The more I visited Austria, the more it reminded me of the Twilight Zone. Vienna, at first sensational and then deeply disconcerting. The alps, an ideal landscape so remote as to be unattainable. Fairy tale castles, so neat and clean that they render history impotent. As soon as I set foot in Austria, I passed into a world between the real and the unreal without realizing it. Everything that at first glance seemed so amazing, eventually became disconcerting. A tension permeates the place. It is felt rather than seen. Never more so than in Gallbrunn, the town into which I traveled and stayed for a single night before fleeing from fantasy land the next morning.
Made to order -Aerial view of Gallbrunn (Credit: Mark Slusarczyk)
Another Planet – A Rage For Perfection
If my Uber journey into Gallbrunn had been an episode of the Twilight Zone, the shooting script would have said, “sleek, black sedan enters a tidy Austrian village that looks deserted. There are no humans in sight. Everyone in Gallbrunn is either inside their homes or dead. Perhaps both. Behind the drawn curtains of brightly painted pastel homes, someone or something stirs.” That description pretty much sums up Gallbrunn on the afternoon I entered it. While the village is only a fifteen-minute drive from Vienna’s airport and a thirty-minute drive from the city center, I might as well have landed on another planet. Gallbrunn looked like it was waiting for people to arrive. Locals, rather than tourists. The town should have had a sign that said, “Vacancy.”
I noticed that every house in the village looked like it had just received a fresh coat of paint prior to my arrival. The Austrian rage for perfection glowed radiant in the afternoon light. I imagined that Gallbrunn was the ideal of what a village in Lower Austria should look like. Nothing would ever go out of style if it was constantly refurbished. I had never seen a small town so well-kept. The amount of effort to keep up the pristine appearance of Gallbrunn had to be considerable. I am sure the locals would say this is normal. I could not find anyone outside their homes to ask. Perhaps the town was deserted because it was a Sunday afternoon. Either that or all the locals were recovering from sweeping the sidewalks and streets for the past six days.
Striving for perfection – Church in Galbrunn (Credit: Waerfalu)
Interior Design – Order, Organization & Obsession
Judging by the cleanliness in Gallbrunn, the town must spend an inordinate amount of money on sanitation. What would have been community pride in most places, looked like neurosis to me. There was something both charming and creepy about the village. The charm came from its quaintness and look of simple prosperity. The creepiness from sterility. The guest house where I stayed suffered from this same kind of aesthetic. Its lemon-yellow exterior was an uplifting confection. While on the inside, everything had been polished to perfection. There was not a single item out of place. Order and organization to the point of obsession ruled. The staff and furnishings were exactly where they were supposed to be. I found it impressive to the point of bizarre. There was nothing ad hoc about it. I began to feel uptight. Even the small talk was measured. The idea of spontaneity did not exist here.
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Though Austria is far from my favorite place, I must say that Austrians in general have always been helpful, if reserved towards me. They are intelligent, well-mannered, and insanely organized. The moment I stepped into the guesthouse lobby everything was ready for my arrival. Like clockwork, the front desk clerk had everything laid out. All they needed was a passport and signature. Then a smartly dressed young man showed me to my room. The guest house had all the right boxes checked for optimal customer service. Nothing was left to chance. Everything was done with such efficiency that it made me feel uneasy. Formality was the guesthouse’s strong suit. If there is one trait that distinguishes Americans from Austrians, I would say it is informality. I found it kind of creepy to get the white glove treatment in a place where I was paying a hundred euros to spend one night. The guesthouse was the equivalent of a Hampton Inn rather than the Hilton.
Picture of perfection – Building in Gallbrunn (Credit: Waerfelu)
Into Oblivion – An Afternoon Stroll
After checking in I took a stroll around Galbrunn to get a feel for the town. What I saw confirmed my suspicions that Gallbrunn was lacking in life. That place was as sterile as a surgical unit. The only thing happening on this day in Gallbrunn was nothing. No one felt the need to step outside their home though the weather was fine. Perhaps they were enjoying quieter pursuits such as polishing floors, furniture, and anything else that threatened to collect dust. Galbrunn was a great place to enjoy silence. While walking around, I could not shake the feeling that I was being watched. Finding a single person beyond the guesthouse staff was impossible. There are missing persons searches and any person searches. Gellbrunn fell into the latter. I could not imagine what people in Gellbrun do for fun. Maybe that is what Vienna is for. A reminder that there is life after all.
The strangeness continued back at the guesthouse with the Wi-Fi not working. This meant I would not be able to distract myself with a cyber journey into oblivion. This forced me to focus on my surroundings. So instead of surfing the internet for historical information on Gallbrunn, I was forced to search for something of interest among its modern iteration. I have never been one for staring at whitewashed hotel room walls or obsessively fluffing pillows. I am more apt to walk the guesthouse’s halls and loiter in the lobby while searching for anything or anyone of interest. That plan failed after a few minutes. The thought of another walk around the deserted town felt hopeless. I kept asking myself why I had left Vienna. It was also unreal, but with more fascinating amusements for tourists to distract themselves. The only thing I could look forward to was dinner in the guesthouse dining room. That too would be utterly forgettable in a most memorable way.
Click here for: Fine Dining & Driving – The Austrian Way (Rendezvous With An Obscure Destiny #77c)
Europe Between East And West 