Day 1
Arrived after a tiresome 12-hour train-ride. My luggage would have exceeded every weight-limit of any airline, and so my arms and neck hurt like hell. My first impression is that of a picturesque, kind of crammed town, with an odd feeling of old, old heritage, with an at the same time fragile yet powerful heartbeat. I like the trams, they seem to belong where they are, their tracks are like the veins of the streets, not artificially superimposed.
Kleine Österreichkunde: Plus heißt hier Zielpunkt, Aldi heißt Hofer.
Day 2
So Vienna is BIG. I mean, really BIG. Maybe not comparable to Berlin in sheer surface size, but it feels more packed, crammed, and full of buildings, people, stores and so on. I went to the "Institut für Schallforschung" in order to attend a recording today, and I got my first impressions of the Tourist-Vienna, the Ringstraße, at which many of the main attractions are located, e.g. the parliament, the Opera House, the Burgtheater and some more. I haven't seen all old capitals of Europe so far, but as far as I can remember, none of them except Paris rivals Vienna in the sheer Grandezza of its architectural highlights. The buildings from the old days are made from a very light, almost white limestone (?), not the grey or brown-reddish sandstone you may find in many other towns. The size of the opera-house almost struck me when I first saw it, and the parliament and other buildings don't really have to hide either..
Not all of Vienna looks and feels as grand and powerfull as this though. The part of town I live in for example is a a little bit shabby in comparison. Not really a bad area or dangerous or something, but more ordinary, with many people of turkish and asian origin, whose generally lower social standard also may explain the density of Zielpunkt (=Plus, 2 stores in appr. 200 meters), Kik (also 2 stores), several other low-budget markets and Kebab and Asian Restaurants around here. There also is a quite big shopping mall about 200 meters away from here, and a McDonalds and a Burger King (Yey!!)
So the infrastructure is really great - I have a tram-stop and 2 underground-stops just a few steps away from my door. To be in a nice part of the town though, one must travel by tram for about 15 minutes or so.
Sadly I have no flatmate at the moment. The flat has been empty for 2 weeks now, which means that I had to buy almost everything necessary for a household, including glasses (only 1 left) and toiletpaper ;-)
I just met a guy from Hongkong who seems to be quite nice, he's been here for 2 weeks only, that may be a good point to start from..
So far I could not find a broad offering of vegetarian or even vegan food so far - but I will keep looking for it, I promise!!
So much for now, more to come!
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen