

Vienna's Recipe for Living Well - anishkothari
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20150513-viennas-recipe-for-living-well

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marban
Sorry but that's too much fluff and mozartesque stereotypes. Culture, liveable
– yes, but not in a hurry or creative idling most of the time is just plain
outright made up.

(Austrian here)

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andreasklinger
As fellow austrian i agree (hi thomas btw)

It's romanticized in international media to the extend it becomes a disney
land version of itself.

Which is bad because it is a really good city to live in and should be seen as
such - without the fairy dust and glitter.

* It's quiet (american cities tend to be very loud for no reason)

* A high basic standard of living for everyone (salaries, rent, health, etc)

* Education for everyone combined w/ very good universities (top tech university with people of other social class or ethnic groups)

* Clean streets (no homeless, no trash)

I am happy that people recognize the city as a pearl as it is - but other
cities (esp in europe) offer the similar qualities and we should rather learn
from the patterns that work than to simply romanticize all of it.

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umutisik
I've lived in Vienna for three years and the 'recipe' for the quality of life
there is much more tangible than this article suggests. It's about the
reasonable working hours (thanks to labor laws), low levels of crime (thanks
to the social safety net), reasonable rent (thanks to public housing and
renter-friendly laws), levels of education, well-maintained public parks and
the excellent public transportation system. One can suggest that these things
exist everywhere in Europe but the truth is that most of these things are done
better in Vienna than in other European cities.

The Austrians are very proud of their culture and rightly so, they are also
smart about how to build the system that can support this good lifestyle.

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fmsf
A BBC story not accessible from London! I thought UK taxes + TV license where
paying BBC. Is there a mirror for this?

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davidgerard
bbc.com is really BBC Worldwide, which is functionally a separate commercial
organisation with really good access to BBC material.

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fauigerzigerk
And how is that a justification for blocking it in the UK?

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davidgerard
It's not particularly, it was an answer to the question "I thought UK taxes +
TV license where paying BBC."

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tiemand
Can't access the page from the UK

"We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our
international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run
commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC, the
profits made from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new
BBC programmes. "

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SovietDissident
Been to Vienna once; seemed nice. Love to watch the New Years philharmonic
concert every year:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIPL5gxjKO4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIPL5gxjKO4)

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ConnorG
Reminds me of the story of the Italian village Roseto Valfortore from Malcom
Gladwell's book The Outliers

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dantheman
Vienna is nice for a visit, I wouldn't recommend living there.

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insulanian
Why?

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embwbam
I can't speak for the GP, but I lived there for a month with my wife and 3
kids. During that trip we spent extended time in Salzburg, Munich, and Vienna,
and Vienna was my least favorite.

It's hard to put my finger on why I liked it less. The people weren't as
friendly, ethnic diversity increases as you move further away from the city
center that I think might contribute to the lack of community feeling.
(Language barriers)

There's a lot of "culture", but a lot of it feels very touristy and classical,
and not organic or natural to me. I don't know, the city felt a little fake
and dreary to me.

It's also not as naturally beautiful as the other two (but to be fair it's
hard to compete with Munich and Salzburg).

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asmdb
Munich is amazing. They have a beer garden in the middle of a beautiful
park... what more could you want?

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anilmujagic
> Munich is amazing.

Indeed.

