Everybody loves Christmas (Markets)

Christmas in Vienna has become a brand in city tourism. People flock to the Austrian capital from literally everywhere to get into Christmas spirit central which apparently is not located near the North Pole but rather smack in the middle of Europe.

And where do you best experience that yuletide feeling? That question has everyone pointing to Christmas markets. And there are loads of them in Vienna. A veritable industry has sprung up around these folksy collections of rustic huts. But what is the attraction of these markets? CzechAut has sent out its staff to investigate!

Our first stop was the Christmas Market on Maria-Theresien-Platz which is situated near  Museumsquartier.

photos: Melania Hudakova

You can find plenty of stands here which offer traditional Christmas food and drinks like hot punch with or without alcohol, pretzels and sweets like hot chocolate with cream. The visitors had smiles on their faces and they were going from one stand to another. Except from food stalls, there were also some which were selling hand made goods such as Christmas decorations and similar items. We even bumped into a booth selling traditional Czech cake-on-a-stick. 

CzechAut: So where are you from?

Trdelnik people: Our stand, where we offer the traditional czech ,,Trdelnik´´ is from Brno.

CzechAut: How long have you been selling here?

Trdelnik people: It´s our first year here.

CzechAut: How do you like this Vienna´s Christmas market? What are your impressions?

Trdelnik people: It goes… But we expect more people coming in here after the first advent.

We found the atmosphere really amazing and we got into the Christmas mood very quickly.

Next stop: The highlight of all Vienna Christmas markets is the one on Rathaus square, at least judging from the masses of visitors.  Every year it hosts more than 3 Millions of tourists from all around the world. Visitors don’t have to worry about not finding anything to buy because there are more than 150 booths, which offer lots of good stuff such as food, hot drinks and small cute Christmas gifts. You can also find totally unnecessary things like fake perfumes, too. If you come over you have to try the typical hot Christmas punch and the sweet doughnuts ­(„Krapfen“)  We asked a tourist from California what they liked best. 

Tourist: “There’s like a lot of things to see, such as different types of booths and also the area. Is that a church?”

CzechAut: “Well, actually it’s a city hall.”

Tourist: “Yea, well, like the structure is really nice and that really tall Christmas tree.“ 

One of the most traditional Christmas markets in terms of the souvenirs and things they are selling, is the "Altwiener Christkindlmarkt" which has been on the Freyung since 1989. But the Freyung was already a market place many years before that. This Christmas market also has a 46 meter long picture of Bethlehem with Jesus and Mary in the middle. The sellers of this market run little shops and workshops with handmade products like kitchen utensils made out olive wood as well as signs and toys from an original wood carver.

Within all those shops was also a little stage for charity projects used for Christmas plays and charities  and for those who might get thirsty or even hungry there is a stall with an old Czech sweet called "Livance" which is known to be the grandmother of pancakes as well as having a place to buy many different sorts of punch, a mostly alcoholic Christmas drink. 

Our staff met a couple from Houston, Texas, and asked them about their thoughts, why people keep visiting the Austrian Christmas markets and whether they have something like this in Houston?

"-...yeah, but it’s just a four days, it’s called Nutcracker market, but it’s nothing like this, it’s not outdoor."

she told us due to her visit and her mothers visit a year ago. They also agreed that being on a Christmas market is a nice experience."Well, I think it sort of depends, where are you from, I mean, Houston is really hot, REALLY HOT, so we don’t get to experience a weather like this, so it’s kinda nice to come here." 

So now we know why tourists´enjoy those markets but what about the natives? The answer is: punch (and mulled wine). For Viennese it´s that time of the year when you meet your friends and get loaded on sweet, hot alcohol and regret it the next day. 

Elections: Regular and Irregular

Vienna Elections 2015: Results

Here are the results of the Vienna Elections that took place on Sunday, October 11


Elections to the Vienna City Council:

                                                                                      %                             Number of seats (100 total)
Social Democrats (SPÖ)                                           39,5 %                                           44

Freedom Party (FPÖ)                                                30,9 %                                           35

Greens (Grünen)                                                      11,16 %                                             9

Christ Democratic Austrian People`s Party(ÖVP)      9,5 %                                   7

NEOS                                                                           6,2 %                                              5



Chart:

                                                               
           http://www.profil.at/oesterreich/wien-wahl-2015-live-ticker-ergebnis-5908900

Pass Egal Wahl 2015

In addition to the results of Vienna’s election we also summarized the results of Vienna’s Pass Egal Wahl, about which we already wrote an article in 2013 and mentioned it last week. 1223 people went to this year´s Pass Egal Wahl to cast their vote even though they are not allowed to vote on a regular basis in Vienna, Most of these people from 75 different countries have been living in Vienna for quite some time but don´t have the Austrian citizenship.

This is the longest queue that has been seen on the Friedrich-Schmidt-Platz in a long time. Because of the amount of people who wanted to vote they even had to close a half hour later.

These are the results of this years Pass Egal Wahl. Interesting is the slightly different coloured chart for the results compared to the regular city council elections. 

These elections for Vienna city council will repeat in another five years.

If you were living in an other country and couldn't vote there would you go to a similar project like the Pass Egal Wahl? Are you satisfied with the results of this years elections? Why so?

#Refugees

Current situation of refugees in Europe

In the last months Europe has experienced an mass arrival of refugees from the Middle East. After seeing pictures of a child corpse washed up on the beach after an unsuccessful attempt to get to Europe and also after news about a truck with 71 dead bodies found by the side of an Austrian motorway, the German chancellor Merkel stated, that Germany would accept as many refugees as possible. This statement probably caused, that a large majority of the refugees are trying to find their new home in Germany. There have been almost 700.000 refugees so far this year and the amount will be rising. Germany closed the borders, but after a few days, the border closure was changed to temporary border controls with so called ‘refugees trains’ coming to Munich from Vienna. 2000-8000 refugees are coming to Vienna every day. Most of them stay inside Vienna's Main Station or West Station, where approx. 200 volunteers care for them.

Refugee routes to Europe

Thousands of refugees are risking their lives while coming to Europe even if the route is very dangerous. Refugees from Syria need to go through several countries to reach their final destination. Most of the time it is Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. They choose the safest way which starts in Turkey and continues in Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Austria.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Here is a simple abstract of refugees in other countries:

Refugees in Lebanon

The number of registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon is around 1, 1 million.

Refugees in Turkey

Turkey is the largest host of refugees in the world. There are over 2 million refugees in the country.

Refugees in Jordan

There are over 628 000 Syrian refugees, 2 million Palestinian refugees and over 47 554 Iraqi refugees in Jordan.

Refugees in the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is mainly a transit country for refugees.  Within the framework of EU it belongs to countries where the number of refugees is minimal. So far 679 foreigners have applied for international protection this year.  (22.6.2015)

Refugees in care

Men           649

Women      94

Children     176      

TOTAL        919

The most frequent nationality of clients in refugee centers are from:

Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Bangladesh. (20.9.2015)

 

Refugees in Austria

Today are in Austria about 44.000 refugees in care. The most refugees come from Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. The most common reasons why people are fleeing from their country are:

•War conflicts

•Direct pressure

•Afraid of ISIS

 Refugees in Slovakia

Source: dennikn.sk

This statistic shows us, how many Refugees want to come to the Slovakia, but also, how many of them will get or not get asylum and also the rest of them, who are still waiting for an answer. Even though many people say, that refugees don’t really want to come to Slovakia, they actually do. This statistic shows us that about 12 000 refugees applied for asylum, but only few of them really get it. The rest, about 10 000 have to wait for a decision about their asylum requests, which will maybe never come. Is this this one of the reasons, why they don’t want to live in Slovakia?

As you can see, the apportioning of refugees through the countries doesn’t seem so fair. The states Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan have taken in about 2 million refugees and Czech Republic only about 700  but we have to look at the economy, too.  States like Turkey have a far better economy and when you look at the size of this state and compare it with the size  of the Czech Republic, its size is just like a tiny little piece of Turkey. On the other hand, it’s true that the Czech Republic can take in more refugees than it has done. 

#AustrianProblems

I guess you've all heard someone mutter about ridiculous "First World Problems". Now there is a superlative: "Austrian Problems". In Vienna we have a saying "I'm unhappy - I can´t complain". We b*tch on and on about the pedestrianizing of a high street until some politicians actually decide to waste everyone's time and tax money and hold a referendum. Now that the Mahü is partly finished everybody loves it. Where are the protestors now? Shopping right along with the rest of us!

If you want to shake your heads a little more about our First World Problems like this excellent collection of pseudo-grievances and aggravations.

LET'S CEE FESTIVAL

  Due to the fact, that the only cultural experience I had in the past couple of weeks, was the LET'S CEE FESTIVAL in Vienna, I decided to write about it.

At the beginning of the post I should explain, what this festival actually was. The Let's Cee consists of 91 short films from the Central- and East Europe. These films are shown in their original language with German or English subtitles. Regrettably we haven't seen all of them, but the three that we have were really good indeed.

Why do I actually write about it on the Czech-out blog? I am not sure, whether it was only on the day, when we attended the cinema, but the lineup of the films has begun with a conversation with three immigrants in Austria. At the moment, of their speech, it was the first time I have thought about my position in this society. Altough the life stories of these speakers were bit different that mine, I have found a couple of connections between them. They were speaking about, how they came to Vienna and what was the hardest time for them. The most notable idea that was stacked my mind was: “If you want to be considered as equal by the society, you have to be able to at least speak their language fluently.” If you think about it and connect the idea with the daily life, you can see it's really true. Probably some of you are immigrants and have fought against prejudice as well. I am well alike one of them. However I personally disapprove of the idea of this motto, it doesn´t make your feelings any better. I'm in the foreign country the second year and I can personally say, what it is about. I should also note that my language skills are not up to native speaker's proficiency, however I try always to improve them all the time. On the other hand, I want to say, that the people in Austria, Vienna especially are thoughtful and considering. It's just better, when you don't have to consider yourself as inferior.

I am aware, I have had to write about the festival in general, but at this point this idea became the one for me that I will remember for the rest of my life. Mostly due to the fact that it resembles my life as well as many of yours.

So true we had to share..

If you ever lived abroad for a longer time you might know this feeling when you get out of your expat bubble and start behaving like the locals. This blogger shows us What it feels to really have arrived in Vienna and we could not agree more!

Finally! Kofola in Vienna!

Darling readers!

A while back we did a desperate search for our favourite cola drink - Kofola. Alas, it was nowhere to be found in the VIE. The last deli selling it had taken it out of stock months before, so it was back to bothering your friends and family in SK and CZ to bring our beloved elixir by the bottle.

But there has come the day when we can all rejoice and drink our caffeine soda while sitting down in a really nice place too. Vit Dvorak, dentist and chef, has opened his lovely coffee bar called GARAGE 01 in a former garage (what else?) underneath the light rail tracks on Radetzkyplatz in the heart of the 3rd district.

He and his staff serve up a fusion of Czech and South American food. 
You heard right: Czechozuelan! And that is also the name of his signature drink: Kofola and rum!

image: Garage 01

https://www.facebook.com/garage01

http://www.garage01.com/garage01/

The results of our survey

So... about 5 weeks ago we started a survey regarding Schwedenplatz.
And even though we consider all of the statements to be equally correct, there was one statement that our readers clearly considered to be the most correct. More than 60% of our readers think that "It´s just a stinky, crowded spot ", while one quarter of our readers believe that "In fact, there are some interesting shops/restaurants".
Only about 10% answered that it was "just a place to change trains or trams".

Here´s a nice diagram:

Thanks to everyone who took part!





How well do you know your city? Vienna vs. Bratislava, Part 4



Vienna, Bratislava

As you know our blog is based on comparing living in Austria, Slovakia and Czech. The other day we went to Bratislava to look for places that could be easily mistaken for Viennese – and trust me, though the two cities have a completely different vibe and atmosphere, we did find some that even a local could hardly tell apart from the Viennese ones.  

To test how much you know your city we made a little quiz about it. Every week we will give you two pictures to compare.

The winner gets a return ticket to BA!

Click HERE for the quiz!

Get lost in the viennese bermuda triangle

Schwedenplatz is a place in the centre of Vienna, where you find a lot of clubs and bars. The other name of the place is “Bermuda Triangle”. It’s right next to U4 Schwedenplatz – you can’t miss it! Every weekend it’s full of young people, so if you’re in doubt and don’t know where to go, you can always try the Bermuda Triangle. There’s loads of small and even smaller clubs, so here are some tips where we recommend to go and what you can find there!

5 tips for clubbing under 18 in Vienna!

So this time we decided to write more about nightlife in Vienna. Vienna is not the metropolis for parties, but there are certain positive aspects of partying in Austria that you might enjoy.
For example, it´s likely that you are not going to be asked for your ID card!
If you follow these easy steps, you are going to be able to enter a Viennese clubbing for sure, even if you´re underage! 

Go with a big crowd

This is probably the most important point of all!
When you go with a big crowd, the security guys will most likely only check the first three or four people!
After that they´ll realize that a crowd of 15 people means they´ll earn lots of money :P.
Also, ask some people where they go to school/university  and try to keep in mind the easiest name for if a security guy asks you (It doesn´t happen often, but it does occur every now and then).

Don´t be nervous

I think I don´t need to explain this one much. Just don´t look afraid or shy. There are cases where it´s not  enough to “go with the crowd”. This point shouldn´t be a problem if you follow the two next points, though!

Make up a new identity

This you will obviously need for if someone asks you how old you are.
You might think this question is easily answered, but in a stress situation you will freak out, really!
Therefore you need to think about it before you go to the club and really believe you are over eighteen.
It´s going to be too late when a security guy asks you.  You won´t have enough time to spontaneously say what year you were born.
Remember that you might come across more convincingly if you say you are 19.

Dress  up sexy and intimidatingly

If you are a girl and afraid that you look too infantine, you´ll probably want to find someone who´s skilled at applying make-up to make you look more adult. There are also some cool web sites with tutorials about this.
Next, find your favourite push-up  bra  and  get some sexy clothes.
But please be careful not to look like a slut ;).
If you are male, just  try to look like a swag  dude and give your best!

Only in case you´ll need it…

This is something I would only do in special cases and only if you really want to go to that one clubbing so badly that you are willing to take a risk.
It´s not like I´ve ever done that, but it did work for many people I know ;p
Scan your pass port and edit your birth date with Photoshop.
When you enter the club and they ask you to prove you are 18, pretend you are a tourist from Germany and say that therefore you´ve only got a copy of your pass port.
But as I said, don´t do this on a regular basis. Because if you do, you will likely be down on your luck some day!

Homeless in Austria - Part I.

Today we’d like to introduce you our new project:  homeless foreigners in Vienna.

In Vienna there are 5000 homeless people – and those are just the registered ones. Recently, they moved 25 homeless people from Stadtpark. There is a problem with an emergency shelter for homeless people from other EU countries because there is place only for 40 people, and there are around 46 people. A recent survey of homeless people in Hamburg shows that the proportion of foreigners has risen since 2002 from 17 to 27 (of Vienna there are no exact figures).

We made a little interview with a guy named Maglen. Maglen came here all the way from Norway just to find disappointment here. Now he’s looking for a way back home.

Maglen , 25, from Norway

How long have you been on the street?

Just a couple of days.

Could you tell us, what happened?

It´s a long story.

Could you tell us?

I really want to keep it myself, just one thing: I trusted the wrong people.

The results of Mahü

We have an update on the discussion about the Mahü issue!
There was a poll about whether the Mariahilferstraße should remain a pedestrian zone or not. The result is that 53 percent voted yes to the remodeling in a poll among residents. This means that the pedestrian zone will be built and finished by 2015. By 2015 the mahü shall be transformed into a pedestrian zone which will be 1.6 kilometers long. Nearly 50,000 residents of Mariahilf and Neubau were asked, more than 50 percent of the residents actually took part.

Working hard in the service industry in Vienna - Part I.

Maybe you noticed our blogpost about ‘Working hard in the service industry in Vienna’ in which we asked you to tell us about your experience with working in Austria as a foreigner. Today, we bring you the first interview!

On 24^th February 2014, we interviewed Petra Nyíriová,  a 21 year old, former student at Komensky from Slovakia. She currently studies English at the university in Vienna and used to work in Sport Experts but quit the job.

Which reasons did you have for moving to Austria?

-          I always wanted to move out from Slovakia because I just don´t like the economics and the whole package there. My mum has been working here for 5 years. She told me she found a school for me in Vienna, the Komensky school. So I thought „Yeah, why not?“ and that was it.

Was it hard to learn the new language?

-          It was, because, no offence to anyone, I didn´t really learn anything in school because  I had the opportunity to speak in my native language, which was Slovak.  So I wasn´t really forced to speak German. I didn´t have to, I just learned something about grammar, maybe. But then in these last 7 months in work I think I really found myself in this language (Does that sentence make sense?).
I learned the basic stuff about communication. In school it was hard because  you really have to speak properly, grammatically correctly and you have to be careful because you get marks.
In work you just talk, talk, talk to everyone to get along with them. 

Redesigning Mariahilfer Straße

In the last two years, Vienna  has had a much discussed topic. It  is the redesign of one of the most famous streets in Vienna - Mariahilferstraße. It´s a street that connects the 1st and the 14th district. Mariahilferstraße is above all known for its many shops. It means that every day thousands of people go along this street. This is actually one of the reasons, why this street has changed so much over the years.

The main issue is in fact the traffic there. Because in such a long street, which is used by so many people, cars should not drive. It causes many problems, from pollution to accidents. That´s unfortunately the problem which is discussed. The people have separated themselves into two camps. One side is against the traffic there that is why they want to remodel the street into a pedestrian zone. The other side is against any changes at all. One of the main reasons why they are against it is that they are using the bus line, which runs along the Mariahilferstraße.

The opinions about our “Mahü” are varied, one old men who works as a tobacconist, is very skeptical. Since 16th August 2013 he has had 30 percent less revenue. Because the drivers, who bought their cigarettes and their newspaper in his tobacco shop can no longer be his customers. But that’s just because the street isn’t rebuilt yet. However, fact is that it won’t work until they rebuilt the street, so that people can relax there and feel comfortable. Like it is on Broadway, New York. There the revenue increased by about 70 percent.

Starting February 17th, people will be asked for their opinions. It´s going to be a referendum that will be similar to an election: the side with more votes wins.

Akademikerball Riots

The most recent shocking event that happened in Vienna were the protest marches against the so called “Akademikerball”. The FPÖ, the Austrian right wing party (or "the Austrian Freedom Party") organising the event, which is an event comparable with the UK independence party, just to give you an idea of what it is.
It took place in the famous Hofburg on January 24th.
This year, one of the protest marches was unusually violent and destructive. There were approximately 4 or 5 marches in the inner districts of Vienna with 6000 demonstrators in total. Naturally, most of them were on the far left. Most of the marches proceeded peacefully, except the one protest on Stephansplatz, which caused that big turmoil. Among the demonstrators of this march there was a group called “Der schwarze Block” consisting of 200 people. The police knew beforehand that they were going to wear masks and therefor imposed a prohibition of wearing masks (including scarfs!), which made the inhabitants of the first district quite angry. We later found out that the police had warned us with good reason! - There were apparently busses which brought the masked hooligans from Germany and the result was this:
                                

Some sites that really capture that Vienna vibe

I love animated gifs, specially when they are spot on like the ones on:

When you really live in Wien on tumblr

It´s kinda like "How to act if you don´t wanna be spotted as a tourist".


The opposite of the previous link is a franchise of the ever so popular 1000 things Not to do in.. pages.
SO true! You are invited to add to the list and the makers of the group will turn your thoughts into animated GIFs -n.i.c.e.!

1000things NOT to do in vienna

Time travel works! Check out:
Vintage Vienna

It´s amazing to see how this city has changed. (and how grey it used to be back in the days). I love finding
those spots in the present time. Back then you have to imagine them with cars all over and the air smelling of coal and exhaust fumes. I also love the little details like that you obviously could smoke everywhere or how they always dressed up kids like little grown-ups.


Excellent street photographers in Vienna are all in..

The Vienna Pool on flickr




We'll soon have more on cycling in the city but for now: here is one group of gentlemen and ladies that rides in style, très chic!

TweedRideVienna

The pre- Xmas hysteria

source:
theenglishcornersevilla.blogspot.co.at/

We didn’t even have time to pack away our swimwear, summer dresses and flip-flops, and winter has already arrived. Or at least the Media and shopkeepers think so. 
The Christmas craziness starts in November every year. It always starts very slowly. - A chocolate Santa here and a cinnamon scented candle there - and then suddenly Christmas is all over the place. 

Consumerism

In Vienna, Christmas is very commercialized.
Right now, media and industry are starting to annoy us with commercials which say that the Christmas season has started and even food shops have started selling lametta and baubles!

Is it me or is it really a little bit too much? Sometimes I get the feeling that the famous ‘Christmas spirit’ is more about us buying and spending money than about love, family and friends.

All the shopping malls have already rolled out the Christmas decoration.
They want people to be stressed, want them to start shopping already and look for presents.
It makes people spend more money, and spending money makes the mall earn more money. This is manipulation of people!

For example, in July I was in the „Interspar“ (a big grocery store in Austria). I just wanted to buy some food when I came to the candy section. I was shocked to see that they already sold gingerbread with Christmas motives. I just tried to ignore it but I had summer holidays and really couldn’t understand why it is necessary to sell them in July!
Whatever, two or three months later I was in a furniture store named „XXXLutz“, we just wanted to look around. As we entered, I suddenly saw a huge Christmas tree and Christmas decoration all around it… I just thought “What the F…??“
I could not believe my eyes! Do oversized Christmas trees need to be part of the decoration in mid-October?
I can’t imagine someone who already buys porcelain snowmen on silver plates in early October…  Are you being serious?? It is October! Who needs this?

Now Christmas is not the same as it once was. It´s not only about spending time with family and friends. It’s more about stress. And starting the Christmas stress at the begging of November? Seriously? Do they want to screw the holidays?

Where is all the magic of Christmas? It’s gone. Why? Because all people want is to earn as much money as possible. That’s sick!

As you can see, we all agreed on Christmas being annoying. But hey, don’t let us ruin your good mood. :)
After all, Christmas is about love, even if it sometimes gets cheesy and corny.

What do you think about this hectic Christmas madness?

Autumn in Vienna- The fashion, Sturm and Maroni!

Today we want to show you some things which are typical for the viennese autumn!

In autumn the Viennese take to the hills (where the wine grows) to taste the freshly fermented grape juice called Sturm “storm” - we know it as Burčák. And the effects are quite stormy – it gives you wind on top of a killer headache the next day.

"Sturm white+ red have arrived!"

Another phenomenon you will see very often are the Maroni.- As soon as the ice cream parlors close and their owners go back to Italy, the Maroni booths appear!

The Maroni stands are on the sidewalks, where not only Maroni (eatable chestnuts) are sold, but also roast potatoes and wedges. The “Maronis” are very tasty and almost everybody likes, eats and buys them.

We also went out to the streets of Vienna to find out what the city wears this year. 

I think it looks quite simple and not overdone...

Scarfs, sweaters, cardigans, jumpers, hats, tights, gloves, and boots – the fall fashion is so colourful!