Vienna

I'm a bit of a nerd about most things, particularly when it comes to things the arts and literature. I've been known to get my kicks by reading Nietzsche and on my ipod you'll find as much Debussy or Bach as the Beatles or White Stripes. That's part of what makes travelling in Europe so exhilarating for me; I love to breath in the atmosphere of the cities that shaped the artists and writers I love and feel the environment that nourished their cultural background the way they have formed mine. Thinking rationally, I realize that our society and way of life have changed so much since then that it's foolish to think that too much of that spirit still remains, and it's all too clear that most of the remnants of the Enlightenment that seem to be hanging around are carefully calculated by city-planning/advertising firms to appeal to people like me who will then proceed to start throwing my money around in a fit of nostalgic rapture, but you can never quite divorce yourself from the feeling. Of all the cities I visited, Vienna was probably the one that most stirred my submerged feelings of cultural connection.

The capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and an important city in the Holy Roman Empire before it, Wien (as the city is called in German; it's where we get Wiener Schnitzel and Wiener as a name for a hot dog) has always been full of upper-class Austrians who want to make themselves look good by patronizing the arts. Because of that, it's a talent magnet that was the home of such big names as Mozart, Beethoven, and Freud, and less well-known figures like Haydn, Mahler and Schoenberg. On top of that, the 18th and 19th century architectural grandeur has been maintained with almost overzealous accuracy, making for such incongruities as a four story H&M with wood-panelling and spiral staircases. The whole city oozes charm and sophistication from every pore.

On some level, it's clearly a facade, a conscious attempt to maintain an older importance while simultaneously cashing in on millions of people per year who either love culture or want to be the sort of people who do. The 'Mozart Ball' phenomenon is a case in point. In every souvenir shop in Vienna, and most of the large chains, you can find Mozartkugeln, tiny confectioneries of marzipan, nougat, and chocolate wrapped in cheap foil stamped with the face of Mr. Wolfgang Amadeus himself, and every third street corner has a store dedicated to the gaggingly sweet abominations and other paraphrenalia related to the composer whose attractiveness/face recognition ratio is the highest. (No one would want to eat a chocolate if they had to stare at the tortured mug Beethoven to do it)

At the same time, however, there are genuine cultural activities that don't throw themselves at you for the money, but wait to be found by those with a true love for them. While we never got a chance to go inside, the Freud Museum is supposed to be more than just a place to buy posters that say "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar", and really gives a picture of the history of psychoanalysis. It's also right down the street to 'Der Wiener Diwan', a pakistani restaurant with decor reminiscent of any coffee shop in Northampton where you eat as much as you want, and then pay as much as you think the meal was worth. The Museums of Art History and Natural History are built in a true empire style and give an absolute overload of incredible paintings and artifacts. Probably the coolest thing, though, was the Opera House, where for 3 or 4 Euros you can get a standing room ticket for any opera, if you are willing to stand in line for half an hour or 45 minutes. We saw Mozart's Le Nozze de Figaro, and while we were so high up that we only saw about half of the stage, and we could barely move for the whole three hours lest we lose our places, it was absolutely incredible to see some classical music so casually. You didn't have to be dressed up and fancy; you just had to have leg muscle endurance and get there early enough to have an official standing spot with an LCD screen that shows the libretto. Not necessarily for the faint of heart, and indeed, one of our friends left half way through. But if you have even the slightest interest in classical music, or if you just want to see what it's all about, you'll never have a better opportunity.