Category : amusement

Hippo taking a cold shower

2015/07/06 Video

Because of the high temperatures, many Viennese flee the city in the summer. The ones who remain, like to keep their pets happy.

Banana beer at the Filmfestival

2014/08/11 Article

They make the best schnitzels, but when it comes to their drinking habits, the Viennese have a peculiar taste. The Ottakringer banana beer doesn’t taste that bad though, as I discovered at the Filmfestival.

Each summer the Wiener Rathausplatz turns into an open-air cinema where you can watch concerts, films and opera’s on a huge screen and eat at more than twenty eateries. The atmosphere is just great and I visit the Rathausplatz at least once a week. I love the smells of traditional Austrian käsespätzle, Thai noodles and Indian lamb curry and everybody seems so happy while drinking their ‘Gespritzter Weißwein‘: white wine mixed with water. Although relatively cheap, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the taste of the favorite drink of many Viennese. The only good thing about it, is that you can drink it all evening without getting drunk.

Of course, no party without beer. Vienna even has its own brewery: the Ottakringer Brauerei. Also with their beers, the Viennese like to mix things up. The popular Radler beer, a mixture of beer and lemonade, tastes like Fanta lemon to me. But the Banane-Weißbier with a tiny bit banana nectar is not bad at all. Plus, you get to drink it with a straw.

Filmfestival Wiener Rathausplatz (1st district, Innere Stadt)

22-carat gold in Rathaus

2014/08/09 Gallery

Vienna has plenty beautiful historical buildings to visit, but if you have to pick one, definitely take the guided tour through the ‘Rathaus’. The ceilings of the City Hall are actually covered with 22-carat gold leaf rosettes.

It’s more impressive than the Staatsoper and even more beautiful than the Parlement. The ‘Rathaus’ in Vienna looks more like a castle than a City Hall, with its golden-leaf ceilings and the huge chandelier in the room where the members of the City Council convene. The chandelier has a diameter of five metres and 213 lights. Because the heat from its lamps transformed the Council Chamber into a sauna, it was decided in the 1960’s to pull up the chandelier by one metre.

Guided tour City Hall, Rathausplatz (1st district, Innere Stadt)

Back to the future in Bellaria Kino

2014/08/02 Gallery

If you like going to the movies, but hate it if everybody around you is loudly chewing popcorn or dropping their m&m’s, you should visit the Bellaria Kino. It’s more than going to the cinema, it’s like traveling back in time.

Founded in 1911, the Bellaria Kino is one of Vienna’s oldest movietheaters. Even most visitors looked like they were born that year and are probably regular costumers here. The movietheater is so old fashioned, it doesn’t even have a website. It does have a popcornmaker though, but when I was there, it wasn’t being used.

The theater itself is quite long and narrow and the screen is not too big, so you’d rather not sit in the back. But you have a perfect view from the first ten rows. Most people preferred to sit in the middle, so me and my fellow student Magda had an ideal spot just in front of the moviescreen.

A ticket costs € 7 euro. Cash only, of course.