Why does everyone love Vienna so much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on what stage of life you are in. I'm from South Europe and lived in NW DC for many years as a single woman and cohabiting with my now husband. It was awesome and we had a lot of fun. When we had our son, priorities changed. We were not looking for the best night bars any more. We were looking for: good schools, a great variety of classes offered from the county, highly educated people, great sense of community and good services. All of these we now have in Vienna. DC is still my favorite place to hang out with my friends and I do so often because G'Town, the Monuments and Dupont are all about 25 minutes away. My son goes to one of the 5-6 Montessori schools nearby. They organize International Children's Day Parade instead of Halloween because children are a mix of 15+ nationalities. It's an awesome place to raise a family if you want to enjoy life and not go bankrupt.

What do they do for Thanksgiving and Christmas since it's mix of 15+ nationalities...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now McLean is really overrated.

You got that right. Spent the first 18 years of my life in McLean, and had no interest in buying a home there as an adult. All rich people, and not walkable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on what stage of life you are in. I'm from South Europe and lived in NW DC for many years as a single woman and cohabiting with my now husband. It was awesome and we had a lot of fun. When we had our son, priorities changed. We were not looking for the best night bars any more. We were looking for: good schools, a great variety of classes offered from the county, highly educated people, great sense of community and good services. All of these we now have in Vienna. DC is still my favorite place to hang out with my friends and I do so often because G'Town, the Monuments and Dupont are all about 25 minutes away. My son goes to one of the 5-6 Montessori schools nearby. They organize International Children's Day Parade instead of Halloween because children are a mix of 15+ nationalities. It's an awesome place to raise a family if you want to enjoy life and not go bankrupt.

What do they do for Thanksgiving and Christmas since it's mix of 15+ nationalities...

The school is closed for Thanksgiving and Christmas, isn't that true across the board? Halloween is when the kids dress up and have a parade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
You got that right. Spent the first 18 years of my life in McLean, and had no interest in buying a home there as an adult. All rich people, and not walkable.

We really like McLean. Easy commute to DC, great schools, some nice restaurants like Kazan's, Pasa Thai and McLean 1910, probably the best mix of residential housing in NoVa, interesting neighbors and far less congestion than along Maple Avenue in Vienna.

It's not "all rich people." The neighborhoods that border Falls Church aren't super-luxe and certainly aren't as expensive as parts of 22181 and 22182 in Vienna. And the "downtown" McLean area, while a visual eyesore, is probably as walkable as Vienna and stands to be redeveloped at some point. If you live in Old Dominion Gardens or Salona Village, for example, you can easily walk to a bus stop, Dolley Madison Library, the community center/theatre, Balducci's, parks, and many restaurants.

Sorry it didn't work out for you.

[Anonymous]

Although over-priced, one good thing about Mclean is that the real estate price doesn't go down as much as other places when in down market.
Seems to be a good investment. Vienna is not bad though in that aspect.

[Anonymous]

A question for DC commuters. We live in the Dunn Loring part of Vienna. Not in the town put address is Vienna and all of our activities etc are in the town of Vienna. My husband walk to the Dunn Loring metro which is 10 minutes and rides to Farragut West which about 30 min. He loves the commute and has never complained. The Vienna metro stop only adds another 5 min to the ride. I think that is a pretty good commute!

[Anonymous]

*put should say but

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whenever someone says they could live in DC but yet they live in some far flung suburb I don't really believe them.

You don't think some people like grass, trees and space?

There are plenty of areas in NW DC with all those amenities.

"amenities"? since when is nature considered an amenity? a doorman, a concierge, a pool, a gym... those are amenities. grass, trees, space... these should be part of our everyday surroundings.

we live in vienna. don't particularly like the people, who i find snobby, especially at meadow lane park, but dh has a 45 min commute to dc door-to-door. the restaurants suck, but it's not a bad drive to areas with much better selection. i love being able to find service providers [auto repair, doctors] who have been here for decades and have a reputation for trustworthiness because their families are part of the community.

+1!!

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry but there is nothing snobby about Meadow Lane Park at all. It must be the most welcoming park I've ever been to, people included. They have to keep taking out the toys because people donate so much.

[Anonymous]

This thread is a year old. Not sure why 15:33 felt the need to do a search for it and post "+1" to revive it.

As for the OP, why does everyone love Vienna? Because it's awesome.
Great schools
great community
good mix of people
fun community activities
walkablity to plenty of places (schools, shops, community center, restaurants, library)
W & O trail
close to metro
lots of Fairfax Connector stops
homes with good size yards and large trees
commute to many parts of NOVA and DC is fantastic
lots of parks
several swim clubs
close to Tysons for shopping
walk to sports field
pick up games for soccer, basketball, and some others I can't think of at the moment

These are just some things I can think of off the top of my head.

It's a great place and it has a true town feeling which is hard to find in the sprawl of NOVA.

[Anonymous]

The question many people ask in Fairfax County is why there aren't more Viennas. Up in New Jersey there is a new town every 2 miles. Decades now of poor planning with very few walkable and interesting areas created and very little open space left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is a year old. Not sure why 15:33 felt the need to do a search for it and post "+1" to revive it.

As for the OP, why does everyone love Vienna? Because it's awesome.
Great schools
great community
good mix of people
fun community activities
walkablity to plenty of places (schools, shops, community center, restaurants, library)
W & O trail
close to metro
lots of Fairfax Connector stops
homes with good size yards and large trees
commute to many parts of NOVA and DC is fantastic
lots of parks
several swim clubs
close to Tysons for shopping
walk to sports field
pick up games for soccer, basketball, and some others I can't think of at the moment

These are just some things I can think of off the top of my head.

It's a great place and it has a true town feeling which is hard to find in the sprawl of NOVA.

I would not call the commute to DC from Vienna "fantastic," though I agree with many other things on your list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The question many people ask in Fairfax County is why there aren't more Viennas. Up in New Jersey there is a new town every 2 miles. Decades now of poor planning with very few walkable and interesting areas created and very little open space left.

+1 We recently moved here from NJ and I miss the regular downtowns, the local public schools, and the community feel that's so commonplace there. I don't miss the property taxes though...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The question many people ask in Fairfax County is why there aren't more Viennas. Up in New Jersey there is a new town every 2 miles. Decades now of poor planning with very few walkable and interesting areas created and very little open space left.

+1 We recently moved here from NJ and I miss the regular downtowns, the local public schools, and the community feel that's so commonplace there. I don't miss the property taxes though...

Well, feel free to visit us in the actual city and you may find those

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The question many people ask in Fairfax County is why there aren't more Viennas. Up in New Jersey there is a new town every 2 miles. Decades now of poor planning with very few walkable and interesting areas created and very little open space left.

+1 We recently moved here from NJ and I miss the regular downtowns, the local public schools, and the community feel that's so commonplace there. I don't miss the property taxes though...

Well, feel free to visit us in the actual city and you may find those

By "the actual city," do you mean DC? I think the poster was talking about good public schools run by independent towns, in places like Westfield and Summit, not dysfunctional urban systems like Newark or DC.