Sparren mit Elegance

Saving with Elegance

Welcome to our bank - Bank Austria.  Located "Am Hof," which literally translated means, "at the court," our bank is a two-minute walk from the center of the sprawling Hofburg, the seat of government for various empires since 1279.  There are a couple of historical notes about Am Hof, the largest enclosed square in Vienna and the home of the Roman Empire's original outpost in Vindobona (Wien).  First, in 1762, in the palace across the courtyard from our bank, Mozart made his public debut at the tender age of six.  Next, in 1806, it was from the balcony of our bank's neighboring church, that the end of the Holy Roman Empire was announced.  We figure these events lend a certain gravitas to the locale . . . even more so than what is offered at our stripmall bank in Lincoln.  Also, we discovered that Am Hof used to be the site of jousting matches and executions . . . so we're carefully avoiding the penalties for early withdrawal.  

Before our bank housed our meager funds, it was part of the Hofburg palace complex - a warren of marble-walled, gilded, frescoed residences and offices.  They've toned down the opulence a bit, but clearly, the regal roots of the building are still evident.  We are confident that our money is quite secure.  The place feels like a combination of the Palace of Versailles and the Gringotts Bank of Harry Potter fame.  At our first visit, we half expected a troop of goblins to materialize when we presented our traveler's cheques and passports.

Our initiation was not all cold stone and gold, however.  The international accounts staff were all decidedly un-goblin-like.  The approval procedure did take an entire morning (as it would at Gringotts), but the overall experience was perfectly pleasant.  As promised by the cozy, overstuffed red chair in the lobby, which, in typical Austrian fashion, invites us to "make ourselves at home, be comfortable, feel unhurried and snuggly." (The term "gemütlich" successfully expresses all these feelings.)