A chestnut seller warms his hands over the classic iron stove.

Two types of punch are offered at a counter in front of a restaurant.

The streets of Vienna's inner city are overhanging with the usual glittering things for Advent.

But nothing is normal in the beginning of the pre-Christmas period.

Shops and restaurants are closed.

Since the beginning of the week, there has been a lockdown for all of Austria again.

The corona infection numbers had shot up too much.

The hospitals were threatened with overload.

Stephan Löwenstein

Political correspondent based in Vienna.

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The streets are not exactly empty.

But instead of the dense stream of strollers and shoppers that would normally push their way through Kärntner Straße to St. Stephen's Cathedral, a better trickle flows.

People in office clothes stroll to the subway, couples or groups go for a walk, occasionally an endurance runner trots: You can still go outside to relax and work.

A street musician's clarinet croaks miserably, and there are even a few coins in his case.

"The fear of lockdown is gone"

“You learn to live with the situation,” says Julia, a young mother who has just strengthened her three little ones from a thermos. As an employee of Austrian Airlines, she is also affected professionally, but you have to make the best of it. She reported her school-age child to homeschooling, and the family went to Vienna to see her grandmother, who lived alone. At lunchtime they even went ice skating, there was "no one on the ice". “You have to say that the fear of lockdown is gone,” adds the grandmother who stands by. "When it started, I went across the street when someone came towards me." Now everyone is vaccinated, says Julia, they stay away from crowds and are outdoors: "The rest is a residual risk."

In front of St. Stephen's Cathedral there is a large number of people, albeit neatly in line. Here you can be vaccinated without registering. Lukas, a student teacher, wants his booster vaccination. The studies go on, he has company in his flat share, and since he is already practically teaching his subjects English and history, most things go on normally for him. He's not a “big shopper” anyway. Many students also did not cancel, today the class was completely there. In rural areas, he heard from colleagues, things were different, especially in Upper Austria and Salzburg with their high incidence rates. But even then, only about 30 to 40 percent of the students stayed at home.

A seller of CDs and records is not that relaxed.

The shop will close at the end of the year, Corona killed it.

“It all goes online.” The “big dying” only comes after the fourth lockdown.

“That applies to every industry.

The younger generation in particular clicks quickly. ”A colleague serves a customer through the door:“ Click and Collect ”is allowed for contactless payments.

But you only do that as a favor.

Around 15 customers would come a day, at most.

And what about the punch, isn't the sale of open drinks prohibited?

That only applies to alcoholic beverages, explains the man in front of a closed bar and fills an orange and mango punch.

You can also buy a bottle of rum - whether you put it in is no longer up to you.