Another trip to Vienna, this time to co-deliver a training workshop.

Again the flight was full of colleagues. Many of them were heading to somewhere like Serbia, so were having to fly west to Vienna and get two more connecting flights east in order to arrive about midnight.

My flight was uneventful and direct, and I was rapidly taken in the taxi to the hotel where I would sleep and where the training would happen. The taxi driver seemed to use a very circuitous route, and I was worried about having to negotiate on the fare, but I was proved wrong and we pitched up at the hotel with the fare at 38 Euros, which is pretty average for Vienna airport to the centre. The temperature difference from Athens was from 30 degrees down to six, so I wasn’t hanging about outside.

The hotel Triest (in German it means “step”) is a trendy boutique hotel in the city centre, and if I recall rightly from the brochure, Sir Terence Conran was involved in the interior design. I’m sure marketers would define it as modern and minimalist, I just hated it. I don’t want to stay in a magazine photo, I just want to be comfortable.

My co-presenter Markus arrived and we set up the room and agreed the game plan for the next day. Markus lives in Vienna and is a great advocate for the city. After we had finished we drove to a restaurant, very typical of the Viennese. Many restaurants in Vienna don’t take credit cards, the deal is that the food is relatively plentiful and reasonably inexpensive, but cash is king.

The restaurant had generous portions which we washed down with the restaurant’s own brew.

Markus was insistent on giving me a quick tour of the main sights by car. To be honest I wasn’t that keen but agreed out of politeness. I’m glad I did as Markus talked with authority and delight about the history, and it was great to get a sense of the broad avenues and imposing architecture.

Delivered back at my hotel, I decided to go to a bar I had seen close by which advertised football. On entering it was clear that it was heavily frequented by people from English speaking countries who live in Vienna.

I watched Manchester United win a Champions League game, alternating between that and watching a poisonous ongoing argument between the man and lady who were serving in the bar.

A lady sat next to me was writing assiduously in a book and at one point I glanced to see what she was writing about. To my surprise, I saw that she was actually writing down what was happening around her. Maybe she has written about me in her blog, who knows?

Game over I went back to the hotel to sleep.

Up early and into the restaurant for breakfast. Despite my reservation about the décor, the breakfast buffet was excellent. The training went well, and the lunch buffet was a good as breakfast (at the Triest I say forget the décor and enjoy the food).

In the evening Markus had arranged a group dinner, but before that I had a piece of work I had to finish and send. This took longer than expected, so in the end when I was finished it was not worth the ride to join the others.

I set off to find a small restaurant nearby, and found an Italian restaurant that would do the trick. I went in; the place was fairly empty.

I greeted the waiter in Italian, and was greeted back in German in a tone that said “we don’t do anything fancy like speak Italian here.”

Anyway the meal was good, and the waiter even became quite friendly as the meal progressed.

Walking back I popped in to see who was playing in Europe that night. They were showing an Arsenal match. As I have said before, if it’s against foreign opposition I’ll even support Arsenal. In fairness, they played that night with the speed and flair that makes them breathtaking to watch when they are on song, and it was a pleasure to see.

Back to the hotel and a good night’s sleep.

Second day of the training and another good session. When we broke for lunch we had just helped themselves from the buffet when we were joined by another party staying in the hotel. From their German I would guess that they were from Austria. These guys and girls really knew about devastating a buffet and within minutes of arrival it looked like Pharaoh’s Egypt after the locusts.

I had to leave early afternoon as I had two flights to get home. A Turkish colleague came in the taxi to the airport as she too had an early flight. She recognised that the driver was Turkish so that was me out of the conversation all the way to the airport.

The short flight to Munich was fine, with a longish wait for the Athens flight, exacerbated by the fact it was late again (will LH 3392 ever be on time?).

Overall an enjoyable and useful trip. I can’t claim to have seen any excitement in Vienna, but it was a pleasant stay in one of my favourite European cities.

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