Vienna Odds and Ends

Here's a great source of short videos showing various parts of Vienna. They're very nicely produced. Take a look at what goes on here!

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Some of the differences I notice here I can chalk up to the differences between Europe and America, and some of them are just the differences you'd find between small or medium sized cities and large cities. New York City probably has a lot more in common with Vienna than it does with OKC, for instance.

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As regards transportation: Vienna has an excellent public transportation system. B says other cities in Europe are better, but when you have nothing (like, say, OKC) anything looks good. You can get around pretty easily by bus, tram, or subway. You can buy different kinds of passes, including a year-long pass....which is a lot cheaper than owning and operating a car for a year. If I lived here, I wouldn't own a car, a motorcycle, or a scooter. Maybe a bicycle, and get one of the yearly public transportation passes.

About half of the cars have diesel engines.

I've seen some street-legal 4-wheel vehicles of the kind farmers and hunters use in the US.

Pickup trucks: In 12 visits over more than 6 years, I think I've seen ONE pickup truck. There are small trucks here, but they tend to be van-like, or panel truck-like. I've literally seen more Ferraris in any ONE visit than pickup trucks in all 12 visits!

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Food: I write too much about food, but I like to eat. WTF. And there's a great variety here. I don't always eat healthy food, but mostly I do, and you can sure get that here.

You can also get world-class chocolate and pastries and ice cream. Good thing I don't have a sweet tooth, or I'd be fatter than I am now and have no teeth. Vienna is a kind of paradise for people who like desert, but me, I just don't mess with it.

Wine and beer? FUHGEDDABOUTIT! You can pay a lot for wine but there's no reason to. The local stuff sold in the Heurigen is just fine and very inexpensive.

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Breasts:

It's summer, with the resulting sheer clothing. One of the most noticeable things about Vienna, (maybe Europe in general, I don't know) is the almost complete lack of breast implants. Which I find refreshing. Whoever got the idea that a plastic bag filled with silicone or saline bears any resemblence whatsoever to a real-life breast was fooling himself. Or herself, as the case may be.

I've noticed that the type of women who get breast implants are the exact same type of women who would never date a man who wears a toupee. Go figure.

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Culture:

The other night on the news, they said Vienna spends 200 million Euro a year on cultural events. That's about $280,000,000. But they figure they get most of that back in revenue from tourism, tourism which results in large part because of the wonderful cultural events they have here---many of which costs visitors nothing.

I'm trying to imagine if the entire state of Oklahoma spends $2 million on cultural events.

Henry Miller said, way back in the 1930's, that America doesn't respect its artists. He moved to France, where he spent 10 very productive years. WWII put an end to his fun in Paris.

If you read Miller's AIR CONDITIONED NIGHTMARE, published in 1945, and look at the America of 2009, I wonder if you'd see a difference. For the better, I mean.

Thursday Activities

The bottom floor of this building houses the Cafe Rüdigerhof.

Imagine a doubling of all the things that make OKC's Red Cup such a cool place, and you'll come close to Cafe Rüdigerhof. Same sort of freakazoid customers, only more of them. Bigger place. Nicer outdoor setting (the trees to the left of this photo shade the patio area, where we sat last night for many hours with our friend Klausi.)

You can get all the different kinds of coffee you want. Tea. Alcohol! (I cannot for the life of me figure out why coffee houses in OKC don't also serve hootch. WTF?)

And, unlike OKC where they roll up the goddamned sidewalks about 9 or 10 every night, this place stays open late.



This is a pic I downloaded from Flickr.

It shows the patio area, the part you can't see in my pic above.

This shot was taken very early in the morning, but imagine this place on a warm August night, the patio filled with people.

Klausi is a regular at the Cafe Rüdigerhof, such to the extent that he even has a drink named after him: Klausigeschpritzer, which is 1/8 liter of white wine and about 1/4 liter of mineral water. It's more refreshing than something you'd drink if you want to get wasted, which makes it perfect for an evening at one of Vienna's coolest gathering spots.

Earlier in the day, we'd intended to visit a nearby famous monastery where the chanting monks once produced a record that was a big best-seller. But the car had a flat, and as is often the case, the spare was flat, too. The Austrian version of AAA came to our rescue but by that time it was too late to visit the monastery. Maybe later in the week.

In the afternoon we met B's parents and her sister at a Heurige (wine tavern) for lunch and conversation. It was kind of steamy outside, though we were sitting in the shade.