Austria – Vienna: Forever in the eighties

I saw one here for the first time. Here in Vienna. A man who shone into a trash can with a small flashlight. A picture that you no longer perceive in Berlin; Bottle collectors in particular have become less common there. But that could only be a subjective impression. They have not been long in Vienna, so far they have occurred very occasionally. This is because in Austria there has only been a deposit on reusable bottles in Austria. The pawns looks a little different than in Germany; Nevertheless, there was already a deposit tourism here and there – beer boxes, for example, bring in more in Austria than in Germany, seven euros instead of 3.10 euros.

Other phenomena of serious social differences are gradually sneaking into the common city of Vienna: it happens that the subway is begged. So far, street musicians can only be accommodated in the train stations. The fact that someone is full in Berlin as recently has not yet happened, and no throwing tents have been spotted in parks yet. But there is not much missing until then. After all, it is not the case that there were no poverty in Vienna; Anyone who is familiar with knows what to expect, for example, on the Margaret belt. And despite the creeping impairing, Vienna has retained the reputation of a social city. This is because the rents here are still relatively low, which is due to the municipal housing and the all -time superiority of the very social SPÖ.

There is a choice in Vienna on Sunday and she won’t change anything. Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ), whose counterfei can be seen through the large windows of the entrepor in the Burgtheater, which is a funny to spooky effect, will be able to choose whether he wants to rule with the Greens (exhausting) or the Neos (liberal, not quite as next to the FDP). Even the ÖVP, the conservatives that with the election slogan »Vienna remains Vienna« slightly paradoxical to the hopeless election campaign (now the button is “only with us”, which does nothing better), could still ride as a junior partner.

The KPÖ, traditionally stronger in the cities, could move into the town hall; The FPÖ is the second strongest force, but even it does not get far in the multicultural city with its Protz and its splendor, its shame and its penchant for morbid. Yes, Vienna is full of clichés, and that makes the city so beautiful. Take the coffee house (Viennese coffee surprisingly bad, but expensive), the literature, the psychoanalysis, the music, the Prater with Ferris wheel (“The Third Man”!) And the city park with all the old benches: Everything is right.

Just, what does everyday life in Vienna look like? In Vienna, for example, the hipsters look different than in Berlin; Not so American, less often with tennis socks and chesthoses. For this with baseball caps and protruding long hair, and on the face with strange mustache creations. As from “Kottan determined” stolen figures. Very Austrian somehow.

And cultural? By the way, as a tourist, you shouldn’t be guided by “Before Sunrise”, the first Rohmer-for-the-Genx film by Richard Linklater from 1994. The scenes are hung on each other indiscriminately, it is almost impossible to put all of this into a Viennese night. But that doesn’t matter: Linklater met Vienna with respect when it was still a meaningless city in the political no man’s land. In one scene you can see the young Tex Rubinowitz standing on a bridge and advertising. The record shop, which Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke visit, still exists: “Teuchtler – Alt & Neu” is full of Japanese tourists, but I recently dusted a few good records. The second Charlottes for 30 euros. In this 80s fund, which the city somehow portrays, you can find what you are looking for.

Vienna is still stuck in the 80s. Cars roar through the city. The retail is blooming. The asphalt blooms everywhere. Even if it is broken up here and there, which tidy up and looks stylish, but not necessarily natural. In Rudolfsheim, a kind of Neukölln in gentle and brittle, there is an Italian who, together with the interior a few years ago, had to get out somewhere and only moved a few houses further – nothing renovation, left everything! Even the prices. You can hear “I’m Still Standing” by Elton John and eat a pizza salame for 8.50 euros, while everything is dark and wood -covered and slightly clipped. The pizzeria is called “Mafiosi”. You feel back around 40 years.

Of course, it is also very modern in this city. Although the WLAN conditions are even worse than in Germany; In any case, when it comes to open networks. Cash payment often goes before the card payment. For this, everyday life is full of electronics – small children look youtube; A caller on the bus coughs the phone in a roaring sound volume; As a matter of course, the customer has the loudspeaker. The publications are cheap (one euro per day by annual ticket!) And usually work well, but there is no WLAN here either. When my bus drives past the “Knot of the Welt” and stops at the next station, inspectors climbed. An older man studies the timetable with a reading lamp at the bus stop.

Is flirting in Vienna? Rather less. It is worked. Women wear wedding rings to be protected from beautiful men. Some lasered away the eyebrows to have them daring. Others sprayed their lips – much more than in Berlin. A law student complained to her father, a lawyer, that she had to detach from the airport outside the city on the train because she had just managed to catch the train – and had exhausted her first class. But she just had a ticket for the second class.

Another difference to Berlin: In Neukölln, single mothers in the 30s complain that they are not allowed to choose in an X polling station, but only in the for which they are shown. Then pull off with a child, cone and the words: “You have lost me for this choice!” In Vienna, such symptoms conduct older women. Who probably choose FPÖ.

Is beer drunk and scene in Vienna? Quite. But rather unspectacular. Are there any spectacular cities? Shouldn’t Tbilis come even? Or Chisinau? Bucharest? Vienna is still a Berlin that has been coming up, which we had said so many times. The more pleasant city remains: slower, cleaner, decent, social, more unexcited. It lives well in Vienna. Vienna is always worth a trip.