To be truly integrated in Vienna there are certain terms no dictionary or Deutschkurs will properly explain.
But you’re no stranger, so here’s this month’s cheat sheet
GSPUSI
Colloquial Viennese for a casual, informal liaison; sometimes used to refer to the person you’re having said liaison with. Orig. Italian, from sposa/sposo (bride/groom). Far less regimented than a mistress or kept man but...
A Persian New Yorker transplants Brooklyn grub to Kirchengasse
At Treubleiben, one of the more recent additions to the Kirchengasse gastro-strip, Kaveh Tabatabaie has recently revamped the menu, doing what so many expats have done before him: bringing his culture’s cuisine to his new home.
Comfort food is the name of the game, and it fits the establishment: Treubleiben means stay...
They go unnoticed by the mainstream and are treasured by a chosen few. We selected a sample of Vienna’s boutique landscape to get you through June.
Runway
On the corner of Neustiftgasse, a street known more for rush-hour traffic, less for boutiques, you’ll find a sleek concept store welcoming lovers of Austrian and international design. If you are looking for an...
The Wachau region is just a stone’s throw from Vienna and its secrets and treasures can be all yours for an afternoon.
The dream of slowing down – of escaping the city to spend endless afternoons in the countryside – has always seemed like something for old people. But when I got the opportunity to visit the Wachau Valley, I...
A plethora of genres and styles define this venerable festival.
Attracting household names and promising newcomers from contemporary jazz as well as ambassadors of soul, pop and rock, the Jazz Fest Wien is a fixture in the city’s cultural calendar, thanks in part to spectacular locations like the Staatsoper and City Hall. A prestigious stop on the international summer circuit...
The LGBT scene has experienced a surge of acceptance in Austria, but it took a while to get here and equality is not yet a reality.
Tall and tan and young and handsome, the boys crowding the two floors of the Why Not club disco, hidden away in Vienna’s Tiefer Graben, eagerly await the Eurovision fanfare. The atmosphere is joyous and...
As the Beatles said, when cynicism and sarcasm don’t get the better of us, that warm, gooey emotion – Love with a capital L – can really be all we need.
The feeling is so personal, like a fingerprint, it carries bits of the emotional DNA of each of the people involved. Why we love whom we love is often...
No Mission is Impossible
A damsel in yellow silk pressed tightly against his body, special agent Ethan Hunt (alias Tom Cruise) is roping down from the roof of the Vienna Staatsoper. It’s a spectacular scene crowning the 2015 blockbuster Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, made possible by the behind-the-scenes efforts of the Vienna Film Commission. Celebrating 8 years of supporting filmmakers...
When Sebastian Kurz was asked to be State Secretary for Integration in 2011, he was 24 years old.
It was a new position, and then-ÖVP party chairman Michael Spindelegger knew he was taking a chance. So did Kurz. “I was downright shocked,” he told journalist Edda Graf in a recent interview. He still hadn’t completed his law degree. “I...
