The first time I visited Vienna, in 1992, I was enjoying a stroll through the charming center city and then came across this: It’s a flak tower, a remnant World War II, and it is huge and ugly and not what you expect to find in a city that is known for its elegant Ringstrasse … More Vergangenheitsbewältingung, Vienna style
I live in Vienna’s Second District, also known as Leopoldstadt, which has long been the center of Viennese Jewish life. By the 1880s the area had several prominent synagogues and Jewish day schools. As the population of Vienna, then enjoying prominence as the center of the large Austro-Hungarian Empire, grew, Jews from around the empire … More Remembering lost neighbors
What is the most striking and unique characteristic of Vienna? It’s not the coffee or the strudel or the Danube. It is the extensive, mostly well maintained, often architecturally significant stock of public housing. You find these complexes all over the city, and you can’t miss them, because they have large signs, usually with red … More Where decent housing is a right
As a veteran (survivor?) of academic building dinosaurs like Rutgers-Newark’s Hill Hall and USF’s SOC building, I certainly know that excellent scholarship and teaching can take place in some pretty unprepossessing environments. But this semester I am working from a state-of-the-art campus and it is awfully nice! As many know, I am spending the … More What a campus!
Bicycles and bike riders are all over this city. There are protected bike lanes on many major streets, and on narrower streets there may be designated lanes and clearly marked “sharrows” to indicate that bikes and cars will share the road. Because bicycles are so common here, car drivers are in general more alert to … More Getting around Vienna, Part II
While I have a backlog of posts on Vienna I am trying to finish (stay tuned for bike riding! Social housing! Modern architecture!), today I am posting on an overnight trip I took to a city called Rust, located on the Neusiedlersee in Eastern Austria, right at the Hungarian border. This post will be part … More On storks, a full-bodied red, and tourism
Is it possible to visit Barcelona and not want to stay forever? My dear friend and collaborator, Bob Kerstein and I, have spoken and written about the dilemma of those special cities whose combination of climate, topography and culture make them great magnets for tourism and second home locations. On the one hand tourism can … More Welcome to Barcelona! Now Go Home
Because of a stalled train ahead, my subway train couldn’t get to its final station yesterday. This made an impression on me not because I was badly inconvenienced — it resulted in my having a 10 instead of a 3 minute walk to my destination. It made an impression on me because in my now … More Getting around Vienna, Part I
I am now an officially registered Wienerin (resident of Vienna). Austria, like Germany, has a requirement that everyone who lives in the country must register with the local authorities. The registration process is not too onerous – I brought a form signed by my landlady; my passport with a valid visa. I also brought proof … More Registering as Jew in Vienna
Today Vienna Views takes a little detour. I recently spent the better part of a week in Israel. I spent a few days in Tel Aviv, whose central areas are now filled with upscale shops and restaurants, and seemingly 1 excellent coffee shop for about every 10 residents. The days when coffee in Israel simply … More Growing idealism in the desert
Vienna Views 