Goodbye Vienna

Tonight is my last night in Vienna. Much packing to do and then my office friends are taking me out for a beer. It's been great fun and I'll look forward to the day I can return. Here is a parting shot for all of those edelweiss hunters out there. Until next time, farewell Vienna.

Rob Goes Home and I Speak at IAEA

Rob went back to Boston this morning. I had to capture one last picture of him with his favorite new food group: kasekrainers (or as he calls them quesokroners). You can't see the Steigl, but trust me, it's there. It was a lot of fun having Rob here (even though I got quite sick). Thanks Rob. After he left this morning, I headed to the IAEA to give a talk on the program I work for in D.C. Probably my biggest audience ever, which was pretty fun.

Freezing Cold Schloss and Heuriger Hirt

Rob and I went to the Schonbrun Palace today. It was freezing cold and I am getting a cold of my own- awesome. I need a hat but all of the stores are closed on Sunday. After the Schloss, we went to Heuriger Hirt for lunch. It was super tasty as always. Rob eating his first dumpling. And here is a nice view of the freezing cold grape vines on our walk back. Icewine making time.

More funny signs and rob says hello to vienna

I thought I should post a few more funny signs from Japan. Check these gems out: And this sweet one....
That says "no smorking" for the record. On the way out of Japan, I got dressed up as a samari, which was quite fun, and now robert is here.

More Japan

Here we are in Japan. The subway ride was super fast this morning. Well, it was a local train, but still very fast. The masks are still around (and apparently have been around a long time; even before SARS)

From Hello Vienna

The food at the reception was very good, especially the sushi.

From Hello Vienna

and this wonderful plate...

From Hello Vienna

Hello Japan

After a long flight on Austrian Air, I could finally see the sun rising as we began to cross into the next day. It was quite striking.
A couple hours later, the sun was up, the sky was clear, and the clouds were below.

It's pretty neat sitting about the wing like that. After arriving in Japan, I remembered that I had promised Anna I would take pictures of funny signs. I found this one, which is pretty good. I don't know what it means, but I like it.

There was also this great no swimming sign, or at least I think that's what it says.
For lunch, I went to a place that has a vending machine for ordering. You put in money, get a ticket, and take the ticket to the counter. Unfortunately, it was all in Japanese. I was able to match the first and last symbol and ended up with something pretty tasty.
This is what I got (well, one of these).

photos of the long week

Even though it only went until Wednesday, this week was one of the longest weeks of work ever. I think I could summarize our feelings quite concisely by posting a picture of my friend James who was away from his family since September 30, and was asked to stop by Vienna on his way home.

From Hello Vienna

No questions- seriously- no more questions. However, it was pretty incredible. For those of you who missed James and me in the NY Times, we were there, hanging out in the back, furiously taking notes.

And the press coverage was incredible. I took this photo of them all lined up outside of the conference room waiting for the meeting to reconvene.

From Hello Vienna

In summary, very fun but glad it's done! Now on to Japan- the furthest east ever for me!

Here is the entire crew.

From Hello Vienna