VIENNA | Für Gott, Kaiser, und Vaterland

[cityscapes]

Yes, it's livable, but...

I left Vienna with a very strange impression of the city. It didn't feel particularly dynamic or interesting. For a city that has so much history and culture the people did not match the city. Everyone was so horribly dressed I felt like I had entered the late 80's early 90's stylistically. The people were a weird mix. I expected it to be Germany by another name, but I was so wrong. I felt like I was in Eastern Europe, but with more badly integrated immigrants and refugees. The natives were a far cry from their trendy northern european counterparts in Berlin, Copenhagen, and Stockholm looking very agrarian.

The Baroque architecture is impressive but after awhile the excessive detailing wears your eyes out. One starts to yearn for a place like False Creek or Canary Wharf. Some of the detailing is borderline tacky and makes me think this is the 1600's equivalent of the more gaudy projects going up in the Middle East in the today.

I thought about what life would be like in Vienna and I couldn't help but think it would be dull. I never planned on the visit to Vienna, my mom sort of arranged it last minute and I joined with one days notice, but with such a short trip I feel like I saw a good chunk of the city. You can tell the quality of life is high and the city is organized, but there didn't seem to be much going in any of the neighborhoods. Maybe I'm missing something but I didn't leave with the best impression of Vienna and I usually love European cities.

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DSC_0609 by Philip Bradford, on Flickr

[Crawford]

I echo many of your sentiments.

Vienna is a rich city, but feels culturally Eastern European, and the people look Slavic, or Hungarian, Romanian or former Yugoslav (in fact a huge proportion are; Vienna is further east than Prague and right on the border with Hungary and Slovakia). It has these incredible grand buildings but it lacks a certain something you see in other great world cities. It has the built grandeur of past empire but feels somewhat behind-the-times.

At the same time, it's still one of the most impressive capitals anywhere, has impressive music and cultural offerings, nice surrounding countryside and you captured it all very well. Great shots!

[Echoes]

Wow wow wow wow.

[Murphy de la Sucre]

Can't believe I was able to read and understand the title, I know German.

[Acajack]

What is said in the OP is very interesting because I never got that impression at all. Vienna is one of the best-dressed and most "genteel" cities I've ever been in. And I've been to most of the world's so-called great cities.

Yes, the city's feel kind of makes you think that they're upholding something from the past that no longer really exists, but it still works wonderfully when you're there.

Maybe this is too obscure a Canadian reference, but it reminds me of how a much larger Quebec City would be here in my country.

[James Bond Agent 007]

All I can say is, looks like you got there during crummy weather. Nice pics anyway!

[boulevardofdef]

Something I've always found fascinating about Vienna is that it's so close to Bratislava, which, as someone who's never been to that region, strikes me as an entirely different part of the world. Google Maps says they're 54 minutes apart by car. I drove longer than that to get to dinner tonight. In fact, you could be over the Slovak, Czech or Hungarian border in less time than my dinner excursion.

[pdxtraveler]

I personally LOVED Vienna! It is my favorite foreign city so far! Thanks for the thread.