the cosmopolitan city which smells like fermented cows's shit

Innsbruck is a small city with politicians with a big complex: Innsbruck is very small and rural. Some days the city even smells of compost when the farmers fertilise their fields.

Since I came to Innsbruck, 14 years ago, politicians have tried to win back the Olympic games twice, but, any normal person knows that they could never be successful! Who the hell could give them the winter Olympic games for a third time?

Some years ago, those politicians tried to make the inner city a UNESCO heritage site because of its ancient buildings, and when their proposal was rejected, they tried to make a city known for its modern architecture. Now, Innsbruck is the only city in the world with two buildings designed by Zaha Hadid. This is almost embarrassing...it's like if a guy in his midlife crisis buys two red Ferraris.

In 2004, the city hall was turned into a shopping centre. And since that day, the government presents Innsbruck as a "Weltstadt" which means cosmopolitan city. A Barcelonese friend of mine used to work for the marketing firm behind this concept and she told me that since this shoppings centre had a Mango store and a Müller (a German drugstore chain), the city was now cosmopolitan!

Independently of all this stupid campaigns (Sports, architecture and shopping), I experienced a truly cosmopolitan moment last Friday:

There is a farmer's market each Friday in the city centre. I was hungry and went there to get a Kiachl with Sauerkraut. A kiachl is nothing but fried dough, which reminds of a doughnut without sugar or frosting on it. The owners of the kiachl stand was a couple in their fifties. The man was preparing them and the woman collecting the money. It was a little bit weird to hear that the couple spoke English among them, I then realised that she was British and he Tyrolean. While preparing my Kiachl, the cook was talking to the city's Vice-Major (probably one of those politicians investing money to present Innsbruck as the only cosmopolitan city in the world which smells like fermented cows's shit). Right after me, two Turkish girls asked in perfect German if the Sauerkraut had bacon bit in it. The British Kiachl seller replied that they only sell vegetarian sauerkraut, because they themselves are strict vegetarians.

While eating my kiachl I had two thoughts "First: the sauerkraut is great, and second, Innsbruck is indeed a cosmopolitan city".

Go to any place on earth and if you find a vegetarian couple older than 50 selling regional products (and they being foreigners themselves), and if their clients are politicians, locals and locals with migration background, you surely are in a cosmopolitan place.