European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 29, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A u s t i a Vienna tourist Board the Vienna opera Ball the most prestigious of the some 300 balls held Between new year s and mid March will be held feb. 23 this year. The charms of Vienna a.  v a i City offers Fig a Attao sphere mystery.  f by Michael Church London observer service what is the third Man about espionage postwar blues the dark allure of evil All of these and none of them for on screen at every moment is a City of windswept courtyards huddled cafes towering spiral staircases and statue encrusted facades. Half the dialogue is in German unapologetic ally without subtitles. The real subject of Carol Reed s soot streaked movie masterpiece is Vienna itself caught at a critical moment in history. Check out the official Guidebook entry on the 18th Century Palace in the Josefs Platz and you la be told who built it and for whom. But As any local resident will confirm this was the spot where the film s anti hero Harry Lime faked his own death and where the Porter was murdered As he was about to spill the Beans. Drop in at the splendidly seedy hotel Orient where rooms Are let by the hour for a time honoured purpose and you la find yourself looked suspiciously up and Down by the manageress. Ask to see the Angle of the stairs where they shot the third Man however and she s instantly All smiles. The viennese love this film and All want a retrospective part in it. It s remarkable How closely the real City resembles Reed s celluloid one. It still feels curiously empty and must be the quietest capital on Earth. Walk along the Pedestrianised Craven and across the Stephans Platz Vienna s Piccadilly and All you la hear is the growl of conversation in this most musical City the curse of Street Muzak has been kept at Bay. On Street Corners around the Homburg you come upon be wigged frock coated figures wearing sensible modern shoes touting tickets for concerts in period costume. These concerts take place under a constant barrage of flashbulbs. The japanese who in Vienna seem entirely at Home extract every last morsel of the museum culture Laid on for them. I went to jeer More museum culture at the Spanish Riding school s daily training session but was disarmed by their uns Howy refusal to play to the gallery and by the magnificence of the surroundings. There s nothing fake though about the museums themselves or the musical shrines dotted around the City and through the sex villages now suburbs of Dobling and Heiligenstad. Beethoven who could never keep still for Long left 27 " Beethoven ," several of which Are devoutly preserved As is the pretty Rooming House where Schubert was born. They be stripped Back layers of wallpaper and plaster to expose fragments of the frescoes Mozart would have gazed on while he composed the marriage of Figaro in his apartment. The recent past is More selectively remembered. The Freud museum May show a permanent video Loop of jewish family gatherings in the 1930s, ending with a picture of the House covered in swastikas but the jewish cemetery up the Road in Waring is forlornly derelict the Community stopped burying their dead Here in the 1880s, but the unkempt Ness feels significant those who should have looked after it were simply wiped out. The convivial Oak panelled Ofenloch restaurant in the heart of the old jewish Quarter proudly sports its history on the Back of the menu."in1704," reads the final paragraph the Ofenloch Bee House was founded Here and Many a tale of social gatherings can still be found in old  r., " i ask a waitress about the following 240 years and about the Fate of the last pre-1939, presumably jewish owner Don t know. Nobody  but Vienna on the whole is a very Happy fusion of past and present. There Are few nicer things to do on a hot summer afternoon than drink Green wine in the gardens of one of the he Rigert or wine taverns and few Cozier places on a cold night than Hawelka s cafe with its Reading room atmosphere. The local tap water piped from the mountains is delicious taxis May be exorbitant but Public transport is plentiful and cheap a $12 ticket buys you three Days unlimited travel on bus Tram and train. There Are bicycle tracks everywhere. And the new buildings the City is full of architectural schools and institutes Are As stylish and original As those externalized in the third Man. To Call Vienna from outside Austria dial your International Access code the country code 43 and the City code distributed by scrupps Howard news service stripes Magazine december 29, 1994