Austria | Vienna: Forever in the Eighties

I recently saw one for the first time here. Here in Vienna. A man shining a small flashlight into a trash can. It's an image you don't even see in Berlin anymore; bottle collectors in particular have become rarer there. But that could just be a subjective impression. They haven't been around in Vienna for long; so far they've been very rare. This is because Austria only introduced a deposit on reusable bottles on January 1st. The deposit symbol looks a little different than in Germany; nevertheless, deposit tourism has already taken place here and there – crates of beer, for example, bring in more in Austria than in Germany, seven euros instead of 3.10 euros.

Other phenomena of serious social inequalities are also gradually creeping into Vienna, a city generally considered clean: Begging is common in the subway. Street musicians have so far only found a place in train stations. No one has yet stinked up an entire S-Bahn carriage, as recently happened in Berlin, and no tents have been spotted in parks. But that's not far off. After all, it's not as if there is no poverty in Vienna; anyone who knows their way around knows what to expect, for example, on Margaretengürtel. And despite the creeping impoverishment, Vienna has retained its reputation as a social city. This is because rents here are still relatively low, thanks to municipal housing construction and the perpetual dominance of the rather social SPÖ.

There will be another election in Vienna on Sunday, and it won't change anything. Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ), whose portrait can be seen through the large windows of the Burgtheater entrance, creating a humorous, even spooky effect, will then be able to choose whether to govern with the Greens (exhausting) or the Neos (Liberals, not quite as out of touch as the FDP). Even the ÖVP, the conservatives who entered the hopeless election campaign with the somewhat paradoxical slogan "Vienna remains Vienna" (there's now a button called "Only with us," which doesn't improve things), could still offer themselves as junior partners.

The Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ), traditionally stronger in the cities, could move into City Hall; the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) could become the second-strongest force, but even it won't get far in this multicultural city with its pomp and circumstance, its snideness, and its penchant for the morbid. Yes, Vienna is full of clichés, and that's what makes the city so beautiful. Add to that the coffeehouses (Viennese coffee is surprisingly bad, but expensive), the literature, the psychoanalysis, the music, the Prater with its Ferris wheel ("The Third Man"!), and the city park with all its old benches: It's all true.

But what does everyday life look like in Vienna? In Vienna, for example, hipsters look a bit different than in Berlin; not so American, so they rarely wear tennis socks and baggy pants. Instead, they wear baseball caps, long hair sticking out, and strange mustaches on their faces. They look like characters stolen from "Kottan ermittelt." Very Austrian, somehow.

And culturally? As a tourist, you shouldn't let yourself be guided by "Before Sunrise," Richard Linklater's first Rohmer-for-GenX film from 1994. The scenes are strung together randomly, making it almost impossible to fit it all into one Viennese night. But that's beside the point: Linklater treated Vienna with respect when it was still a meaningless city in political no man's land. In one scene, you see the young Tex Rubinowitz standing on a bridge, advertising. The record store that Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke visit is still there: "Teuchtler – Alt & Neu" is full of Japanese tourists, but I recently picked up a few good records there too. The second Charlottes for 30 euros. You can almost always find something in this 80s treasure trove, which the city also somehow represents.

Vienna is still stuck in the 80s. Cars roar merrily through the city. Retail is thriving. The asphalt is blooming everywhere, even if it's been broken up here and there, creating a contemporary, tidy and stylish look, but not necessarily a natural one. In Rudolfsheim, a kind of soft and brittle Neukölln, there's an Italian restaurant that had to move out of its entire interior a few years ago and simply moved a few doors down – no renovation, everything as it was! Even the prices. You listen to "I'm Still Standing" by Elton John and eat a pizza salame for €8.50, while everything is dark, wood-paneled, and slightly tarnished. The pizzeria is called "Mafiosi." It feels like you've been transported back 40 years.

Of course, things are also very modern in this city. Although the Wi-Fi conditions are even worse than in Germany; at least when it comes to open networks. Cash payments are often more common than card payments. On the other hand, everyday life is full of electronics – small children watch YouTube; a caller on the bus coughs vehemently through the phone; the caller naturally has the speaker on. Public transport is cheap (one euro per day with an annual pass!) and usually works well, but there's no Wi-Fi here either. As my bus passes the "hub of the carpet world" and stops at the next station, inspectors board. At the bus stop, an elderly man studies the timetable with a reading lamp.

Is there flirting in Vienna? Not so much. People work. Women wear wedding rings to protect themselves from handsome men. Some have had their eyebrows lasered off to be tattooed. Others have their lips injected – much more than in Berlin. A law student calls her father, a lawyer, complaining that she had to pay extra for the train from the airport outside the city because she had only just managed to catch the train – and, exhausted, had sat in first class. But she only had a second-class ticket.

Another difference from Berlin: In Neukölln, single mothers in their 30s complain that they aren't allowed to vote at just any polling station, but only at the one they're designated for. Then they leave with their children, yelling, "You've lost me for this election!" In Vienna, such complaints are made by older women. They presumably vote for the FPÖ.

Do people still drink beer and make a scene in Vienna? Absolutely. But it's rather unspectacular. Are there still spectacular cities? Shouldn't Tbilisi be a thing? Or Chisinau? Bucharest? Vienna is still a Berlin of the future, we've said something similar before. It remains the more pleasant city: slower, cleaner, more orderly, more social, less stressful. Life is good in Vienna. Vienna is always worth a visit.