Across the Pond

It is right in the city, mixes the new and the old, and in the summer it is always crowded: Vienna's MuseumsQuartier, a large cultural center with museums, exhibitions, and lots of events around film, dance, theater, architecture. The complex includes renovated baroque buildings, modern constructions, and much empty space for in between. It was opened in 2001 and quickly became one of the meeting points in Vienna. Many come here to educate themselves but most people just want to hang out, drink coffee, eat dinner. MuseumsQuartier is an urban spot, lively, international, young, inclusive.Vienna at its best.

First, some facts: according to a WHO newsletter 47 percent of all Austrian men and 41 percent of all Austrian women smoke; the number for women is way higher than the average for the European region (21 percent). According to an OECD report 27 percent of all Austrian 15-year-olds smoke (one third more than the OECD average). Second, policy and politics: as of today Austria has a new tobacco law. Restaurants must be smoke free - unless they are smaller than 50 square meters - and unless they have a separate room for smokers - and unless they are under some landmark protection and unless... The new law is full of exceptions (Austrians always make exceptions) and one of the most smoker friendly tobacco laws in the EU. Restaurant owners lobbied against all changes, claiming that prohibitive laws would put them out of business, and the coalition government was too weak to push sensible legislation, meaning an all out ban on smoking in all restaurants, cafés, bars... ...

Other places have clubs or pubs, trattorias, bars, bistros; Vienna has coffee houses. The rules are simple: find a seat, order a cup of coffee, grab a newspaper, then another one, talk to a friend, spend the day - without placing another order. The server will let you be. He might replace the glass of water that comes with the coffee with a fresh one every once in a while, but he will not bug you. When you decide to leave and ask for the check he might take his time, showing you that he couldn't care less. It's a game, it takes practice. Vienna's coffee houses are the L.A. antithesis: they are slow and they have no regard for those who seek to produce themselves. Pictures: seating area and newspaper rack at Café Zentral

Smells of coffee and cigarettes, the background hum of conversations and discussions, cups clanking on metal trays, stacks of newspapers on a side table, servers in black suits, moving silently, upright. To think Vienna, is to think coffee houses. When I was living here in the 1990s Café Drechsler (top picture) was a favorite. It had that coffee house patina: chipped chairs, yellowing walls, a touch of seediness, the lights a notch too low. Drechsler's has since been renovated (bottom picture). Sir Terence Conran of London was asked to design. He went for the classical - red benches, black chairs -, added some whimsical detail, some writing on the wall. I too have changed, moved on to other places: tiny Café Bakery Europane in L.A., the more contemporary orientoccident in Vienna, across from Drechsler's. Starbucks? Only if desperate for caffeine. (Pictures courtesy of Café Drechsler)