Last week in Vienna

It only took me one weekend in Prague to forget how to do tipping in Vienna, and it took me most of the week to remember to answer the server with a new total.

At a Heurigen with classmates

In other news, I went out several times with classmates and/or our German teacher last week. As a result, I got to see an entirely different side of Vienna. Up until going out to her favorite bar with my German teacher, Vienna had seemed to me a subdued city with unfriendly servers and people who don't smile much or interact with random people they don't know. But at Jetzt (the bar), the servers and other patrons both were friendly and willing to chat. 

The bar itself reminded me a bit of my favorite bar in Portland, The Florida Room, in terms of lighting and quirky décor. A beat-up billiard table in the back. Plenty of regular clientele. The main difference was that I don't think there was a single person in Jetzt above the age of 40, whereas you can find people of all ages at The Flo' Ro'...but it could've just been the fact that it was a Wednesday night.

Heurigan feast!

Again on Friday we went out to a place called Coco on the Gürtel, and again the people were friendly. And willing to dance! I had a fantastic time and didn't get home til 6am. Maybe the friendly vs. stoic thing is a product of generation/age? Or perhaps it just has to do with alcohol intake. If I'd stayed longer, I would've tested it by trying to engage with young people during the day in not-bar places and by trying to engage with people over the age of 40 in bars. That would've been an interesting experiment.

New favorite Viennese bar

At breakfast on Friday my friend Georg said that as he's gone through different phases in his life and taken up different interests, he's discovered completely new sides to Vienna. It makes sense and I imagine most big cities are like that. I'm said that I only discovered my scene in Vienna during the last week, but I'm super glad to have been exposed to it at all. It gives me a reason to return in addition to the friendships I made while there.

I also learned from Veronika, my Airbnb hostess, that the Gürtel is best known for being the place to pick up prostitutes. I don't recall seeing any prostitutes during our night out there, but then again I wasn't looking for them and I may have been a little drunk and therefore not at my most observant. Veronika said that it's also possible that the prostitutes were working different streets that night, since they get moved around every so often so as not to have a permanent impact on other businesses.

Museum district in Vienna

This led to a conversation about prostitution in Vienna, which (it turns out) is legal. Legal prostitutes register, pay taxes and earn pensions. They're required to get tested for STDs every month, and there are retraining programs for those who want to get out of the business and do something else.

Of course there are illegal prostitutes as well, and the common knowledge is that they're often Asian or Russian girls who were tricked into prostitution by people promising them modeling jobs in Vienna. Illegal prostitutes are cheaper than legal ones, and it's more dangerous to be an illegal prostitute...I guess in terms of what the clientele might want/expect? I'm actually not sure on this point.