Veni, Vidi, Vienna

One thing often said about Vienna  among Hungarians and foreigners alike is that it is dull, which is true when you’re used to Budapest, its ruin bars, its loose open alcohol container, its chaotic traffic, and its loopy language.

Everything Vienna closes at 6pm in Vienna and little is open on Sunday. This would lead you to believe that they must like their nightlife. I don’t know about that because it seems very tame there. On my second visit, my buddy, Alek, and I wandered through the city’s club district. We left unimpressed and bored enough that we decided to just call it a night.

The next night, Kata and I went to the Danube, where there were bars and patios built into the arches of an old brick elevated train line. Kata, a Hungarian born and raised in debaucherous Budapest, shrugged and said, “This is... nice.”

The Viennese are not party people, but party lame-ness aside, there is plenty to like about Vienna.

City of Bromance

Vienna has the potential to be a romantic city. It’s rich in the arts, with opera, classical music concerts, ballet and what not. Its rich cafe culture just invites you to sip coffee and nibble pastries for hours. The beautiful architecture, old palaces and parks all set the right mood.

By coincidence, I’ve spent a lot of time exploring Vienna with buddies – without any bachelor party behaviour. My first time there with Teak, we were tourists: visiting museums, eating pastries at coffee houses and snapping a lot of photos. The next time with Alek, we visited the Albertina and ate fancy sidewalk cafe lunches together.

There’s been a lot of bromance in Vienna.

Tourist-Friendly

1) The Habsburgs built this city to impress visitors – it was the capital of an empire, after all. There are buildings built to inspire awe, museums filled with treasures and galleries filled with art.

2) Few locals live in the city centre, where the Hofburg, the largest museums, the Opera House and most of Vienna’s attractions lie. So there is no large amount of commingling between the locals and the tourist, like when a tourist suddenly stops on the sidewalk to slowly, slowly take a photo of something pretty in front of a local walking brisking behind him. So there’s little ill will from the Viennese towards the tourists.

3) It's also beautiful.

Art, music, blah, blah, blah

It’s a cliché that Vienna is a city of culture. But it’s true. Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms all plied their musical trade here. Every coffee house and many restaurants have pianists or violinists or string quartets playing in the background. Along with its usual fat lady singing repertoire, the Opera House also has classical music performances, which it feeds to a gigantic screen outside.

You feel smarter just being here.

Street Meat

There’s nothing quite like enjoying the Beethoven’s third movement on the Opera House's outdoor big screen than with bratwurst and a beer.

Yes, you can get street meat in Vienna. Unlike the dubious stuff found at 2am in Toronto, this stuff tastes good. You can get it in “hot dog” form or, my favourite, sliced on a plate with a mound of mustard and a slice of fresh rye bread. It's Europe, so some street kiosks also have beer.