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Austria
Facts

Official Name: Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich)

Form of Government: parliamentary republic

Inhabitants: about 8 millions

Area: 83 845 km²

Land use: forest 43%, farm land 32%, urban areas 13%, high alpine terrain 10%, lakes 2%

Largest Cities: Vienna (capital) 1,5 million inhabitants, Graz 240.000 i., Linz 200.000 i., Salzburg 140.000 i., Innsbruck 120.000 i., Klagenfurt 90.000 i.

Language: German ("Austrian" is a dialect related to Bavarian).

Time Zone: Central European Time (CET) with daylight saving time in summer.

Electricity: 230 volts AC, 50 Hz., European socket system

Vienna - melting pot of the cultures

Vienna was always the gate to the Balkans and to East Europe and had always an important role as a crossing point between East and West. This importance is not an importance of political nature but more of a social nature. The mixture between the western culture and the eastern culture formed an unique Viennese culture and life style.

So for example in Vienna nothing is as correct and perfect as in Germany and Viennese don't want too fast changes and hurry (you will see it in restaurants). For many tourists it may be difficult to get used to the not so fast Viennese culture.

Vienna was always a city of immigrants. In the old Austrian-Hungarian empire many immigrants from Czech Republic and Hungary came. If you have a look to the Viennese phone book and compare it with the phone book of Prague you will find no difference in the names. After the wars many immigrants from Yugoslavia and Turkey came (until today). This culture of immigration and the fact that in Vienna, people from the East meet people from the West makes Vienna a such unique city.

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Weather and Climate

Vienna is influenced by the continental climate with hot summers and cold winters. In summer you can have many days with more than 30°C. The weather always depends on the larger scale flows. When you have more westerly flows in summer, you can have temperatures of only 20°C and rain showers. Otherwise when a high pressure area over Eastern Europe develops, you can have many days of sunshine and real hot temperatures, so that all Viennese are in the bath houses.

The winter weather is most of the time not very exiting. During west wind periods it is quiet humid and mild with temperatures of around 10°C. Temperatures of -10°C and sometime -20°C occur when you have a large high pressure area over Russia. On many days you have a layer of fog over the city. This Hochnebel is a very resistant cloud cover and it often happens that you don't see the sun for many days. Only Balkan low pressure areas may bring quiet a lot of snow to Vienna and more exiting weather.

Climate of Vienna (Source: www.wetteronline.de)

Month	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Avg.max.temperature (°C)	2	4	9	14	20	22	25	25	20	14	7	3
Avg.min.temperature (°C)	-2	-1	2	6	10	13	16	16	12	7	2	-1
Days of precipitation	21	17	19	19	17	19	18	15	15	16	20	22
Amount of precipitation (mm)	23	30	52	39	51	53	119	65	73	52	49	34
rel. humidity (%)	85	74	70	67	66	66	69	69	77	80	82	85

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Security

Vienna is a secure city. There are no districts where you are not supposed to go. There are some problems with drug dealers especially in the metro stations like Karlsplatz (Opera) or Kettenbrückengasse, but they will harm you in no way.

In the last years begging got a larger problem. Especially in the underground stations and on the road some people try to get some money from you or they want you to buy some useless things... just ignore them like most of the Viennese.

If you visit Vienna by bike, be sure that you locked your bike very good (best would be with two locks) because bike thefts occur more and more often in Vienna.

All in all Vienna is still a very safe city. You don't have to be afraid anywhere, also not in the public transportation system.

Emergency Numbers
FIRE FIGHTERS	122
POLICE	133
AMBULANCE	144

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Transportation

Nearly all main sights are reachable by foot. In the central district everything is reachable within 15 minutes. For some sights like the Schönbrunn Palace ore the Belvedere you have to use the public transportation. A ticket for a single one way drive costs about 1,5 Euro. I can recommend the Vienna card for 17 Euro where you can use all public transports for three days and with this card you get also cheaper tickets for the main sights. If you bought a ticket for a concert or a soccer match look to the back side of your ticket, often these tickets are also valid as ticket for the public transportation. Pupils are allowed to use the public transports for free during the holidays (don't forget a student card).

Driving by car in Vienna is no fun. The streets are narrow, there are a lot of one way systems and the drivers are very aggressive. It is also difficult to find parking spots and the inner districts are short parking zone [www]. I can recommend to use the public transportation, which is really good developed and save.

Metro Station Hietzing

The Viennese Metro (U-Bahn) uses many old tracks and stations of the former (more than hundred years old) Stadtbahn (city train). Especially at the Metro lines U4 and U6 you can enjoy the old stations and bridge constructions from a time where Vienna still was a capital of a large empire.

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Vienna and the Music

Vienna is also called the city of the music and indeed you will find a lot of "Mozart's" running around in the streets and trying to sell you a ticket for a tourist concert. Some of the concerts are real tourist traps, but most of them are quiet good [Vienna Walzer Orchestra]. But sure, all these concerts are not as good as the concerts in the classical locations like Konzerthaus or at the Opera. You can buy tickets for this concerts directly at the concert locations or you go to one of the many ticket offices in the inner districts of Vienna.

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Vienna in Summer (activities)

In summer, when the air is glowing, all Viennese are on the Croatian or Italian beaches or at Donauinsel. The Donauinsel is a 20km long, park-like island in the Danube river, where you can go swimming (there is also a nudist section), surfing, biking or inline skating. In the evenings people meet at Copa Cagrana, a quarter at Donauinsel, where you can find a lot of bars and open air dance clubs. If you like more swimming in a bath, you can go to one of the many open air bathes in Vienna. A very nice bath is the Schafbergbad from where you have a nice view down to Vienna.

The cultural life makes in summer a pause. All large and famous orchestras are on tour and so you will find mostly offers for tourist concerts. After the festival season in spring, you can find mostly musicals on the programs. At the Rathausplatz (in front of the city hall), you can watch every evening to concerts or operas on a large screen and in the meantime you can enjoy food from many different countries there.

An other possibility is a visit at the Prater [www] - a kind of a theme park, but much more older than Disney World, where you can test you courage at one of the roller coasters or at a ghost train.

You can use the summer time also for a trip to the "green soul" of Vienna - the Wienerwald (Vienna woods). The bus line 38A brings you directly to Cobenzl or Kahlenberg, from where you can make very nice walks at the forests and in the same time you can enjoy the view of Vienna.

An other nice summer activity can be a visit of Lake Neusiedl, at the border to Hungary. It is the largest steppe lake in Europe. This means, that this lake has no natural outflow and a water depth of only 1 to 2 meters. On this lake you can go wind surfing and sailing. There are also a lot of bike trails and bird watcher points. The trains to Neusiedl am See start at the East railway station (Ostbahnhof / Südbahnhof).

The Vienna woods

The Vienna woods are large wood lands west of Vienna and it is the largest deciduous forest in Austria. The landscape is characterized by wide meadows, forests, rolling hills and small villages.

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Vienna in Winter (activities)

Most of the cultural life take place in winter. All orchestras are in town and additional there are many Christmas concerts in churches. Christmas fairs (Christkindlmarkt) and punch- and chestnut sellers distribute a fine smell of Christmas throughout the city. Only the weather can be bad and the city seems to be only grey, so drink more punch and you don't care anymore about the weather ;-)

At New Year there is a big celebration, called the Silvesterpfad, in the whole central district. If you like crowds of drunken people and rockets flying around your ears, this will be your favourite celebration (so I cannot recommend it).

In January and February there is the ball season in Vienna. Every evening there are many balls where you can dance waltz until you brake down. Every social group and Highschool has their own ball. You can find information about the dates of each ball at the Wiener Ballkalender [www].

If you want to go skiing you have to take one of the many trains to Semmering (1h) where you find the next large skiing resort near Vienna. There are also many offers by the Austrian Railways, which include the train ticket and the lift pass. The next larger skiing resorts are Mt. Ötscher and Hochkar (2h). There are some special bus connections from Vienna, but you have to ask the tourist board about details.

If the weather is cold enough you can go ice skating at Lake Neusiedl or at the water park of the Ladenburg castle (very nice surrounding).

Maronibrater (chestnut roaster)

In winter you will find in every street at least one chestnut roaster, which sell roasted chestnuts and roasted potatoes. So if you have cold fingers, just buy one bag of these delicious nuts and the winter will be not anymore as strong as before.

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Coffee Shops (Kaffeehäuser)

Vienna and coffee shops - this is a combined history. The coffee shop is more than a place where you can drink coffee or eat one of the most delicious cakes you ever had. You can pick up one of the daily newspapers, sit down and reading the newspaper from the beginning to the end and the way around. Or you take your studies with you and learn at the coffee shop, in one hand a hot coffee. What I want to say is, that there is no time limit of sitting there, you can sit the whole afternoon at the coffee shop, and nobody will look strange at you. The most famous Cafés in the central district are the old fashioned Havelka, the noble Café Central, the Griensteidl and the Landtmann at the Burgtheater. But you can went in every Café and you will get the same good quality ... and please, don't go to Starbucks when you are in Vienna, this is the biggest mistake you can make!

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Money and Paying

Austrians are used to pay nearly everything cash but in most of the shops you can use also your ATM card (Maestro). Credit cards are not everywhere accepted, so ask before, if they accept your credit card (for example you cannot pay with credit card in super markets). Cheques are not very common in Austria and it is often difficult to find shops, which accept cheques.

Since the year 2000 the Euro is the official currency of Austria [Euro banknotes & coins].

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Eating and Drinking in Vienna

The Austrians like to go dining in a restaurant. Most of the restaurants are not very expensive. The main dishes are mostly between 6 and 9 Euro. The only expensive thing about eating in an Austrian restaurant are the drinks. Also for a soft drink you have to pay between 1,5 and 2 Euro (0,25l). The tip is usually between 5 and 10%.

Except from the traditional Austrian cuisine, you will find many Chinese and Italian restaurants. There are also a lot of small Turkish kebab-restaurants and at Burggasse you will find many Indian restaurants.

Here a list of some of my favourite restaurants:

Restaurant	Kitchen	Comment	Address
Beirut	Lebanese	Only Lebanese restaurant. Not very nice atmosphere and not cheap but very good food.	1., Franz-Josefs-Kai 31
Blunzenstricker	Austrian	Typical old style Viennese restaurant.	16., Ottakringer Straße 71
Café Benno	Austrian	Cheap meals and board games (students)	8., Alser Str. 67
Centimeter	Austrian	Cheap student restaurant with big dishes.	8., Lenaugasse 2 7., Stiftgasse 4 9., Liechtensteinstr. 42 7., Zieglergasse 42
Die Großmutter kocht	African	Very good african kitchen, not cheap.	7., Burggasse 12
Hafes	Persian	Persian kitchen and live music.	7., Kaiserstraße 98
Hatam	Persian	Good Persian dishes.	9., Währinger Str. 64
Indian Pavillon	Indian	One of the best Indian restaurants (at Naschmarkt)	4., Naschmarkt Stand 74-75
Inigo	Austrian / International	A social project of the Caritas. Nice atmosphere as well good and not expensive dishes!	1., Bäckerstrasse 18
Kent	Turkish	Good and cheap Turkish food. Large garden.	16., Brunnengasse 67
Palatschinkenpfandl	Austrian	Typical Austrian pancakes in all variations - try the Kaiserschmarren.	1., Köllnerhofgasse 4
Pizza Bizi	Italian	Pizza fast food, but very good and cheap.	1., Rotenturmstraße 4 7., Mariahilferstraße 22-24
Smutny	Austrian	Old Viennese restaurant and popular meeting point after the opera. Not cheap.	1., Elisabethstraße 8
Steirereck	Austrian	Styrian kitchen. One of the best Austrian Restaurants - you have to pay quiet a lot for the quality.
Tibet	Tibetian	Tibetian, Nepalese and Indian kitchen. Good fresh made food and a lot of cultural activities around Tibet.	9., Währinger Gürtel 102
Tunnel	Austrian/Arab	Student restaurant with live concerts in the basement.	8., Florianigasse 39
Wrenkh	vegetarian	Vegetarian gourmet kitchen, good but not cheap	1., Bauernmarkt 10
more information about eating and drinking in Vienna at: vienna-night.at

Schanigarten

Viennese like to sit outside when the weather is warm, so nearly every restaurant has it's Schanigarten. You are sitting on the sidewalk and can watch the people or the Schanigarten is quiet often in the court yard, far away from the noises of the streets.

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Links and Recommendations

Informative web pages about Vienna:

- Wien.at ... official site of Vienna.

- Vienna Night ... restaurants and nightlife in Vienna (german)

- Viennese tourist board

- Webcams (wien.at)

- Tourist Video of Vienna (download avi-film) [download in .mov formate]

- Columbus World Guide Vienna

- Explore Vienna.com

- News from Austria in English at Radio Austria International

Some of the main sights: