NIGHT CLUBS… Vienna has everything from swank night, clubs with floor shows to fashionable little tanz bars where there is always wonderful music and good wine. However, don’t expect the big shows of Paris. They just don’t exist. The Cobenzl Bar in the Vienna hills is smartest of all. You can dine and dance with the city of Vienna and the Danube spread below you (open only in summer). The Splendid, Eden, Moulin Rouge, Casanova Bar, and Maxim are all good. Vienna specializes in intime small bars with piano players or orchestra. You’ll find them everywhere within the Ring. If you like soul-stirring Gypsy violin music, Kocze Antes Monseigneur Bar is a “must. Among the wine gardens, try Hengl, Setzger, Kurtz-Manhart, Maly, Toni Karas. The native inns in the smaller towns all have bauernstube rooms., handsomely decorated with folk art, where in the evenings there is dancing, singing and congenial company.
RELIGION… Austria is predominantly Roman Catholic. Cathedrals, abbeys and churches are numerous and beautiful throughout the country. There are Protestant services in the larger cities.
RESTAURANTS AND BARS… Vienna abounds in wonderful restaurants, dance-bars and small, smart eating places. Coffee houses are away of life here. Try Sacher, Mozart, Carlton. You should dine once in the deep old cellars in the inner city. The Rathauskeller is famous, also the Lindenkeller and the Griechenbeisl. Another famous keller is the Hofkeller where you can listen to zither music while you eat. The Palais Auersperg, a masterpiece of Baroque building with restaurant, beautiful winter garden, coffee shop and bar, is interesting to see. Best international restaurants are the Drei Husaren, Stadtkrug, Franziskaner and the restaurant of the Sacher Hotel. For Balkan food with the zip of music, try the Pataky, Bosna or the Balkan Grill. Other excellent restaurants include St. Stephan, KerzenstueberI, Deutsches Haus, the Weisser Rauch f angkehrer, Liesingerkeller and Schoener. If, after dinner, you would like to drink wine (no food) in one of the oldest kellers in Vienna, visit the Urbani Keller. It’s well worth it.
SHOPS AND STORES . Stores famous for their leather goods are Popp and Kretschmer, Nigst, Scheffel and Foerster, as is the Lanz shop for native costumes. Antiques around Vienna’s famous state-owned pawn-shop Dorotheum. Shooting, fishing and ski equipment may be purchased locally. For smart ready-made dresses try Elegance, Farnhammer, Stone & Blythe and Hoechsmann.
THEATERS … State Opera, Volksopera, Burgtheater, Volksthea- ter, Theater in der Josefstadt. All plays in German only.
TIME … Six hours later than United States Eastern Standard Time.
TIPPING … Hotels and restaurants add a 15 per cent service charge to your bill, but tip an extra 10 per cent for special services. Tip 15 per cent in other cases; for luggage about 3 schillings per bag.
TOURIST TAXES … All resorts in the provinces charge a small kurtaxe.
TRANSPORTATION … There are taxis, streetcars, and buses in the larger cities, but taxis are not cheap, except in Vienna. Chauffeur-driven and self-drive cars are available. Good train service is maintained within the country. The cable railways up and down and across mountains are remarkable and entirely safe. Riding in “fiacres” (two-horse open carriages) is a popular and charming feature of Viennese life.
WATER … Water in Vienna is famous – it comes from mountain springs on aqueducts. You can drink the water anywhere in Austria.
WHAT TO BUY … Vienna has rapidly re-established itself as a shopping center. Knitwear, petit point, fine needlework along with the famous leather goods, antiques, crystal and porcelain and jewelry are worthwhile mentioning. Peasant costumes may be bought almost everywhere. Also hunting, fishing, and skiing equipment.
WHAT TO WEAR … Take with you about the same clothes required for corresponding seasons in New York, but warm clothes are needed for the Alpine evenings, and good, strong shoes always. Even if you do not plan to ski, heavy slacks or ski trousers are suggested for the provinces in winter. You will also need galoshes or fur-lined boots for walking in the provinces in winter. Formal dress may be worn at the opera in Vienna and at the festival in Salzburg. Formal dress is also worn at the more fashionable resort hotels in the evening, but by no means is this a “must,” particularly for men.