Nifty Day-to-Day Practicalities

I feel like I’ve been a bit hard on Vienna in my recent posts, and while its true that there some things here that are simply ‘harder’ or not done as well as back home, there are some very cool things that I have come to enjoy here, so I thought I would create a little list below.

1) Double-sided printers: I imagine these exist in the US, but I’ve never seen them at home. It’s simply a computer printer that prints documents out double-sided. They use half the amount of paper (good for the environment) and create half as much clutter on my desk (good for my sanity). Brilliant.

2) Truly fantastic public transit. Boy, could the states learn a thing or two about public transit from Vienna. It’s fast, efficient, clean, relatively cheap, and takes you anywhere you need to go. One pass allows you to use the buses, trams, S-Bahn, and U-bahn, and during peak times your maximum wait for a train or bus is four minutes. They even offer magazines for you to read on the underground, but since the trains move so quickly you don’t even have much time to read. There are even signs throughout the station telling you how long until the next train arrives, and night buses that run after the U-bahn shuts down at 12:30am.

3) Free festivals. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Vienna knows how to show its residents a good time, regardless of your budget. Whether it’s a free concert by the Vienna Philharmonic at Schonbrunn Palace with Bill Clinton in attendance, or a street festival with live music and free art supplies, they encourage you to be a part of the wealth of cultural offerings in the city.

4) Beer and wine are cheaper than soda at every restaurant – usually two or three Euros max. And at the UN Bar, a large glass of wine is 1.50 Euros. Enough said.

5) The Vienna Opera house offers standing room tickets for 2 or 3 Euros for every single opera or ballet performance. True, you have to stand (sometimes packed in like sardines) but if your dream is to see Placido Domingo perform live and you don’t have a lot of expendable income, you can get in line and have a reasonable chance of seeing him perform for less than the cost of a piece of Sacher torte.

6) Large pedestrian walkways. It’s common throughout Europe and not exclusive to Vienna, but throughout the city there are large promenades, walkways, and pedestrian-only streets that are fantastic to stroll through. It’s a city that encourages you to walk.

7) The Hofburgs loved parks and the natural environment, so Vienna has more dedicated parks and natural spaces than any other major city in Europe. Given its relatively small size this is even more impressive, and its something I’ve truly loved.

8) Gelateria Hoher Markt. All the tourists go to Zanoni and Zanoni gelateria. Go around the corner, walk up the street a block and you’ll find the best gelato outside of Italy, and for less money than Zanoni. Their ‘Obers Kirsches’ gelato, which is essentially vanilla and sour cherry, is crack in a cup. Or what I imagine crack must be like. I swear to you, I don’t know what I’m going to do without it. I might have to buy an ice cream maker and try to do it on my own. Cherry Garcia and Winter White Chocolate can’t hold a candle to it.

9) Expanding upon the above, they really know how to do desserts and sweets here. Cakes, tortes, strudel, you name it – they do it all, and it’s a fan-freaking-tastic. It’s a dessert lover’s dream. Too bad my hips and thighs disagree.

10) Toilets with a two flushing options. You guessed it – for number one and number two. It saves water and energy to use the former, and gives you the option for a longer, ‘standard’ flush with the second button.

11) Also in the bathroom, they use large spools of ‘real towels’ that rotate in a machine to provide you with a clean and dry section of towel to dry your hands, then retract the used portion of towel back into the machine. Then they take out the towel and wash it once the entire spool has been used. It is less wasteful and better at drying your hands than paper towels (Can you tell I’m impressed with their green, energy efficient practices?)

12) Windows that open outward from the top. This is a little hard to describe, but windows in Austria have the option of opening up completely (almost like a small door), or you can choose to have them open at an angle from the top, letting in some fresh air but not a pigeon as well.

You may have picked up on the fact that this list is my pathetic attempt at satisfying requests for a blog post without having to write anything substantive. I promise to put up another post very soon, but my free time at the moment is pretty much consumed with looking for jobs in Connecticut and updating and improving my cover letter and resume. Ah, the joy of being brought back to reality.

And since Todd’s computer is our ‘television,’ phone, and Internet connection, I don’t want to monopolize it too much -- though he has been a sweetheart and not complained. Long story short, you will see another post from me – hopefully in the next day or two. Thank you as always for the posted comments and emails, and we love and miss you all!