Huge thanks to my work colleague Aqmal for helping me move all that luggage - yikes! More pictures and descriptions will follow, but I'm just psyched about this place and this neighborhood. This is what city living should be: lots of shoppes and restaurants and cafes any direction out the door. A subway entrance less than 20 ft from the door. A top floor space with tall ceilings, a terrace, and a view. A few co-workers and friends within either walking distance or two subway stops.
I'm genuinely excited for this like its a new challenge or new opportunity, and yet I also hope to spend as little time in the apartment as possible due to work and other traveling adventures. Time will tell! Until then, one last night in a Marriott bed to enjoy. Life officially "living in Vienna" begins tomorrow!!!
Today I ran about Vienna's Museum Quarter, and I cannot describe in words how impressive it is. Former mansions. Palaces. Galleries and monuments and architecture that can genuinely only be found in Europe. Chicago's museums are wonderful; they're brilliant and educational and full of history ... but not like this. I'll post some pictures soon, to this blog or facebook, once I get them moved over to the laptop.
But pictures aren't what this post is about.
Most of my pictures are lousy. I love to take photos (although I'm certainly no expert), and I keep a decent DSLR camera with different lenses and attachments in order to produce a moderately nice result (although I'm certainly no professional).
And yet, most of my pictures are lousy. And that's okay.
Spending almost the entire day running around Vienna and taking pictures, I had a lot of time to think about what I was doing and why, what it means to me. And for me, photography is something that bears more in common with art than for many other people I know. There's a difference between snapping a picture on a phone or a quick point-and-shoot, and really searching and striving for a unique view of a place, a person, or a memory.
Not everyone has a philosophy when they settle behind the viewfinder on a camera, and that's certainly alright. Everyone takes pictures for different reasons, at different times, and in different ways. Personally, I feel like when I take a picture, I want it to be unique. I will suffer through dozens after dozens of photos that don't look good, don't line up right, don't seem to actually capture the subject ... if it means capturing that one unique shot. Because when I look back at that image later it makes me feel like "either nobody has captured this subject this way before, or others have decided that other views were better / more attractive / insert whatever adjective or description you want ... ... but this view, from this angle, in this light ... this is mine. The feeling of satisfaction and joy from that realization makes the memory -- and I'll be the very first to admit that it could be full of crap. That photo could have been taken dozens of times before or seen by hundreds of people over years and years ... but it feels unique and special to me, for reasons that only I know. And that's important.
Some of my favorite pictures of all time were the strange ones, the ones that people didn't notice or felt were lesser than other options. I remember scaling a set of large but awkward rocks on Cape Sounion at the farthest tip of Greece in order to brace against a fall of a couple-hundred feet to take a profile picture of the Temple of Poseidon that nobody else took that day. Seeing that image makes me instantly relive the inspiration that the profile could be captured from that angle, the sheer terror of looking down into the cape, and everything else from that day.
I should be so fortunate to have some pictures from Vienna recreate those feelings.
One of the unfortunate results of searching for those kinds of memories is that the search can be isolating. As uplifting and fantastic as running around Vienna was today, it still felt lonely at times. Therein lies the trade off: point-and-shoot and phone grabs are usually taken to capture our times spent with others. And that's what's missing from this city and this trip so far. The shared experiences. The memories with other people. Friends. Family. And love. This isn't a boo-hoo kind of moment I'm trying to write (although hell, its obviously part of what I'm feeling as of typing), but just an observation.
The time we spend together creates more perfect memories than can be captured on film or file.
That said, I would encourage anyone who enjoys photography to visit this city. It is entirely begging to be photographed at just about every corner, from historic churches to famous opera houses or concert halls to beautiful natural scenery, and of course it is a midpoint to so much of central Europe. Bring comfortable walking shoes. Bring your favorite or your best camera. But most importantly, seek or bring good company to enjoy it with.
Updated 5/26/13 10:15 pm --
I may want to adjust the colors a little bit to punch up the contrast, make the blue and the red especially jump ... but after a whole day of searching and about 100 pictures in an hour or two, I think this is the closest to what I'm talking about. Personal and meaningful to me:
I've remarked before about the Vienna public transit system, and had a quick experience today that got me thinking "this would make for a good blog post." Don't worry, it won't be long (by anyone's standards, but especially for this site!).
Public transit here requires a ticket, of course. These can be purchased in increments from as short as one ride and up to ten; and for time periods as short as 24 hours up to one year. The brilliant thing is that passes for time periods include rides on every type of transport: subway, train, surface tram, and bus (within the Vienna area). There is never any "swipe in" or validation process ... the whole thing is on the honor system.
Except for the random checks, that is. Today, a man in his thirties wearing a plaid shirt and jeans was standing on the subway train I rode. After the subway started, he revealed a badge from around his neck and proceeded to ask everyone to please show their tickets. A colleague of his, a woman in her forties wearing a sweater over a polo shirt with jeans, worked the other end of the car. Failure to have a ticket results in a fine that's more expensive than a monthly pass, so there's really no reason not to have a ticket in the event that you get caught. This time, everybody in our car was good, so the plainclothes officers departed the car at the next station and probably went on to inspect another subway.
It sounds like the system has a very high success rate: people are generally happy to pay for their passes and don't want to try and cheat the system; whether its from fear of getting caught and paying a fine, or their general disinterest in cheating, I don't know. I wonder, though, if they'd have an even higher success rate if Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones ran the inspection service :)
No Ticket!!!
Now, if only public transit passes worked on airships ...
... and, given the conclusion of that scene, that brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "Calling Shotgun!"
yes I know the biplane had a machine gun and not a shotgun ... but the pun still works, okay? leave me alone...
This was originally intended to be a post after the first
successful day at the IAEA; however, apartment hunting and a long day at the
office sapped the energy right out of me.
So, instead, this post documents two successful days working in Vienna!
The Vienna International Centre is the home of the IAEA and
other UN agencies. It is a large,
seven-building campus located immediately off the subway line, on the banks of
the Danube River. It’s tough to
describe, so I’ll try to upload a picture here:
The VIC, with the Subway station in the foreground [View looking Northwest]
Google Sketchup is fun
The rotunda, with all the Member States flags, around the Memorial Plaza
Inside the office floors are like some kind of horrible
optical illusion. As I look across my
hall, I see another concaved hallway. “No
problem,” I think, “that hallway takes me to the stairwell I need. I’ll just cross the hall and turn left.” Except, crossing the hall and turning left, I’m
actually in a different third of the
building then I need for that stairwell!
ARG! What sick, demented, horrible
person designed this place! I thought
Europeans, and especially central (think: German) Europeans were known for their
views on efficiency? Where’s the plain,
unadorned rectangle? Now THAT’S how you make
good use of space.
Anyways, I’m working in the Incident and Emergency Centre,
which has a difficult act to balance. On
the one hand, it’s an international operations center, which sounds
straightforward enough. Except they
actually have exactly no regulatory authority or jurisdiction to do
anything. They can receive information, process
information, assess information, and share information. Lately, they’ve been asked to conduct
independent assessments and publish recommendations based on data from
emergencies or incidents; but that function is still so new that they’re only
just developing the infrastructure to do it.
I’ll be designing a workflow management system to help them with the
first part – dealing with all that information – as well as other functions
they need to stand up and operate smoothly.
Should be a fun challenge!
I hope to have an apartment soon; I’ve located one – and exactly
one – apartment with air conditioning, and it is allegedly located in a good
area and just across the street from a subway station that can connect
me to work in about 10 minutes. If the
visit goes well, I’ll hopefully have news to report in my next update. If it doesn’t go well … I may not have much
of a choice, really! This is no time to
be picky …
Getting into an office environment and meeting people has
been great. As I may have mentioned (but
don’t think I did), the last few days of not working in Vienna had me a little
down. Just a bit lonely I suppose. But, past trips and experience helped me to
realize right away that it was just some muckity-muck that needed to be slogged
through, and not indicative of any bigger problem. In general, the folks in my group are
experienced and care a lot about protecting people during an emergency. It’s a group with tons of cultural and
geographical diversity, with employees from all over Europe, Russia, Canada,
and only one or two other Americans. Of
course, I’m hopeful that the Canadians and Minnesotan can help me find good
places to catch the NHL playoffs over here, hehe.
I hope to get around to other parts of the city soon and
ideally to get OUT of the city in the next week or two. Do some traveling. Take some pics. You know. No big deal.
I said it in previous posts but Vienna is a great city. Clean, safe, historic, green. I’d recommend visiting to just about
anyone. I have a view towards the West
over the Danube River (obscured by buildings) that looks out towards a set of
hills that border the city, and it’s just a great scene. Of course, it helps that Vienna seems to only
ever be 55-75 degrees F with hardly any rain.
Folks here tell me that won’t last … hence the desire for A/C! Hopefully I’ll have some cool news to report
soon!
And boy, does Vienna give some very nice first impressions.
At the time this post is being written, I've been in Vienna for almost exactly 48 hours. I may need 48 hours to write this entry, so wait until you've got some time to kill before reading.
The city of Vienna is beautiful. Three straight days of sunny 70 degree weather punctuated by fluffy white clouds and light breezes helps. In a nutshell, Vienna feels very much like a classical European city ... which is to say that it's exactly what you think of when you think of a major European metropolis. There are narrow, twisting streets adjacent to modern highways. There are unique and modern architectural constructions down the street from hundred year-old facades. The pace on the streets feels calm; not necessarily leisurely but not hurried or stressed either. People grab food or coffee outside at almost any hour. The public transportation options are plentiful and efficient. And most of all, it's just cool.
My DSLR camera is still packed away, so the following pictures are from my iPhone 4. Some of these images were shot into the sun, which is bad form for a photographer, but the only way to capture some of the scenes for this post. Also, I've reduced the size of each photo to a "medium/large" size for faster loading and a better mobile experience. If the photos are too small OR if you'd like full size photos, just let me know. If I get enough requests I may just open a public Dropbox folder or use another cloud service.
Anyways, this first set is from the area immediately around the hotel, in Vienna's 3rd District. See what I mean about the very classical European style?
The Imperial Riding School - Renaissance Hotel, in Vienna's 3rd District
How did that get in here? Me, at the corner of the Stadpark, adjacent to Vienna's 1st District
These next photos are in front of, and around, the area near St. Stephen's Cathedral -- one of the highest structures in Vienna, easily its tallest church, and the unofficial center of the Inner City: Vienna's 1st District.
Definitely not to be mistaken with Vienna's Inner City, here is where I'll be spending most of my quality time in the next few months. I couldn't access the grounds without either a Visitor or Employee Badge, but give me a few days ...
The Vienna International Center, VIC, home of several UN Offices, and also known to locals as UNO City.
The view across the Danube River, from an area a few blocks away from the VIC.
Looks delightful!
Now, imagine for a moment that you live in a major city, and someone asks you where you live, and you reply "I live near the park." What does that mean to us in America? In New York, it probably means you live in Manhattan, near Central Park. In Chicago, downtown near Millennium Park or in the South Loop by Grant Park. In other cities, it means different things. So then perhaps you can understand my surprise when, just a few blocks away from my hotel, and only just a covered doorway off a major street, I stumbled onto the Belvedere Palace grounds:
I promise that I'll be returning there with my DSLR in the near future for daytime and nighttime shots!
Today, I tried to explore more of the city, and took a surface tram to the area near Kalrsplatz, a central subway station located in front of St. Charles Church -- a gorgeous building:
Continuing the theme of just slowing down and relaxing, I decided to plop myself onto a bench and people watch for a bit. After all, it was nearly 12 noon and it was (yet another) amazing day outside. My inspector curiosity took hold when I noticed men in military uniforms beginning to gather. I was further intrigued - and went in for a closer took - when the church bells sounded for nearly 15 minutes! After keeping my distance from the far edge of the water out of respect, I noticed the uniforms splitting into two groups: dignitaries lining up for lunch, and a band getting ready to play.
I'm American ... don't they know that ropes don't apply to me?
... so, of course I snuck into perhaps the best vantage point possible, and enjoyed a lovely, impromptu concert courtesy of the Austrian National Army.
Apparently the tall American is enough to scare away the Austrian Army!
... or, at least, their band ...
I was joined by a delightful couple on holiday from London: Edmund (Scottish) and Mika (Polish). They engaged a local school teacher who had come out from his office to see what the bells and the music were all about. According to the teacher, the military and members of the Roman Catholic church hold a mass at this church every year to pray for peace. The dignitaries, their families and guests, and members of the clergy then break bread together. The band was playing as a special treat for the lunch feast. Fascinating!
I posted two videos to YouTube, with my amazing vantage point and all:
For some reason Blogger isn't letting me simply embed my second video, so here is the link: http://youtu.be/R2lHD1_A950
Here's a few more pics of Karlsplatz and the church, from different angles.
After all this exploring over a few days, I needed some local food. I found a local schnitzel place next to the Vienna Institute of Technology. Believe it or not, the Wiener schnitzel (Vienna cutlet) is pretty good here.
This isn't my first big post on landing in Vienna and exploring around and my first impressions. Hopefully I'll write that tomorrow. I've taken several pictures and want the post to be a good one for you devoted readers <this is where you insert the sound of me chuckling at how hilarious that last statement was>.
This post is just to stay in the habit of writing, and share a little story that I hope highlights some of the changes I'm trying to continue here in Vienna.
Earlier today, I ventured out to view two potential apartments I might rent for my tenure in Vienna. The first apartment was being leased by a lovely couple whose names were Gerta and Heinz. We met in front of a coffee shop in the building adjacent to the apartment, and went inside to check it out. Right off the bat, I knew that it wasn't going to be a good fit for me. A small studio apartment with low furniture, a very high price tag, and busy traffic all around. Thanks, but no thanks. Yet, I sensed that the apartment was something they took pride in furnishing and renting ... a sense that was confirmed when Heinz talked about some hand-made accent pieces, and Gerta discussed how they enjoy this "side business" since both of them are semi-retired. I stayed, asked some good questions, and then they invited me to chat with them over coffee.
Now here's where the old me would have come up with any reason to bail. Not only did I know that I wasn't interested in the apartment, but I didn't want to be stuck for an unknown length of time in the interests of politeness. But - to my surprise and pleasure - that feeling disappeared as we walked along the Vienna sidewalk. Where did I have to be? Nowhere. What did I have scheduled? Nothing. These two lovely people were being kind and generous with their time, and rather than flee to the relative safety of isolation I said to myself "what the hell, let's have coffee!"
I'm glad that I did. Gerta and Heinz were warm and conversational. I learned that they have a son named Thomas who is a co-pilot with Austrian Airlines, and who flew them to Chicago last year during the weekend of the Air & Water Show. Not bad! I also learned through this discussion that Austrian Airlines has a new non-stop service to Chicago (that makes them the only carrier to do so). They offered some recommendations about Vienna, places to visit, information about traveling around, and details on a high speed boat (!!!) that connects Vienna to Bratislava in about 40 minutes (sweet!). I'm genuinely glad that I slowed down a little, and voluntarily traded about an hour of the day for some coffee with two strangers.
Reading this post back I'll be the first to admit that the story above feels kind of lame. Nothing exciting, nothing dramatic. "So, Nik saw an apartment and wanted to be a jerk by leaving to be alone but instead wasn't a jerk and had coffee with two people. Great blog </sarcasm>" Well, it doesn't have to be exciting or dramatic. It's about change, and reflection, and improvement. It probably says some words like that in the Ground Rules post or the "About Me" section. One of the goals for this trip was to slow down, appreciate things, and continue to be more social and outgoing. So far, I'd say that's an encouraging sign.
Another goal for this trip is to learn how to count goals. For example: knowing the difference between three smaller, discrete goals versus one giant convoluted multi-function goal. That'll come later ;)
In fact, this hour is the hour, considering that this blog post comes to you from Terminal 5 at O'Hare International Airport. Fun fact: before settling on Terminal 5, this terminal was originally called "The Terminal of Bad Decisions and Endless Rage." It's true ... Check the Wikipedia article I just updated!
Now that I'm sitting at the gate, I'm not nearly as jittery as I was closing things out at my condo and then riding to the airport. Compartamentalizing I guess ... When push comes to shove just gotta block out the bad and get things done.
So, what's the status update? Bags are checked; bulkhead row aisle seat secured (a little extra legroom), and ready to board. Ready for a change. Ready for an adventure (or several!). Car and hotel are booked, confirmed, and waiting. Paperwork at old and new employers is finished. All that's left is to get there, get a local SIM card for phone & Internet, get into an apartment, and get to work!
I won't lie (as promised in the Ground Rules post): there's still plenty of trepidation dogging me on this trip. I don't expect it to just go away overnight ... But I'm pleasantly surprised that its not as bad as I feared it might be. Hopefully that means that this is the right thing to do at the right time, for the right reasons. Things have continued to work out for the best so far, and this will be a valuable change for me. No super detailed plans. No incredibly specific itineraries. The next six months are "we'll see."
I'm so grateful and feel so very fortunate for all of the friends and family who have shared their best wishes for this journey. I'll do my best to keep you posted on my whereabouts, adventures, successes and failures. This blog is therapeutic and valuable for me to accept some risk & share details I wouldn't have in the past. But it's also a vehicle for me to keep you all close by.
Below: just a tiny line at security in The Terminal of Bad Decisions, and a snapshot of the first destination of many.
The half-tongue-in-cheek motto of emergency preparedness - - Semper Gumpy: Always Flexible.
I liked to think that I was pretty adaptable. Shoot, I still think that I am pretty adaptable: something happens, I can roll with it, understand, make decisions, move forward.
I just didn't think my trip to Vienna would have this many twists and turns to navigate! (at least, not until I got over there at least)
In the last few hours, I've completely ripped up and rebuilt my entire travel itinerary. How I'm getting to the airport, when I'm flying, on what airline, through what city, how I leave the airport, where I'm staying, and for how long.
Piece of cake, right?
Well ... after an hour or two of focused-frantic online searching and information gathering, it wasn't too bad. I just hope that I'm making good decisions throughout this whole process. This opportunity seemed like such an unquestionably GOOD decision at the beginning. Adversities have come up, and I feel like I've addressed them each in turn. From strengthening my resolve to take this job, to overcoming communication and coordination issues at work, it hasn't been easy, but all along it's felt right somehow.
Now yet another set of hurdles with less than four days to go? That doesn't make me feel better, in line with the above sentiment ... it makes me wonder what the hell is going to happen this weekend that I haven't predicted yet?
I don't mean to claim "oh woe is me" amid all of this drama. I've always known that I've liked attention, and I've definitely accepted that as I've learned more about myself over the past few months ... but this absolutely is not a ploy for attention or sympathy or anything like that. This post is just a vent: a way to release pent-up pressure or frustration about all of the crap involved with making a quick turnaround, borderline reckless, major life change (and no, that's not meant as an allegory to anything else so don't bother reading into it that way).
On the plus side, I don't need to worry about the annoyance that is London's Heathrow Airport, I escape needing to make overnight plans at a huge expense there, and I get to cross Ireland off my list of countries I've visited (the Dublin airport totally counts, even if its for only two hours ... don't take this away from me!). These changes should also help to keep my travel stress levels lower than they would be otherwise, which is a big win.
Here's hoping that life in Vienna helps to keep my stress levels down. I could really go for a little slower pace of life right about now ... nothing drastic, but a semi-extended chance to recharge the internal batteries, because they're getting pretty worn out by now.
It was a pretty emotionally moving day at work today. My last day in the office for a while: six months at least, and possibly years.
This won't be a full blog post ... I'm not sure that I have the energy for the long-winded diatribe I prefer to espouse whenever possible. More of a reflection. Most of us work very hard at what we do; we strive to learn, grow, understand, and execute. Our motives and motivations are certainly different, but we try and we work at it and we generally want to do better (again, generalizing for the most part).
It's moving, then, to have those actions recognized by others. There was no big party at work today, no grand celebration, and I'm 100% perfectly fine with that -- I wouldn't have wanted one and it wouldn't have been appropriate anyways; but, walking around the office to say goodbye to people, I received no shortage of congratulations, well-wishes, and simple recognition. I believe that this next chapter is going to be filled with a lot more uncertainty than I or anyone else realizes. It was genuinely touching to be encouraged and built-up by so many people at work in advance of that chapter, even (or especially) by many who I don't work with regularly if at all!
I don't believe that I've belabored the story of how my employer came to send me off with their support, and honestly I don't care to do so. I know that there are many things I could have done to make the transition easier. I also know that I don't feel 100% responsible for the various delays and challenges that needed to be overcome. Everything happened the way that it did, for various reasons, and I've learned from it in order to do better in the future. Hopefully I won't need to be recognized for that type of learning down the line.
Until then, a few days of relaxation! Sleeping in! Finishing up things at my condo! Enjoying the beautiful weather! I have not been shy about telling people that I need it. I can't think of a better way to start than being touched by the number of friends and coworkers who sought me out to offer their best wishes today.
And I'm not talking about a big picture, relationship, soul-mate kind of a dilemma. It's just an honest question: spend time with people or spend time alone?
Because good lord am I tired and stressed. I think I may be looking forward to a week of vacation from work next week more than the travel to Vienna that follows it! Yes, that's right, I'm taking about a week of hard earned, well deserved, and much needed leave from work before setting off on this [grand / insane / awesome / stupid / insert your own adjective] trip. Sitting and relaxing, reading a good book or three, watching Netflix, and not worrying about putting the energy or compassion or time into others feels like it may help to bring my stress level down from the "batshit-loco-crazy" range to the "normal" stress range.
Yet, I don't really want to spend a lot of time solo. For one, I'll probably have more than my fair share of that overseas; but for two, I've really come to like other people. And I enjoy putting that energy or compassion or interest into friends' lives not only because so many have done that for me, but because I'm genuinely interested in what they have to say.
That and I don't know that I feel like being alone.
Companionship and shared time together was something I dearly loved about being married. I'll be the first to admit that the quality of that time wasn't as high as it should have been and I'll also be the first to take full responsibility for that failing; but, I always appreciated knowing that someone important was around, and that there was nobody else that I wanted to just sit and do nothing with. I miss that a lot, and moving isn't going to make that any easier. Meetups and social gatherings have been great, and they help a lot ... but it isn't like sitting in our shared home together.
What does all of that mean relative to my question above? Maybe it means, do a little of both. Spend time with people (I plan to do so), and spend time alone for a bit. About 10 days until things change considerably, and I look forward to spending it de-stressing, sitting with good friends and family, and - yes - trying to relax by myself a little. So, please don't be offended if I don't text or call ... and please forgive this cyclical rant of a post.
