Lifestyle and Shopping in Vienna
There is a joke that circulates among expats in Vienna. If the world ends, just move to Austria and you will have an extra twenty years. This suggestion that Austria is somewhat behind the times reveals itself not in technology but lifestyle.
Life in Vienna does not appear to be driven by any external pressure.
The Viennese do work to live, as opposed to living to work, a concept that many North Americans and other cultures will throw their arms up at and wonder how anything gets done. Be assured, things get done. It just takes longer.
The only way to effectively deal with this is acceptance and allowing yourself to enjoy the slower pace, or to find a good therapist to deal with the rage. After all Vienna was home to Sigmund Freud and psychotherapy. But remember, medical practitioners keep irregular hours as well, to accommodate lunch, picking up children, a quick trip to the sauna, and maybe even a nap after lunch.
So what are all these Viennese doing when they aren’t rushing around working or excelling at customer service?
There is a strong sense of family in Austria. Family comes first, as does individual wellness. Vienna is full of health and wellness facilities that can be enjoyed by the entire family. Saunas and pools are in abundance. Be sure to check out the newly renovated Oberlaa Therme. This complex houses ten pools, complete with water slides, and one that is completely in the dark except for coloured mood lights. The pools are therapeutically warm. Also in the complex are saunas, massage therapists, restaurants and a movie theatre.
The Viennese love to drink coffee and they love to smoke. It wasn’t until July 2010 that a law was passed that required cafés and restaurants to have a non-smoking area. And it is no problem to sit for hours in a café drinking coffee and eating cake. No one will care.
Vienna is a lovely city to stroll through. The Museum’s Quartier is home to the Albertina Museum, the Leopold Museum (which is a great introduction to some of Austria’s well known artists), the Natural History Museum, and ZOOM Children’s Museum. And this is only the tip of the iceberg.
The city of Vienna website offers maps of 16 different hikes and walks you can take in and around Vienna.
Cars are optional in Vienna. Public transportation is so efficient expats really don’t require a vehicle for city living. Insurance is expensive and finding parking is challenging. For short stints, car rental is affordable, providing of course you drive manual transmission. This is of course is not to suggest that most Viennese do not own cars - traffic here is like traffic in any big city.
Vienna’s central location in Europe allows for quick and generally inexpensive European travel. It is not unusual to get a flight to Paris or Rome for €89. With such close proximity to Italy (five hour drive to the beach town Bibioni) it is easy to get away to the sea for a short vacation. Of course come summer, the Viennese will pack up and become water bound for destinations such as Croatia, Italy, and France.
And of course Austrians love to ski. School officially has a ski week in February. The Austrian public schools are very testy about children being absent during non- designated holidays. But not to worry, there are many school holidays.
If you enjoy shopping there are several main shopping streets. The Ring is alive with expensive high-end shops and restaurants. Mariahillfrastrasse is a street of shopping with large stores such as Zara, Esprit, and the department store Peek and Cloppenberg. Stop for a coffee at Tchibos (a German chain that has delicious coffee and an ever changing selection of clothes, household items and jewelry). Don’t ask for a Starbucks in this town, ask for a Tschibos!
It is true that Vienna does not pulse with the same energy as cities such as Paris or Berlin but there is never a shortage of things to do here.
