Vienna

Vienna was my next stop after moving on from Klagenfurt. Again, what does one say about Vienna? I've talked about it before, and certainly more elequently than the tired shell that I am now could replicate. The city holds a very special place in my heart for many reasons, starting with the fact that it's the first European city that I ever spent much time in - and it's the first place I visited after my sister Beth gave me my first travel journal, which meant that it forced me to spend a lot of time thinking about it in a different ways - and, well, it's just an amazing place Think of a less hip Paris, that is easier to get around and where everyone is more than happy to speak English. It has amazing architecture and great museums and plenty of cool sights. On this trip I stayed at the Hotel Graben, which is right around the corner from the Stephensplatz, where the U1 and U3 metro lines meet, so it's easy to find. I arrived at the hotel in the afternoon, after catching the train from Klagenfurt and getting into the Westbaunhof train station - the train was an hour late, which is highly unusual for Austrian trains, but more on that in a minute. I was met in the hotel lobby by my very good friend Petra Szucsich, who has run two very successful Global Modules, with my friends and colleagues, Rob Williams and Sarah Cohen. Petra has been a tireless supporter or the GM approach, and has helped us make contacts at two Austrian universities. We had a meeting this afternoon with Katharina and Thomas Stephenson - Katharina teaches at the University of Vienna, and Thomas at Sigmund Freud University. We spent an hour or so planning GMs for the upcoming year at the University of Vienna, and then went off to an outdoor cafe for a great traditional meal. The conversation was funny and insightful, and just goes to show, once again, that Americans who don't travel are missing out on so much - especially if they don't travel because they think that Europeans don't like Americans, which simply isn't the truth at all. Katharina, Thomas and Petra all spoke impeccable English, and put up with my clumsy Hoosier English, and it was a lovely time. After Katharina and Thomas took off home to look after their two year old - or maybe to look after their fifteen year old - Petra took me to a rooftop cocktail bar which included a spectacular view of St. Stephen's cathedral. I finally broke down and tried a mojito, mainly because I was trying to replicate this great drink that I had in the brand new cocktail bar in Ruzemberok, Slovakia (again, more on that story later). Oh, and to show you how easily amused I am by technology, when we decided to go to the cocktail bar Petra pulled out her cell phone and used it to recharge the time on her parking permit - I suppose we have this technology in the US, but I've never seen it, and even if I tried to pull it off I'd just end up calling in a nuclear strike on an ally nation by mistake. In the end, another lovely stay in Vienna, and was sorry to have to move on so quickly.