Although we live in a city where usually everything works perfectly and smoothly, we like to complain a lot and about just everything (politicians, the weather and bad food in particular).

Don’t take our bad mood personally; it is considered part of our mentality and - once again - dates back to the monarchy, when half the population were civil servants who lived to follow orders from “above”; being grumpy is our way of cooling off, it is our way of unwillingly accepting the unchangeable and not unfrequently a disguised form of showing affection. Grumpiness to perfection can be experienced from waiters in a Viennese coffeehouse - see you there!

Where bakers once baked bread, an up-and-coming centre for contemporary art is emerging. Renowned gallery owners and design experts are putting the life back into the old bread factory. Built at the beginning of the 20th century, studios, galleries and showrooms have set themselves up around the two mighty inner courtyards of the industrial buildings since 2009. For those with an interest in art, it's worthwhile heading to Absberggasse. Home to some of Austria’s well established gallerists and art dealers, such as Ernst Hilger the space also plays host to OstLicht and Galerie Anzenberger – that are entirely devoted to photography. In addition, the former industrial ground also houses a space presenting design (Lichterloh) and a space run by Loft 8 for young artists.

The PRATER is both Vienna´s green lung and playground. The main boulevard, easily accessible by the public subway system, which was once used for horse and car races, is peacefully shared by cyclists, in-line skaters, flaneurs and families. The perfect place for jogging.
The Riesenrad (Ferris wheel) is one of the Prater’s main attractions and one of the most visited landmarks in Vienna, it was prominently featured in the famous motion picture film “The Third Man”, a spy story on post war Vienna featuring Orson Welles; the Ferris Wheel  offers a magnificent view of Vienna in a twenty minutes ride.
If you are up for an adrenaline rush the amusement park of the Prater offers all sorts of roller coasters and (sometimes somewhat  nostalgic) ghost trains. If you are hungry in the end and enjoy pork meat, you should  stop at  Schweizerhaus and try the Stelze (roasted pork leg) which usually comes with quite a few beers…

Social housing need not be grey and boring. And it is not so in Vienna, where the city asked artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser to do a flagship project on public housing. Hundertwasser created a colourful and wonderfully bizarre housing estate in the heart of Vienna. If you want to see the inside of another Hundertwasser building check out the Kunsthaus which is just around the corner and which also houses a private museum with changing exhibitions and a restaurant. Friedensreich Hundertwasser was a vegetarian, and so the restaurant Tian im Kunsthaus, which has had rave reviews recently, serves bistro style meat-free organic cuisine. Check it out!

The opera was the first monumental building of the Ringstraße,  the main boulevard that encircles Vienna’s center. Constructed in the early 19th century it still impresses with its architecture. Unfortunately, at the time, emperor Franz Joseph didn´t think so and upon an unfriendly remark of the emperor on the opera building the architect promptly committed suicide. Rumour has it  that from then on, Franz Joseph avoided any public criticism and limited himself to general phrases such as “we (meaning himself) are pleased …”; a true politician, even for our times, he was.

More importantly, today the Vienna State Opera‘s repertoire makes it one of the musical centers of the world and, truly, if you can at all, you should try to go there at least once, while in Vienna. The opera’s repertoire ranges from the Baroque to the 20th century.

Once a year, during carnival season, the Vienna State Opera is transformed into a most festive ballroom - the Vienna Opera Ball. The ball is deemed the epitome of ball culture and a top social event, attracting celebrities (and would be celebrities) from around the world. The IBA will host a ball of her own on the Friday of the IBA week in Vienna, not in the opera though, but in the (equally impressive) city hall of Vienna.