopping for clothes
But also good shopping for food. Can get whatever you want
Fresh croissants that tasted like butter

Cons Nice
Expensive!
Traffic was rough, felt like I was back in LA

Pros Vienna
Much cheaper
Much bigger
More to do

Cons Vienna
Bad shopping
No ocean

But the cons of Vienna are always what I complain about whenever I do these posts. What I like about going on vacation, is that I am always happy to come back to Vienna. That’s a good sign.

Nice France

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Helimax, his user name, is making a reference to my first ever blog post Fashion – Or the Lack Thereof The rest of his thoughts seem to be something he just wanted to share with us.

Hi Britta!

I was just talking to a friend about Austrians and I thought I should write my thoughts down for you. Maybe you can use them in your blog.

One of the major differences to eg. France or the US is that thereare no ‘ghettos’ – of course there some neighborhoods with more immigrants from ex-Yugoslavia, Turkey, etc.. and some with more poorpeople and some with less and so on, but it is still mixed up. And people don’t stay in their neighborhood. Poor people got to Kärtnertstrasse and native Austrians go to Brunnenmarkt for fresh vegetables etc..

This leads to some points you mentioned in your blog. eg. bad-dressed people. Lower educated or poor people usually dress differently (may call it ‘not so good’). but eg. in Paris you will not see them – they stay in their banlieue. Dress code and knowing how to dress is mainly depending on the social status. So of course in Vienna’s 1st or 19th district the people are generally better dressed, but there are a lot of non-good-dressed people because there are no social- or other barriers for the people with lower status to enter these areas.

Another – for me – big difference between US and Austria is the definition of social-status. In the US money is a big status-factor. In Austria people with money are always ‘suspicious’ – ‘where do theyhave the money from?’ ‘is it legal?’ or if you borne with money -everybody thinks you got no problems and anything comes to you without work. In general money is only accepted if someone works really hard for it and is known for doing so – anything else is socially not accepted. that’s why only few people drive really expensive cars. The real rich don’t do it, because the don’t want to be recognized and don’twant to be socially unaccepted. Only the ‘Neureiche’ show their wealthand got therefor a really bad reputation.

On the other side in Austria, reputation is defined by titles, that’s why they are so important. But there are also differences. ‘Real’ titles from universities esp. Mag.,Dipl.Ing. and Dr. have a high reputation because you had to work for some years to earn it. Bachelor, FH-titles, etc.. got quite low reputation. Honorary titles are seen in the mid-range, because you must have done something to get them.

To get back to clothing: if you got a title you don’t have to dress good to show your status. That’s another reason why dressing is considered not so important in Austria.

Some – maybe confusing – thoughts collected from my chat with a non-Austrian friend.

Greetings from the snowy mountains and a happy new year!

Helimax

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I happen to like dogs and the fact that they are allowed pretty much everywhere doesn’t really bother me. Even in a restaurant, the dog owner usually shoves the hound under the table and I probably don’t even notice most of the four-legged visitors.

There is one exeception however. In October, some American friends of mine came to visit. I took them out to a trendy, upscale restaurant to show them a good time in Vienna. To our shock and horror, a fellow diner took dog love too far. We had to be subtely, but check out the photo below.

The guy is sitting in a nice restaurant with his dog on his lap, and a glass of water for the dog on the bench. This. Is. Gross.

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I never thought I would say this, but I miss my cubicle. At least in a cube there was hustle and bustle. People were moving, talking with one another, and answering the phone. There was noise and activity.

When I first came to Austria and saw that I would be in an office rather than a cubicle I thought, Cool. But now I feel the downside to this perk. I call it office fever. It’s like island fever (for Austrian readers, island fever means feeling restless due to an environment that is always the same). Every day for 9 hours I am in my office with the same two people. Now don’t get me wrong. These two are nice people. But 9 hours a day. 5 days a week. I can’t be around my husband for that long!

I know you are thinking, well, you have to have more than 2 co-workers. And I do. But everyone is in their own office. With the door shut. Austrians love to have shut doors. So even though I travel through the halls, doors are shut and interaction with others is minimal.

Office Fever.

I am trying to interact with other co-workers, but the barrier of the door is intimidating. When I do reach out (email with a 15 minute coffee break invitation) I just kind of get a weird look, like the person is wondering why I want to have a coffee break with them. Like they are wondering what I want. What I want? A little human interaction!

My two officemates are nice to me and let me keep our office door open once in awhile. I’ve explained the reason for it, that I just need the background noise, and they let it go. Maybe I’ll start a trend!

Closed Office Doors

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