The thought about whacking Mr. Big may have some currency in the mafia, but is better known in Shakespeare, tho I can't tell you exactly where. The most familiar line is, "If you set out to kill the king, kill the king." Somewhere else, perhaps in MacBeth, he says "If it is to be done, tis well it were done quickly."

Don't miss Graz, and the Arnold S. stadium... and the armory with over 1,000 sets of armor still waiting for local minutemen to meet the muslims. And the steps to the city clocktower built by Russian POWs in WW II.

I found it hard to believe how Austria maintains such a high standard of living, when one can drop across the border to Slovenia, etc., and find the usual legions of underemployed and pathetic wages. Northern Italy, too, is much more prosperous today than most Americans would believe. It is hard to believe, when you are old enough to remember 1945, how the vanquished have gotten so far back on top again. Arbeitung, I guess, plus shrewd capital management and secure private property.

Funny, I've been living in Vienna for quite a few years now, but I haven't seen any "communist neighbourhoods" or "Islamic neighbourhoods" ;-)

There may be a mosque near the UN buildings, but the area isn't particularly Islamic at all. And while Vienna has been traditionally socialist for a long time, communism has never enjoyed significant popularity here. Even less so after the experience of post-WWII occupation. Vienna, in general, doesn't have "ethnic neighbourhoods" in the American sense.

Your theory as regards Austria's opposition to Turkey's EU membership doesn't hold water, I think. Austria's major trade partners are its immediate neighbours and recently the Balkans. Turkey wouldn't change anything about that. If there is an economic reason for Austrians' opposition to Turkey membership, it's because Austria is one of the few "net payers" of the EU, and people aren't excited about seeing their tax euros flowing into Asia minor.

And those elections coming up this month: they're only city council elections in Vienna, nothing nationwide. Except for the right-wing freedom party's desparate attempts to survive by playing the old xenophobia spiel, Turkey is simply a non-issue in those elections.

Anyway, interesting post.

The hotel we stayed at was in the donauzentrum district just across the river from Vienna. When we decided to go into Vienna proper, we had to pass through the islamic center, on the other side of it is where we found the UN buildings. On the way back, we took the U-bahn which runs directly through UN City, and the entire train that rode on was full of islamic women in the traditional dress. And where did they depart? thats right, UN City which also happens to be the closes stsop to the Islamic center, at least what we thought was the islmaic center.

So, thats where the observation came from. That and the big sign on Lasalle street that said " Islamic District".

As far as the election goes, the biggest surprise for me was how fast the advertising went up. It seemed like it wasnt there on the first day we arrived and their it was suddenly there the next and its was overwheming - everywhere and all at once. We were mobbed by campaign workers from various parties on several street corners on one trip to the city on friday.

I hadnt considered the tax implications of Turkey being in the EU and the reason I did that is that the rest of the EU seems to be ok with Turkey in the EU, but Greece and Austria have expressed an opinion that is outside of the bonds of the rest of the EU members. I looked at the geography and viennas natural place as a central trade "port" and drew my own conclusions. Im prepared to be wrong with that conclusion.

That all being said, I completely enjoyed my time in Vienna and you are very luck indeed to live in such a fine place.

Glad you enjoyed your time in Vienna. I've been to the US three times now, but I've never made it to the West. People tell me that the climate in California would match my taste -- is it true it's like summertime Scandinavia, only all the year? By the way, let me assure you that Arnold Schwarzenegger's German pronunciation is even weirder than his English.

Yes, the "Islamic centre" is somewhat close the the UN buildings. I used to commute to that area (Lasallestraße) on a daily basis until recently, but I certainly don't remember a sign that said "Islamic district" -- the area around the UN buildings is quite popular with young and affluent people who are most certainly not interested in any religion, let alone Islam. It probably depends on the weekday and time of day how you perceive a place -- I found your comment that Vienna is "surrounded by refineries" (there's exactly one refinery around Vienna, and it's on the way between the airport and the city) very amusing until I realised that my own perception of visited cities is just as skewed by coincidence of when and where I arrived and stayed in a city. I guess it's impossible to really get the feel of a place unless you've been there for at least a few months.

Skepticism towards Turkey's membership in the EU is actually quite wide-spread in Europe, not just Austria and Greece. The issue is far more complex than it may seem from the outside -- for instance, Austria's government has been using the Turkey issue to press its interest in getting Croatia's negotiations going, and also to boost its own approval ratings, which have been going down rapidly.

It is absolutely the case that when you are travelling on business, you get a very narrow view of the world. In business travel it doesnt matter where you go you see the same three things, the airport, the car rental agency and the hotel. Dont mistake my observations as anything other than one guy who while travelling for business managed to get out of the hotel for a few afternoons and jotted down a few notes while he walked around the city.

I've always followed the idea that you should "be a traveller and not a tourist", so I went through great pains to avoid the usual suspects while visitng vienna. For example, rather than eat at the hotel sacher like everyone else, I ate the at the mexican restaurant on the hauptalle next to the Prater. Viennese mexican food? Well, it wasnt bad, but it wasnt mexican either, which is ok as most of what people know to be mexican food can rarely be found in mexico anyway.

The number refineries really surprises me as I asked the locals specifically about that. In my defense, Id like to say its a really BIG refinery but the "number of refieries" came from people I talked to while I was there. Boy, if you cant trust the locals with information, who can you trust.

I should have researched it further but my main point was that you dont think "refinery" when you think "Vienna", but there it was - plain as day. That, and the amount of construction that was going on was amoung the biggest surprises that I found while I was there. Finding a refinery in Vienna was like finding a 1st class winery in Salt Lake City, it may very well exist, its just not something you expect at first glance to find.

As far as "communist neighborhoods", I have no real way to tell which is which or one from the other. However, I like to read grafitti and when I read grafitti I find certain trends, for example, the neighborhood between the Prater and the river, most of the light poles and walls I found a number of "vote communist" stickers. I didnt see then anywhere else in the city, so I assumed that this neighborhood could be a place in which a higher than usual number of voters could be found who might support the communist party.

Current weather here in northnern california is 72 degrees in the daytime, 55 in the evening, with very little if any rain expeceted for the next three weeks. After that, we enter a period of time we like to call " mongolian death fog" season where the central valley is overcome with a deep thick fog which will cover most of the valley for months at a time. "Mongolian Death fog" is fog that is so thick that you could cut it and use it as a cheap building material.

The good news is that its our only severe weather condition to speak of and it only lasts for a few weeks.