..or: how to like Vienna in 3 easy steps
Someone said that Austrians may look cold(er) towards foreigners at first, but then they warm up. So I guess my take on Vienna was very Austrian. Here's the recipe:

Step 1. Get your company to send you there on a training and also make sure that you have an important paper to write (50+ pages). This helps occupy all your waking hours: you will work non-stop with no more than 5 hours sleep for 5 days.

If you want to be extra cruel (to yourself), go by coach - after 24 hours stuck in a chair you'll be in the perfect state to start your experiment.

Step 2. Have a short walk, preferably after 2-3 days of being there and doing nothing but work. At that point you'll feel tired, frustrated and angry at the city, not necessarily in this order. You won't like it much, in fact everything nice that you see will make you angrier.

Then have at least 1 extra day for sightseeing. Walk around, look at all the buildings with their sculptures and golden polish. Go through narrow winding streets with little pubs and bars and wander past tall churches. Walk through the green green parks and smell the lilac and look at the statues. Take the subway. Go to the Danube. Go to Schönbrunn. Go to the Prater. Go to the marketplace.

Step 3. Then go home. And even before tiredness fades you'll start to feel the regret.

Vienna, with all its impressive looks, didn't look touristic to me - but maybe because I didn't look at it through a tourist's eyes. It's a city where one can be alive and where life can be pleasant. It's a city that you may want to return to someday, maybe not to see more of it, but to live there again for a short while and feel..

(soon with photos)