Voyage to Vienna, February 2004

My boss at Rockefeller sent me (not unwillingly) to Vienna to talk to his colleague Cesare Marchetti at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). What a gorgeous place! IIASA is housed in the former summer palace of the Hapsburgs in the quiet village of Laxenburg, just outside of Vienna. Walking between buildings I could smell the distant scent of burning wood.

The Secession, which houses Gustav Klimt's Beethoven frieze
Statues at Schönbrunn Palace
Dusk in the Schönbrunn Palace gardens

Being goofy in the Metro.

A pharmacy in Vienna, near St. Stephansplatz. Needless to say, you'll never see that on a Walgreen's.

I thought maybe they lit up St. Stephen's Cathedral like they do the Empire State Building in New York. Then I arrived at Stephansplatz and found out it was just a really big ad. Restoring 500-year-old Gothic cathedrals ain't cheap, I suppose. That's a lot of nooks and crannies to scrub!

Just say OV: somewhat north of the Stephansplatz are some of the better preserved parts of Old Vienna.