136 CultureShock! Austria
Schanigärten
As the first warm breezes are felt, Austrians jump at any
opportunity to be outside after a long winter indoors. Patio
tables and chairs are brought out of storage and street
cafés and Schanigärten emerge. Schanigärten can be small
gardens with soft lighting or candlelight, or larger patios with
large benches that are shared by a couple of restaurants.
These tables fill up quickly while the indoor seats tend to
remain unoccupied.
In Vienna, the Donauinsel (Danube Island) and the Am
Kai area along the Danube between Schwedenplatz and
Friedensbrücke are lined with outdoor restaurants. The
university campus at the Allgemeines Krankenhaus (AKH)
has a number of open-air beer gardens and restaurants
open until 2:00 am, where you can take in a cultural event
while dining. Another option is to spend a warm evening
in front of the Rathaus (City Hall), watching filmed opera
on a giant screen for free while eating and drinking. The
Rathaus square is covered with stalls that offer food from over
17 countries.Kaffeehäuser
Although coffeehouses can be found throughout Austria,
they are a Viennese institution. The Viennese linger reading,
writing, thinking and discussing, much as their ancestors did.
According to popular history, the first coffeehouse was opened
in Vienna shortly after the Turkish siege of 1683. Beating a
hasty retreat, the Turks left behind bags of coffee beans. A
Pole, Georg Franz Kolschitzky, is said to have requested the
beans as a reward for his military achievements. Only he
knew how to process them into coffee, and the story goes that
he opened the first Viennese coffeehouse, the Sign of the Blue
Bottle, near Stephansdom. Yet, evidence suggests that coffee
was already being drunk in Vienna prior to this time.
Coffeehouses played an important role in society, especially
in fin-de-siècle Vienna, up until 1938. As the arts flourished,
intellectual life centred around the coffeehouses. Many of the
most creative and brilliant Viennese had their Stammcafé, or
regular coffeehouse, where they spent a good portion of their