The sweet Sachertorte of global dominance

So they've released a list of the world's best cities to live in. Number one is--a touch surprisingly--Vienna, Austria. Runners-up are Swiss powerhouses Zurich and Geneva, which is quite frankly not surprising at all. Switzerland as a whole has a reputation for being clean and safe and pleasant, all factors in the judging of the list. But Vienna? Really?

Well, despite its low-profile reputation, Vienna really does seem quite impressive (on paper at least). It's the same city which produced such visionary souls as Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, and Johann Strauss; on a more prosaic level, it's home to the mouthwatering Sachertorte and--what? You've never heard of it before? Screw you! (Don't quote me on that.)


Baked goods aside, Vienna's pretty damn vibrant, it's got buckets of history, it's modern and hospitable and amenable to human life, with all its finicky demands. The real icing on our torte is of course the fact that it plays host to the biggest and by some accounts the best orchestra in the world. A consultant for the project commented that "There's probably a little bit more to do in Austria than Switzerland--I would think the symphony is better--but we're splitting hairs between countries." Pretty skinny hairs, too, as Vienna beat out Zurich by just over half a point. Competitive.

Oh, and for comparison, New York (yes, of "I Heart NY" fame) came out at number 49. Forty-fricking-nine! How's that feel, America?

~Mnem- "And They Wonder Why I Like Europe Better Than The US" -osyne