Seasons

Somehow nearly an entire season has come and gone since I last posted anything.  Certainly not for a lack of activities and celebrations, and not for lack of thinking about it, but I guess it's been a bit of a hectic season of ups and downs that was hard to capture appropriately in the right photos and words.  But every time I think I'll just stop trying to keep a record of things, I end up going back and looking something up in here and I'm thankful to have it.  So here's some attempt at highlighting a few things from these 2 months.

It started off with a trip to Croatia to see these two dear friends get married.  It was a wedding unlike any I've ever been to, with so many unique traditions to this region, but ultimately filled with family, good food, dancing, and lots of love.

Autumn in Vienna tends to often be very grey and cloudy, but occasionally we get these gorgeous blue sky days with all the colors on the trees.  My new u-bahn station is above ground and allows me to have this view of Kahlenberg after years of looking at Vienna from up there instead.

And then I turned 30.  It was the most wonderful 4 days of celebrations, of large group activities and dancing, of quiet dinners with one or two friends, and enjoying these people and this city I love so much.

A somewhat cloudy day trip to Krems on that birthday weekend as well.

Stephansplatz

For Halloween we spent part of our evening up in the vineyards with some live music and bonfires at the season closing party at one of our favorite Heurigen.

More gorgeous fall colors in Vienna

And then, as the days start to get shorter and the leaves fall, we moved on to the Christmas season around here.  It always feels a bit rushed that Christmas markets open mid-November, but I'll gladly take the full 6 weeks or so before Christmas.

A friend and I were standing here at this new Christmas market in Michaelerplatz, and had one of those moments where you look around and realize you're standing at the gate of a palace, drinking hot wine, while horses and carriages trot past and someone is playing gorgeous classical music on a cello nearby.  It's still a bit surreal sometimes.

Stephansplatz

Schönbrunn

A quick trip to Linz for some hockey, Christmas Markets, and general good times.  I'm not sure it's very visible in this picture, but there is a cruise ship sailing down the Danube, just like the one my family and I took 5 and a half years ago on this exact route.  I looked again at pictures from that trip and I have one which is almost exactly this picture, standing in Linz on the banks of the river at night trying to capture the buildings all lit up.  I could never have imagined then that I would call Austria home and have reason to visit Linz often.   

Christmas market in Linz's Hauptplatz 

And now back in Vienna for the next 3 weeks until I fly back to NYC for Christmas and New Years.  The project I've been working on with the Chamber of Commerce and my thesis supervisor has been extended again until mid-February, so while I wasn't sure for a while what the new year would bring, I will in fact be using the return ticket I purchased.  I think most of my friends knew there was no way I would let a return ticket go unused, but there was a time a few weeks ago that I thought I might have to.  So I continue to apply for jobs all over, meeting with people and trying to line something more permanent up.  I suppose I have no idea where the next year will take me or the next season for that matter, I guess we hardly ever do for sure, but I'm excited to see what's in store.

CIVITAS and Casablanca

Two weeks ago, my good friend and colleague Nora and I went to Casablanca, Morocco for the annual CIVITAS conference.  CIVITAS is an EU funded network of cities who work together to design and implement sustainable urban transport solutions.  Near the beginning of our master studies, the two of us used CIVITAS as a case study for a governance project together, and now Nora is writing her thesis about them.  So the conference was a time for her to conduct interviews, me to get some additional research for the project I'm finishing, and us both to do a bit of networking and enjoy Casablanca.

We flew through Paris, which conveniently coincided with the Air France pilot strike, but thankfully on our way to Casablanca we miraculously were booked on the only flights actually running.

Place des Nations Unies, the main square, lined with cafes and restaurants, which we walked through often as this separated our hotel from the venue for the conference

Even though most of our days would be spent inside the conference, CIVITAS organized several activities for the day we arrived, including a walking tour through the Old Medina of Casablanca.

Piles of spices in the market in the Old Medina

Standing on part of the old city walls, there were several stories by our two guides about the history of this spot and the cannons, although nobody could quite decide on just one version of this story, it was at some time the main defense point for the city.

Also part of the wall, now a restaurant, which we came back to a few nights later.

The traffic in Casablanca seems to have a bit of a free for all mentality.  Cars appear to go all different directions simultaneously and pedestrians cross between the speeding cars and just hope for the best.  Despite all the craziness we didn't actually witness any major accidents, so apparently it works for everyone.

The city of Casablanca hosted us in some gorgeous locations for a few special evening events as well.

The view from the balcony in the photo above, out onto this park, and this is also one of the few photos I have of the new 31 km Casablanca tram line.   

The main theme of this year's conference was about how urban transit can play a role in social inclusion of all social and economic groups in a city, and this tram in Casablanca was also an excellent example of that.

Late afternoon in the square

Back at the restaurant in the wall, La Sqala, enjoying our Moroccan mint tea to finish a delicious meal.

While there is generally no alcohol served anywhere in Casablanca, there are a few restaurants and bars which do serve, including Rick's Cafe just like in the movie.  A group of us headed over to Rick's after dinner for a drink while being appropriately serenaded by a live version of "As Time Goes By" on the piano.

After 3 full days of presentations and discussions, the city of Casablanca hosted a dinner on the last evening in the Royal Palace, which is currently home to the seat of the regional government and not generally open to the public.

I'm not entirely sure what the original purpose of this building was or when exactly it was built, but the walls are covered in this ornate tile, and rooms seem to continue on in every direction somewhat endlessly.

In the middle was a large open air courtyard, where delicious juices were passed, as well as stations set up with women doing gorgeously ornate henna for anyone that wished. 

Live music before dinner

Dinner was a delicious presentation of several Moroccan dishes, dramatically served under large silver domes with a coordinated unveiling on each table.  The food we had the entire time we were there was incredibly delicious, and we're looking forward to attempting to recreate some of these here in Vienna.

The Air France strike was still happening during our return flights, and we weren't quite as lucky this time.  While we did make it back to Europe on the only flight on that route out of Casablanca on Friday, our connecting flight to Vienna had been cancelled.  

So what else could we possibly do but head into town and enjoy a nice chocolate crepe while enjoying the sunshine and the Eiffel Tower :)

We did finally make it back on a flight to Vienna Saturday night, the end of a very successful and fun week.

This conference fell pretty much right in the middle of me having to move out of my apartment as well.  I figured out that after living in that apartment for 2 years and 7 months, it was the longest place I'd lived in since moving out to go to college at 17.  I'm still in Vienna for now, searching for something permanent work wise, which is good since I am now more familiar with just how much stuff I have amassed over here, and what sort of coordinated effort it will take to get it moved anywhere.  There's still lots of exciting things going on around here, and now it's fall, with all the wonderful seasonal things that brings, and we're off to Croatia this weekend for the wedding of some very good friends!  

Tanz in Dusseldorf!

A friend I studied with here in Vienna who is also from the States, had some friends traveling with a dance company from Philadelphia to participate in the Tanzmesse in Dusseldorf last week.  Since it's still summer break around here, we decided to head up there for a few days and see them and enjoy this new city a bit.

It was cold and raining the entire first day we were there, so much of that was spent visiting with her friends, but we did get a picture perfect day on Wednesday to spend running around town.

The Rhine river, with lots of restaurants and bars set up along its banks

Looking down Königsallee

Frank Gehry designed three buildings along the harbor here, each with different materials for the facade.

Dusseldorf is also known for its Altbier, and the old part of the city is dotted with these breweries.

And some mustard to go with the beer, Löwensenf has a shop and a little museum which allows you to taste each of their 30 varieties of mustard.

Little Haribo packets on our pillows instead of mints!

Thursday morning we headed toward the edge of town to visit Benrath Palace and the gardens around there.  Dusseldorf had some really strong storms back in June and many parks are still closed as they work to clean them up and repair the damage.  Luckily a section of these particular parks were open.

Of course the main purpose of this trip was to see dancing, which we did, but it was nice to also get to see the city a bit as well.  Back in Vienna we've had about 3 full consecutive days of cold rain now, so I'm looking forward to this weather pattern moving on so we can enjoy the outdoors again.  Things are definitely switching into fall mode around here, the food and movie festival at the Rathausplatz is finished and is being dismantled, clearing space for the next thing.  Our attention is turning quickly towards the grapes in the vineyards, anxiously awaiting harvest time and all the fun that brings.  It's amazing that summer is rapidly ending, but I have some exciting travel and things on the calendar to look forward to as well!