Wunderbar Wien!

My new favorite city is gorgeous. When I first saw Paris, I did not know that a city, the whole city, could be so aesthetically pleasing. I grew up acculturated with the typical American disdain for the French (Their tanks have three gears in reverse. The French salute is the Nazi salute but with two arms, yuck, yuck, yuck). But then I saw Paris and I understood why it was just not worth having any battles there. Paris is more beautiful than than my impressions of London, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, and definitely Washington, DC. Now that I have seen Vienna, I place it on a par with Paris. However, the Viennese appear to be much more comfortable with their city and their history than are the Parisians.

What makes the comparison fair is that there is a distinct Viennese style of architecture just as there is a distinct Parisian style (my father, the architect, could actually name them for me). The photos here make my point. In both cases, each successive building reflects that style, reinterprets it, builds on it, adds a new twist but does not fundamentally alter the concept. So on any street corner, you can look around and see variations on a theme. You walk down a block or two and the variations have changed but the theme is still there. Now this is difficult to maintain into the 21st century, I admit, but even there, the modern styles are designed not to clash with the old.

This reflecting the old is taken quite literally in the famous Hass-Haus



directly opposite St. Stephen cathedral.