We have been preparing for our upcoming trip to Vienna and came across something quite unexpected (to us anyway) and want to run it by this forum: are there really strong anti-American sentiments in Vienna? We are very aware of the stereotype of the American tourist out there, and of the fact that other nationals like to make the distinction that they are anti US policy but are okay towards the American people, etc. But we came across some recent posts (not on TA) about American tourists being treated rudely at Julius Meinl restaurant, having rude gestures made towards them in the streets in Viennese, overhearing rude comments made about them in German (not realizing that these poor American tourists can actually understand German).
We will be in Vienna for only 2 days for a work-related meeting, so we are not cancelling out one way or another, but we just want to be prepared. Thank you in advance for any insights or clarification you could offer.
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Forget that! We cannot seriously discuss about what happened at Julius-Meinl as we haven%26#39;t been there. Perhaps they tried to enter the restaurant with sloppy street wear? Please don%26#39;t take one incident in order to say that Americans might encounter problems in Vienna. If I would count all rude encounters I made in the US (starting at passport control!!), then I should never travel there.
The majority of critics (or Anti-US policy) came from ultra-left wing groups which cannot be considered as %26quot;serious%26quot;. In the meantime Obama has taken office and the world became much calmer on that.
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PLN - I think it is important how one carries oneself. I travel through Turkey last year and thought that it was going to be rough being American there, but quite the opposite. The people that we encountered couldn%26#39;t have been nicer and more helpful. With that said, I did run into one issue, where the men only spoke to my husband and did not acknowledge me. There was one instance where I was signing the credit card receipt and had the pen pulled out of my hand, but that was one incident and I didn%26#39;t let that spoil my trip. I think my point is that whereever you travel, you%26#39;ll be treated the way you treat others. From my travels to other countries, people have been more than intrigued by the notion that we are americans and just wanted american stories.
Good luck.
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Can you supply a link to those posts then we can read them for ourselves?
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Hello everyone: Thank you very much for your reassuring comments. Until we saw these threads below, we had not thought too much of anything in Vienna or Western Europe above and beyond isolated individual encounters that all travellers can/may encounter and which most travellers do not generalize into anything. (And Mickey_Vienna, you are right, we Americans certainly have our own shares of rude encounters right here ourselves too!)
fodors.com/world/…review-144067.html
www.travellerspoint.com/forum.cfm…
But, for some reasons, the comments in these threads seem to imply a more general sentiment, so we just want to double check in case we had missed something.
Again, many thanks for taking the time to share with us your views on this.
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The first European trip that my husband and I took was to Vienna and that was in 2000. We loved it. We have been back to Europe on numerous occasions since then and has seen a less welcoming attitude towards Americans. In all honesty, I can%26#39;t blame people - thank you President Bush! That does seem to be changing along with the presidential change. On the other hand, we have had some absolutely great experiences meeting people. We still talk about the waiter at a restaurant in Vienna who stood outside with us waiting for a cab, that the restaurant had called for us. He didn%26#39;t want us to wait by ourselves. We have found that if we treat others with consideration, we will get the same back. The one thing I have noticed is that the Viennese are abit more formal which some people might take as snobbish. Pln61 - take those posts with a grain of salt and go enjoy Vienna. Trust me, if they were really anti-american, I wouldn%26#39;t be going back for my third visit this October.
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Thanks for the links. It%26#39;s difficult to comment on individual experiences, but a lot of Americans have posted reviews of their visits to Vienna on here and the vast majority of them have been very positive. I can%26#39;t really recall a discrimination theme coming up. I%26#39;m English and have never noticed the slightest discrimination. I%26#39;ve come across rude people, for sure, but they were equally rude to the Austrians, too. And at least one of the regular posters on here is an American and I know that that person does not get discriminated against in the slightest (or they%26#39;re keeping it very quiet!)
There is some resentment against foreigners who the Austrians feel are taking their jobs or abusing their welfare systems, but you get tons of that in the UK too. So I don%26#39;t think you will have a problem at all, but please let us know on here if you do get that feeling.
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@ pln61
Viennese people are most occupied to be grumpy with themselves (-_^) . That´s in our gens
Waiters in Vienna have the reputation of being grumpy too.
So there is no specific grundge against Americans here
The Meinl am Graben Restaurant should be attended well dressed only.
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Having posted here for some years now, I have rarely seen any posting regarding anti - american or other ethnic sentiments. In fact, most postings ae very positive about the ciy. I think this is the better judge of experiences , rather than isolated incidents , that one does not know %26quot; The other side of the story %26quot;
There will always be a few who have some experience that is not favorable , but you can find that anywhere in the world.
Most here and everywhere treat others as they wish to be treated also.
On occasions, I have seen some very ugly actions by tourists not just in Vienna but other places too. This causes a reaction by the locals - naturally.
One must realize that traveling sees other habits and cultures.
Here, numerous cafes can be known to have waiters with certain %26quot;atitudes%26quot;. This is known to the locals-a tourist could be taking this in a completely different way .
It is also known here that you must ask for your check. The waiter/waitress will just not automatically bring this to you.
Some tourists sit and wait for this and then become disturbed when the check does not appear. They think they are being ignored or worse. Certainly this is not correct
All they need to do is ask for this check as the staff is just being polite and will not bring it till asked.
I just use these as examples of misconceptions.
Having a quick look at the posted examples - I looked to the Julius meinl question.
I should advise you that the Julius Meinl location is at a corner of a major pedestrian zone.
The Meinl name appears in very large letters on the building and can be clerly seen from some distance.
I question the seemingly inability for someone being unable to find this placedue to its location and signage.
Just have a look on their website and notice the picture of the building and signage.
www.meinlamgraben.at
this then makes the entire review and comments very questionable to me.
This restaurnat is one of the best in Austria with excelent service to accompany the food.
Not being there during this incident one can not properly know what occurred , but my experience there and many reports by others would not indicate any problems and acts of discrimination etc.
I have recommended this restaurant and others to friends of various natinalities. They have never said anything about problems.
Vienna is an international city with various agencies of the United Nations, OSCE, International Atomic Energy Commission, OPEC and many more.
It has a very active convention and seminar , congress activities.
If ethnic problems and poor service, hateful acts were a problem this would clearly be published and the city would not have the good reputation it most certainly has.
My wife was a member of an international womens organization in Vienna. This group was very active in the city . Certainly the ladies talk at such meetings, exchange ideas , experiences etc.
She really did not ever hear about such bad experiences.
If such experiences were happening on a regular unprovoked basis , this would be a major topic of converstation.
Cetainly Vienna is not utopia, has its plus and minus factors in all areas. Yet is porbably better than most cities.
Dismiss the few instances you have reviewed and consider the positive experiences of the vast majority - Come without care and enjoy the city.
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I think that some of people are just very thin-skinned. If I called every rude encounter an act of racism, then I need to stay at home. I also remember people staring at me in Hong Kong, Macau, Bangkok. Did I complain? No! Waste of time! Just live with it!
It is true that Viennese (or Austrians) waiters are often grumpy or appear to be grumpy to an American, just because you won%26#39;t get the artificial smiles and friendliness here many American restaurants provide. Vienna also has to deal with the impact of heavy immigration of the recent years and decades making Austrians a minority in some districts. But Americans are not among them, so they don%26#39;t have to fear anything in terms of %26quot;immigration-related grumpyness%26quot;. I also can%26#39;t believe that a waiter or other person working in service treats an American rudely just because of the doctrine of GWB.
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Mikey %26amp; Vertical - I am getting such a kick out of hearing you talk about how some waiters have grumpy attitudes. As Americans, my husband and I are always talking about what great service we get in restaurants in Europe! Trust me, after years of a disinterested college student tossing your food and check on the table at the same time so she or he can go back to chatting with their co-workers, grumpy but professional is a breath of fresh air!
That being said, I think the bottom line of this posting is that bad attitude and behavior can be found everywhere we go and is not really a reason to change our travel plans. A friend of mine just came back from her first trip to Europe and complained about the lack of ice in her drinks and no airconditioning in the subways! Can tell you I am never traveling with her and I am sure that some poor waiter in Spain when home complaining about the ugly American he had to put up with.
