Villach

Last week I travelled from Vienna to Villach, in southern Austria, and back again, to present at the ICL Conference there. The train ride down was very pleasant, although it started out with the frustration of missing the direct train to Villach by around forty seconds. That meant that on the next train, about an hour later, it was necessary to switch trains twice, first at Mar an der Bruck and then at Freisch. It was easy to to, although it also precluded taking cat naps for fear that I would sleep through the station where I was switching. The other problem was that because of the mad rush I did not have any food with me and the stop at stations was too brief to grab anything - my one attempt left me jumping back onto the train, after unsuccessfully trying to buy something, just as the train was leaving. The other problem was that the first train of the day had a cafeteria car but I did not make it down there, foolishly thinking that the others would have a cafeteria car and I would catch up later. As it turns out I had a direct trip on the way back and had the glorious opportunity to eat at the cafeteria car . . . well, it was not quite the same experience Cary Grant had in North by Northwest. The food was pretty institutional, although the experience alone made it worthwhile. The waiter told me that there were only two choice, the specials, and he waved off my first choice (although I saw it go by on a plate about ten minutes later). The one big advantage to the direct ride back was that I could grab a few naps. The train ride was around five hours both ways and it was absolutely beautiful. You can take a plane down to Klagenfurt (about twenty minutes away from Villach, although even that is a little confusing), but I would definitely take the train.

The conference itself was pretty good, although also pretty technical (of course, everything seems pretty technical to me). The Global Module approach was very well received. The moderator, a Greek professor, who had critiqued the first two presenters, actively supported what we're doing at Champlain. When someone from the audience raised the issue of the discussion being carried out in English, the moderator even went so far as to point out that the conference would not even have been held without the existence of English as a common language. The support was nice. Part of expanding the GM network is getting out to international audiences and spreading the good word. Villach is a lovely little provincial town with a river running through the middle of it. There is a lovely little cathedral, St. Jakob's, and you can climb up to the top of the tower (think the closing scene of Vertigo - I am full of Hitchcock references today). There were also more representations of soldiers in armor in that church than just about any one I can ever think of.