Vienna

First Impressions


I'm sitting in the cafe Hawelka in downtown Vienna.
The decor is kind of Art Nouveau, with antique furniture and felt sofas. There is smoke in the air. The posters on the walls advertise long past exhibitions like this Pablo Picasso smiling at me from a bathtub, a work of David Douglas. Some swear by their mothers that this was the place where Kafka used to lounge in. Well, he did live in this same street… Be it as it may, I consider this to be a good sign.


Yesterday was a very long day. Snowstorms, train and flight delays and these freezing temperatures! I can only say, thank God for taxis! They are lifesavers and the first one came to my rescue early in the morning.


The snowfall had taken Munich's public transport by surprise and chaos settled in complacently. As the trains started to be cancelled one after the other, I decided to take a taxi in order not to miss my flight. The way to the airport proved to be quite interesting.


The taxi driver told me some episodes of German history, particularly the peasant revolutions, which apparently were quite frequent and were turned against the nobility and even against the clergy, who, as we know, were the only ones with the power to exploit the poor at any level. Although most of these surveys were crushed by the military superiority of the subduers, the courage of these ordinary people should be admired and praised. As the conversation went on, we found ourselves commenting on the political situation of the country and of the world is general, that nowadays the politicians represented industry and their business interests and not the people who got them in power; that we no longer live in a democracy as envisioned at first, but in a party dictatorship and that the voice of the people ceased to have any value whatsoever and was no longer decisive. Fair enough, the conversation was quite lively, but unfortunately, my discussion partner got stuck in a negativistic, obsessive and very tiring monologue. After all, it was still seven in the morning!


During the rest of the trip my state of mind sunk in melancholy. I just kept thinking about everything I wasn't pleased with at the moment. At the end of the day, everything in life is just a question of perspective and the more negative we think, the more depressed we get and the more depressed,  the more negative and so on and so forth ... I believe it to be called the "Law of Attraction"…


But in Vienna the sun soon came to my aid!
In this winter day the sun was indeed the main protagonist.
"He guided me" towards the hotel and, later, through the city. I had decided to just follow the streets bathed in light, the snow reflected gold, and so I was "guided" to the Academy of Fine Arts and even to the Cafe Ritter in the Maria-Hilf-Str. The sunlight brought color and life to buildings and landscapes that up till then had been nothing more than shades of gray and sad. I got reminded that nothing is as bad as it seems and this made me feel very good.


The Academy of Fine Arts is beautiful! Walls, ceilings, all painted in  "Renaissance" style . All very colorful, very full, like a lot! And then the contrast, the rebelliousness, the watchwords. "Art is a bitch"! I really enjoyed it. Smells like creativity, smells like life!


It was a good walk till Cafe Ritter, but it was worth it. This is a large café also in the 1920's style and their waiters are gray-haired, somewhat laconic, but yet quite friendly. I felt comfortable and I finally had time to sort my thoughts out between a Wiener Mélange and a Sachertorte. Delicious! I should do this more often!


My impressions of the city:
I can hardly say anything about its beauty. Cold gray days are not favorable for such an analysis and I was also out of time - after all, I was just passing through! The buildings are impressive, no doubt, but on the other hand, it is nothing that you wouldn't find in any other European metropolis.
What shocked me the most was the fact that people are ill-dressed! From the aesthetic point of view they have no taste! I never expected a world famous both for its high level of culture as for its elegance to have so little sense of style ... It just makes no sense!


Poverty and social conflict are quite evident. The center appears to be wealthy, but everything around it points out a glaring discrepancy between classes. There is some tension in the air. Racism, xenophobia and fear can not be hidden behind good manners and yellow smiles. 


Such impressions were the subject of my conversation with the taxi driver who drove me back to the hotel. This gentleman originally from Iran  explained that in Austria foreigners are not segregated by law, or public demonstrations, but by this latent aversion ... He continued saying that, according to his experience, what  Austrians fear is that their wealth may be disputed. Not that it's stolen, but that it is made public that deep down they do not deserve it - especially when compared with other equally capable workers, who  jus by being foreigners are just poorly paid and treated as second class citizens.
Interesting, the population is obviously aware of this social injustice and still no one does anything about it out of fear of losing face...


We humans, we  are strange creatures indeed ...


But I still believe!