Hello Vienna: 2009

Friday, November 6, 2009

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.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

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.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

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.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

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.

Monday, October 26, 2009

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

Sunday, October 25, 2009

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).

Friday, October 23, 2009

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

interesting week

This week was interesting to say the least. Long meetings at the IAEA with some visitors from the U.S. Lots of news stories out there and if you look closely, you can see me in the very back! This weekend I am off to Tokai, Japan for a meeting there, which is the furthest east ever for me. I will post some photos from our long week later today.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

our new place in D.C.!

Anna and i have found our new place in D.C. after much searching. Our friend Jacque went and took photos for us. It is a little off the beaten path up in Glover park but perfect for this little lady:

Neat little one bedroom that is affordable (for washington) and has a great little side yard:

Time to take Jacque out to dinner for finding this little gem!

Long work week and cold ears

This week was very very long to say the least. I keep getting home too late to go to grocery stores, which close around 8 pm. Also, when my badge was renewed for the UN Buildings, they stripped me of my commissary privileges- how dare they! Last night, I fell to the temptation of pizza and steigl (now I have to head to they gym), partly because it is absolutely freezing here and I don't have the right clothes. Going to get a hat today!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Bringing back the blog

Well, it's time I revived the dead blog. Anna and I had some wonderful travels after the hectic General Conference. We went to Formentera and Ibiza. Formentera is one of the most amazing places we have ever been- hands down. We stayed at Talaya right on the beach which was incredible and drank hierbas under the moon. One night it rained incredibly hard right through the roof because i forgot to close up the sunlight.

After Formentera, we went to Ibiza (not to the clubs) but to a little hotel called Es Cucons, which was beautiful. Everything was planned to the last detail. This is where we ate breakfast every morning.

Since we last posted, we have also been to Badgastein, Austria, and Phoenix, Arizona. Quite a lot of traveling. I'm back in Vienna now and tonight I'm making a stew because it is quite cold outside. For the first time I am using suppengruen (http://germanfood.about.com/od/introtogermanfood/a/suppengruen.htm) We'll see how it turns out.

I leave you today with a picture of Anna on our Formentera hog.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

IAEA General Conference

Greetings from the 53rd Annual IAEA General Conference! We had a number of high level visitors this year, including Secretary Chu.

James and Chris ran to get coffee at the wrong time and I ended up meeting the Secretary! Today we are typing up our notes and then to the countryside for the weekend.