Time in Vienna

While in Vienna, Betsy spent a lot of her time in the conference or working.  So I explored the city.  There is a lot of Vienna to explore, but I always started with the view from our apartment.

View of conference center from apartment

view of wind turbines at sunrise from apartment

Then I took the subway to down town.  One of the main stops is “Stephansplat”, which is the location of St. Stephen's Cathedral.

St. Stephen's Cathedral

Interior of St. Stephen's Cathedral

I stopped into many other churches, including a Greek Orthodox, which is quite different than most of the Catholic churches.  I also went to a small art gallery and found a painting of a Germanic bagpiper.

German Bagpiper

I also managed to get my bike repaired (chain & gears were worn out).  During the discussion at the bike shops, it was often easier to use English, because the Austrian German was so different.  My impression of Austrian German is that it has the same sound and cadence of standard German, but it is just not standard German.  Nor is it similar to Swiss German, which has a distinct sound and cadence.

We also had a lot of dinners with other people.  Sometimes it was with Rachel in the apartment –the apartment had a steamer and lots of other appliances, so one night I made Knödel (steamed bread dumplings).

Dinner in the apartment with Rachel & Betsy

…sometimes in larger groups.  Like the group dinner for the session Betsy organized.

Dinner with Betsy's session

…and here was a memorable place we went with one of Betsy’s PhD advisors; the restaurant seating area was spread out in an underground maze of cellars.

Restaurant in cellars