An island of countryside-like idyll in one of Vienna’s youngest districts, surrounded on all sides by the city’s newest apartment blocks. Notgalerie’s wooden church was once rescued from demolition to be completely reassembled and now hosts a programme of art events appreciative of the character and leisurely pace of its new location.

Vienna’s 7th district, called Neubau, is one the city’s hippest neighborhoods. If you want to stroll along the trendy streets of Vienna, have a drink, do some shopping, grab a bite to eat than I would recommend to walk along Kirchengasse, Zollergasse, Lindengasse and Neubaugasse. Looking for some Austrian souvenirs? Here some suggestions: - Get a pack o freshly roasted coffee at the "Jonas Reindl", or "Kaffeefabrik" roasters/coffeeshop.  - Minus Plus hair salon produce their own organic hair products called „Less is more“.  - „Mühlbauer“ hat store is an over 100 years old family business, with a great choice of handmade hats and headgear.  - At „Geschirr Niessner“ you can get one of the famous pastel enamel pots from Riess, manufactured in Lower Austria. - „Sonnentor“ sell organic teas and herbs grown by Austrian farmers. You’ll find plenty of nice coffeeshops and small restaurants along the way.

Tenderly covered in snow is oskar kokoschka, the artist that gives name to the square from which you enter the university, it is not out of patriotisme or for promotion that I list this institution here, but for viennas art and creative scene this is a center in its own rights. You can come and visit one of the many different applied art classes, with a little self esteem use most of the facilities, drink a coffe that is cheap and surprisingly good in the mensa or get yourself the cheapest automat-can beer for 90 cents. There are various talks in english if you look for them and in summer there is a good chance you will find a barbecue party in the garden or a film screening. If none of this is the case, there is always a chance to meet people, find a gallery to go to at night, or a room to rent. the library and the magazine reading room are free and well equipped with a great selection of avantgarde cinema, that can be watched on computers.

Vienna has three mountains, “house-mountains” as we call them in german, in fact they are more like 3 connected hills that house the famous viennese vinyards, beautiful forests for scary winter midnight visits and restaurants for autumn walks. one can find cheap wine and great traditional food in the green. for me and my friends, taking the bus from the city to go up there has become a ritual in a way, a symbolic voyage to clear our head up there in the fresh air while watching vienna from above. the names are Kahlenberg, Cobenzl and Leopoldsberg. The bus 38A accesses them all, (start from station Schottentor) in summer picnic is a good idea. if you happen to have a car or take a cab at night, the stars are bright from any meadow and you can watch and listen to the city youth drift in their cars on the big public parking space.

The Werkbundsiedlung in Vienna is one of those places where you can study how people (aka famous architects) in the past imagined the “modern way of living”. While walking through this housing estate you can soak up the unique atmosphere of something that is both historic and thought-provoking for the future at the same time. (Photo: Bwag/Wikimedia)