Rain

Rainy view from my office.

It was bound to happen, a little rain falls in Vienna this evening. The first legitimate daytime rain since I arrived 12 days ago. Not too bad...also, I am really concerned about my friends, family, and co-workers in both Evansville and Paducah. What's happening is not good, and honestly I wish I could be there to lend a helping hand. I wish the boat crews a safe couple of weeks. The guys on the water that provide much of the raw material that keeps your lights on are standing very stressful watches to deliver what they can to keep things running.

This morning, hold on Paducah...

Tomorrow comes a nice visit by Mike and Lacey Lynch. I last saw them in January in New York City. It will be nice to show off Vienna a little bit. They will be flying in from Paris in the morning, so Vienna definitely has a tough act to follow, but I think she is up for it.

Today has been especially long for me. There are a ton of things going on. I will be traveling for the next couple of weeks on work assignments. I look forward to seeing new things, but travel stresses me, especially when I dont know languages and size 14 dress shoes take up a lot of space in the suitcase. I'll manage.

Take care friends.

Melk

Hello! Fairly relaxed day with a little worked mixed in on this holiday Monday. Reinhard and I headed out to the village of Melk which is about 100km west of Vienna. It's at the base of the Alps, the hills are significant, and this is the heart of Austrian wine country. Did you even know there was such a thing? I didnt.

The reason for going to Melk was to view Stift Melk. Which actually means Monastery. There are a lot of awesome Monasteries around this area. Its very obvious to recognize the influence the Roman Catholic Church has had on this region for centuries. The Monasteries are still active and owned by the church, however, they are such incredible places that the church would be foolish not to turn them into attractions. I could get into the history of the Stift Melk, but that would take too long, to make a long story short, there is a lot of gold and there has been some bloodshed over the years to maintain its status. I'll let the pictures tell most of the story despite being a poor photographer.

Reinhard took country roads near the Danube on the return to Vienna. There were several villages up and down the river. Each village was surrounded by vineyards and small places to eat and buy wine. We didn't stop. I found it to be very unique and geographically speaking the river valley on the upper end of the Tennessee River is the only thing remotely comparable. Thats all for now, have a great day all.

The village of Melk from the Abbey

Outside the Abbey Church

Inside the Abbey Church

The Library, but not the one in Tempe.

Not everyday do you get to see a mummified Saint. 

Check out those Pipes!!

Courtyard at Stift Melk

A scenic but half way familiar sight on the way back.

Weekend Part Two

So, there is Sunday. Happy Easter! Today was somewhat typical for me. Outside of the fact that I neither had a schedule to keep nor work to prepare for tomorrow (Easter Holiday), today was going to be relaxed. Meaning a day with no masterplan, no huge tourist attractions, no museums, just live as stress free as possible. Honestly, I love seeing touristy things, there is a reason they are what tourist want to see, but there is so much more to be found when you just wonder.

Trackside at Krieau Trabrennbahn

Where do I go? The racetrack of course. Now, lets be honest with ourselves, if its here I am going to check out. There is not much information about the course online other than the card, which scared me a little. It either meant the place was a pit, the horses were junk, or both.  The racecourse (Krieau Trabrennbahn) was very near Prater Park. Prater, here in Vienna, is comparable to Central Park or something, very big. I arrive and let me just say it wasnt the crown jewel of Vienna. Somewhere between the sacred grounds of Dandy Dade and Bluegrass Downs in Paducah I would say. It definitely wasnt Saratoga. But it was enough, live racing (trotters), simulcasts, betting windows, and a two euro voucher included in admission. Interesting enough to spend a few hours. It proved low level tracks attract the exact same audience worldwide. Of course me, then the older guys waiting to win big while only betting the smallest amounts, the guy equipped with a tan, shades, and suit because he missed the memo that he's doesnt own a horse and its neither Derby Day nor Keeneland, the families, the drunks, ridiculous gold chains, and even the little old lady with her coin purse...they were all in attendance. Several things the same, but they incorporate music into it a little here, like when the horses are parading for the grandstand they play the Fox NFL football theme, odd, I wouldnt have picked it, but found it humorous. I only stayed for a handful of races, but I did win a little both locally and while preparing for Longchamp thanks to Andre Fabre. Already in the winner's circle, the rest of the day could only be icing on the cake.

My walk in Prater Park

Considering I didnt have an Easter celebration to attend this evening. I decided to walk back to the hotel from the track. It was probably about four miles, but all in the park considering I decided to go through Praterstern to pickup some things at the grocery store. It was so nice to see so many people take advantage of the public park. There were all ages there just enjoying the day, myself included. The walk through Prater concluded with the amusement park. Some of those rides have really gotten crazy these days...what happened to the zipper or the round up? Do you really have to launch people on bungee cords and elevate the circular swings 500 feet? Wow! Anyways, it was a very nice day.

Grocery Items: Milk, Special K, Fruit Cup, Roast Beef Sandwich (more like lettuce sandwich), Kinder Country

Weekend

Hello Friends, thanks for reading and showing some interest in my Europe experience. So lets talk...the weekend. It began easily enough on Saturday morning, I allowed myself to stay around the hotel room for a little while because you just cant be doing something all of the time for several straight weeks. Unless you have children, and we all know, I dont. Let's begin after I got off the Metro at Karlsplatz.

Natural History Museum

I wanted to check out the open market in Vienna after Reinhard pointed it out to me while we passed by the previous Saturday. It goes on for a mile or so I would say and has pretty much everything you could imagine. There were little restaurants, vendors selling everything from nuts to fish to old books. I thought I would pick up a few things to take or send back to the US, but i didnt, I purchased 200g of Almonds for three Euro. So I moved forward and decided to stroll through the museum quarter on my way to the next metro station, the architecture is amazing and I really wanted to go in a few, but the weather was amazing, and I wasnt going to spend the day inside. So I took a few pictures and moved along to my impromptu Saturday excursion.

There are a few hills in Dobling on the northwest side of Vienna, some would probably call them mountains. They are actually the base of the alps, but they are a little bit more of the Smoky lineage, not Rocky. So you get the point. Its noticeable from the Danube that there are small buildings on the peaks and vineyards on the ascent. Obviously, Metro doesn't run there, but I needed to get there. I figured it out while eating lunch that it would only take a couple of train switches and a bus. Then it was up to me, just go.

Weingut Cobenzl Vineyards

Bus 38A was leaving the station and I was one of the last ones on it. It was cramped with old people, so I knew I was going to a safe location with probably a few sights. Good sign! We travel through the little area known as Grinzing and we are heading up. I got off the bus at a village near the peak. I dont recall the name, but there were vineyards and nature everywhere. Very nice place, I walked for an hour or so and found a little restaurant called Oktogon, I didnt do anything there, but its a reference point. I notice there was still a little more to the hill so I ventured (by bus) up to Kahlenberg. I stopped at very hip restaurant there that overlooked Vienna. There really wasnt much left to do other than look at Vienna, smile, and recognize my luck for being afforded the opportunity to do this....

The view from the restaurant at Kahlenberg

Spring Time

Things are great when you can go outside and without help from obvious sunshine and a little breeze you would never know that you weren't in a temperature controlled environment. Thats how Friday was here, and it supposed to be that way all weekend. Therefore I have planned on checking out some of the outdoor sites around Vienna in the upcoming days.

Facing west from Dounainsel before dinner.

Its started on Friday around noon, as most of the workforce here is allowed to start their Easter holiday a few hours early. Skipping lunch because my 9AM meeting included a dessert you could only find at a finer restaurant in the States, I had to get the running shoes on and burn off whatever that creation was. I went little further than the next metro stop, Donauinsel. That means Danube Island in English. Years ago, the government here created an Island in the River for flood protection and also as a recreational area. Its far from a sandbar, its complete with infrastructure (no vehicle traffic allowed), restaurants, bars, trails, beaches, playgrounds, picnic tables, and area to hold the largest festival in Europe. The weekend long festival gets over 2 million annually and the likes of Madonna and Falco have performed over the years. It was a rather nice environment. I couldn't run the length of the island, its 20km, so i just started running in one direction and turned around when I thought I was about halfway gassed. Turns out I was about three quarters gassed, and had to leg it out. Oh well, it was an awesome run and my shuffled playlist produced David Allen Coe (The Ride) and Shooter Jennings (4th of July). I bet those aren't common on that running path. Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures, because i dont pack anything when i run other than the iPod, which, just now it dawned on me my iPod has a camera, another lesson to be learned. The island was full of people biking, running, walking, just enjoying. It was a very nice day and sites were not pristine, but were unique and plenty colorful.

The view from my seat. Notice the food...I
am much better at ordering en Espanol.

Last night I decided to head to city center to see if I could tell the difference in a weekend crowd. It was packed with tourists just like normal. I walked a few hours, then decided to head back to Donauinsel to try out some restaurants that I had noticed during my exploration earlier in the afternoon. One would think on an awesome night, it would be packed!! Well...not so much, there was a crowd, but it was far from being crowded. I think the Insel crowd really gets going past midnight. For most of the social crowd, the night starts around midnight and runs until 5AM here. Thats sleep time for me. Regardless, I had been craving some Mexican food and found a Spanish place that was very good! It was a tick up from El Porton and most definitely hit the spot.

This morning I am getting ready to go exercise for a little bit. I am either going to walk to Prater or take the metro to Schonnbrunn so I will be surrounded in sights. What I don't do today I'll do tomorrow perhaps. Its just too nice not to be outside, and really do you see me actually enjoying an art museum more than to just say I have been there? Now a history museum definitely, but it needs to be in English. So lets wait for a cloudy day for those ventures. An Easter weekend with sunny weather, tired feet, and perhaps a few Ottakringers will suit me just fine.

On the seventh day...

Another great weather day here in lower Austria. I cant believe the luck I am having as far as that goes, hopefully it continues, but I am grateful for what I have received none the less. Today, I ate lunch on the Danube River at Wien Marina. It reminded me of Edgewater in Newburgh, only a little bit more open with outside seating. My meal was rather tasty, imagine quality chicken fried in almost a manner you would find at a Chinese restaurant settled on top of garlic tomatoes. It was very good and my hosts again were nothing but the best.

Votive Church (Votivkirche) next to Charlie P's

Last night I ended up strolling around town and found Charlie P's Irish Pub. It was a very nice place, all English speaking, and actually had an American presence. Some law debate team from New York was competing in Vienna, they lost on Tuesday and were just enjoying life. Not the most wild bunch, and I really didnt even know there were such teams, perhaps they made it up, I would have never known. They moved on to the Triangle, which is Vienna's party district for a law mixer. I stayed around to eat dinner and was glad I did.  Later in the evening was the Copa Del Rey final between Barcelona and Real Madrid. I'm not much for the soccer, but appreciated the emotion of the people supporting it. It was nice to see the interest from such a broad array. Without having a home team involved it was impressive, but I still feel they have ground to make up on some American sporting events. There are all kinds of claims I hear about European Football, and they are awesome, and perhaps the best fans in the world...however coming from a place that traditionally packs 100K plus into football games and even NASCAR races,  the locals are not going to get NATO treatment from me and will have to earn this one.

You dont have to be Ronaldo to have a following in the USA.

I am looking forward to the weekend, I'll have full days to travel and see things! I am unsure where I will be going, but it will be adventurous...take care.

Slow down....

Now that I am settled in, its time that I adjust to what my life will be like for the following six weeks. I just completed my third work day, it feels a little strange not to be pushing to get things accomplished etc. I am actually at the mercy of my hosts on how productive I can be any given day. That has been a challenge, but I am working to accept the idea that I am not in total control of my daily accomplishments and just go with the local flow.

My office space at via donau.

Today however has been a very good one. As has become usual, I met a half dozen very kind people throughout the day as they explained their work. I was very happy that I got to see some of the technical aspects of a lock in Vienna and also speak to some industry things I know something about. The first few days were very interesting, but today was special because it was less policy and more action. So let me say it fit my regular job chores a little better. 

Now that most have left the offices, its time for me to start thinking about tonight. Last night I went to the grocery and stayed in the room, you cant go out to eat every night for six weeks. Also, if no one else does, I am going to introduce supermarket options beyond ham and salami to people of these parts. Of course, I like those things, and love salt, but talk about overload!! This is could get out of hand!!!  Major investment opportunity for Butterball, yeah right. Also the only American chip brand, Pringles...I like them, but seriously, is that the best we have to offer??? 

 

I am sure Paducah was the first location.

So...all I have accomplished with this entry is ruling out a ham sandwich and pringles in the room tonight. I think I am going to head to the metro, pick a line, and see what I can find...Guten Nacht.

Patriots Day...

Today began in regular fashion, I went to work. There were a few differences though. Work here doesnt start until roughly 9AM, most wear sports coat and tie, and its within walking distance from my hotel. All in all I will take the trade despite nearly pitting out before I even got to work by walking on the sunny side of the bridge. Lessons learned my friends....

This was my first day with via donau. My host, Michael, is a very gracious individual that created a schedule for me to follow for the next few weeks. It appears that I will be keeping my bags packed as my travels will be frequent, but for the next two weeks I will be in what I already consider my European home, Vienna.

American Bar near Center City.

So what made today special? Today is America's Patriots Day. I am not a Bostonian, but I am an American and it gave me a reason to be happy. The Boston Marathon and the morning Red Sox game just scream USA to me despite not being able to view ESPN. So after visiting Port of Vienna this afternoon, I decided that it was too nice out to sit in the hotel and waste countless hours reading internet news. So I celebrated at a place that I found fitting enough. I noticed a few college aged American's sitting together around two small Viennese tables and asked where they were from and if they were too celebrating Patriots Day, their answer, "DC, and is it really Patriots Day?". I said yes, smiled, and subtly continued reading the papers in front of me. What did I expect really? "Hell yeah, Go America!"? Would have gotten them one free drink, but of course I didn't expect that. But hey at least I heard a typical American voice give a typical American answer. Being so far away, it was patriotic enough on this day.

Wandering in Wien...

Hi All, I feel like I have been blogging quite a bit today. Its because I have in order to catch up before work begins tomorrow. Today was a pretty one in Vienna, Sunny, Temperature was in the mid-60's. It was a great day to go explore...

My day began with a light run on the Danube. There are all kinds of trails the run along each side of the river and even in the middle. I chose the one closest to my hotel. It was nice out, not much traffic on the trails as today was the Vienna Marathon. I believe they had over 20K competitors. I saw a few of the exhausted stragglers cross the line as I explored later.

St. Stephen's Cathedral

Around noon I left the hotel to see what I could find. I went to the corner where I can catch the Metro (Vogarternstrasse U1). Oddly enough people were just coming and going, but I punched my ticket for what could have been a free ride. It was only a handful of stops to City Center. It took less than 5 minutes, less than ten from my hotel room. Very nice. When I exited the Metro at Stephansplatz, I was surprised to see thousands of people in the plaza enjoying the afternoon. Stephansplatz is Stephen's Plaza where St Stephen's Cathedral is located. It is without doubt one of the most popular places in Vienna. Few of the shops were open, however the cafe's and restaurants were happening. Several coffee's and beers being sold all around. I passed today, only so I could keep moving to see things.

So what next?? I wondered to myself as I got lost time and time again in the streets. There are very few street signs here, and even when there are, its hard to keep track of the names because they are names Americans are not accustomed to. Thanks to my iPhone I could track my location on GPS. Lets find these marathoners, so I walked a few km until I found the path next to Stadtpark. Near there was a Marriott Hotel the boasted, Champions Sports Bar. Now we are talking I thought. I was too hungry to tackle a foreign menu without Reinhard...American items in English, perfect. Chicken Wrap please. Well, they tried. It wasn't great, but then again I didn't expect it to be. They did have ESPN America, which shows NHL re-runs (so thats what ESPN did with those hockey rights). It was the only sports bar I have ever saw that had a Bart Starr jersey next to Troy Aikman's and a painted portrait of Sugar Ray Leonard above the bar. So I enjoyed the experience.

Looking north up Karntner near Vienna Opera

All fueled up, I was ready to go again. I decided to head back through City Center. District One is the name of the area in which City Center is, its similar to our Time Square, the buildings aren't as tall and there are not as many lights, but its a major commercial area. I ended up walking back to my hotel and skipping the metro. It was a nice walk on a nice day. Also its good to know that City Center is only 3km from my hotel making it feasible to run to and back when in search of a new route.


Today, I didn't speak to hardly a soul outside of a Danke, Bitte, Est tut mir leid, Thanks, Sorry, Wasser, and Chicken Wrap. It was a good day though, I saw so many things that I have never even imagined before...even a bearded bum break dancing. He had some moves, but thats not reflective of the city at all. Everything is extremely clean and the people are largely proper. New adventures begin tomorrow at via donau...good night!

So happy to see this for three reasons: 1. No Euro will
 ever convince me Europe is more sophisticated. 2. It
proves Miley's dad is at least trying to make his own living.
3. Billy Ray still knows how to put keisters in the seats!

A day with Reinhard...

On Saturday, April 16, Reinhard Pfliegl took me for a private sightseeing tour of Vienna. Reinhard is one of my hosts who is also the former Managing Director of Austria Tech. It was very nice to have a local guide for my very first day in Vienna. Reinhard was super and I appreciated his assistance.

Reinhard picked me up around 1230 for a day of sightseeing. We headed west to Kreuzenstein Castle. The Autobahn isn't nearly as fast as I anticipated, it is a little slower than a typical US Interstate. At least that was the case around Vienna. Kreuzenstein Castle was on top of a hill near the neat little village of Leobendorf. It would be worth while to go back to the area because it is known for small wineries.

We then moved across the Danube at Tulln on our way to the Monastery at Klosterneuburg. Klosterneuburg was a very nice place. Other than the Monastery there were several little shops with a lot of activity. I enjoyed my first Viennese coffee, not a regular of caffeine, it gave me the jitters. But I played the local game.

Continuing on our tour, we made it back to metro Vienna. Reinhard said Schonbrunn Palace was a must. I had seen pictures similar to the building you see below, with dinner near, I nearly offered to insist that we move forward. I am certainly glad we stopped. The Palace itself looks exactly like the post cards. However, the gardens in the back, only the naked eye could do it justice. It made Keeneland look like my parents yard. Incredible place!!!

Reinhard, his daughter Elisabeth, her husband Gerhardt, and I had supper at Plachutta. There are multiple locations in Vienna. We were at the Nussdorf location. This was my first real foreign dinning experience. The decor surprised me, it almost reminded me of a stuffy American restaurant. Only this one allowed dogs (dogs are allowed everywhere in Vienna) and the menu was not elegant. The specialty was boiled beef. When I opened the menu, there it was, a picture of entire cow. Made it easy enough, I selected the shoulder (brisket), had some horseradish, fried potatoes, and spinach. The food was very good minus the unavailability of ice water. Sparkling water is such a ridiculous concept in my opinion. But fair enough...great day!

Kreuzenstein Castle

Me in the castle's bailey.

Klosterneuburg Abbey

Alter in the Abbey Church

Schonbrunn Palace

Schonbrunn Palace (Gardens)

And they're off...

Hello World...or to only the half dozen souls who were lucky enough to be given a link to my first ever attempt to put my life into written words. English was not my best subject, and some of these posts may not even be proofread, so please bare with me. Also, if there are pictures with me in it, you may blame me for ruining a good sight, but not for picture quality. Regardless, I hope everyone is having a great day and thanks for reading.

Most of those who know me are well aware that I like to move around and see things. I rarely take pictures or record where I have been and what I have saw. That ends now.

On Thursday, I began a once in a lifetime journey to Europe. Thankfully I work for an outstanding company that has afforded me the opportunity to do something like this. My mission is to observe and learn about the European inland waterways system. I begin a multiple week stint with via donau tomorrow morning. It's very exciting to be able to see how others do things both professionally and personally.

So what will this blog be about? Good question! What I have in mind is periodic updates on what I am doing and things I find interesting. Considering that most of my readership will be family and friends, I doubt I will bore you on this platform with the locking structure of the Danube River etc. I'll save that for another audience. Therefore, you are most likely to read about cities, food, and culture. Enjoy the blog and email me if you have any suggestions for topics.