Switzerland - A day trip

Okay, so Kazakhstan was cancelled but there is no rest for the wicked! I was asked to fill in for colleagues and go to the UN HQ in Geneva and talk to a meeting about the work we have been doing in Central Asia.

So Friday morning I was on the early morning Austrian flight to Geneva. It was a very nice flight in a Fokker 70 with clear skies. As we took off Austria was sitting in the sun down below.

Although I sat on the side away from the Alps I could see there was still plenty of snow on the tops of the mountains. On final approach to Geneva the town was clearly seen alongside the lake with the airport at the back and the UN HQ is the large pale coloured complex in the centre right surrounded by parkland.I was pretty early for the meeting so I took the chance to have a lesiurely breakfast at the airport coffee shop before heading off to the meeting. I also had a look at the airport itself. Quite busy and the runway is parallel to the mountains.

The UN HQ, the Palais des Nation, is an imposing complex of art deco-like buildings looking down onto the lake and a little bit away from the centre of town.

The view from the Palais des Nations down towards lake Geneva.

The whole of the front terraced area was being refurbished but the view across the facade is still still pretty impressive.

The main front terrace of the Palais des Nations.

The meeting was preceeded by a sandwich lunch with the delegates and a few high ranking diplomats. After the meeting I had coffee with the liaison officer and then headed back to the airport. The flight home was with Fly Baboo - a low cost swiss airline. The aircraft was an Embraer 190 . Looks like a small 737 with only 4 seats across and made in Brazil. A low cost airline perhaps but leather seats, and a crew of pleasant staff who served a constant stream of tea, cofffee, water, soft drinks and small sanwiches and fruit kebabs. Pretty good when compared to some other bigger airlines and most low cost ones!

Geneva airport was busy British, Swiss, Lufthansa, Etihad and easy-jet as well as fly Baboo on the ramp when we departed.

For the flight home I was on the "Alps side" and the view was magnificent.

We had departed early and were well ahead of schedule on what looked like a good evening......Then we had a long hold over Vienna due to rain and thunderstorms. probably about 30 minutes or more before we landed at about 8:15.

So, a good day out and an interesting location for work. Just now there is a long weekend here in Vienna and a chance to get ready before heading off to Sydney for a short 2 week break on Wednesday.

A cancelled trip-Kazakhstan

Well this weekend I was supposed to be on my way to Astana, Kazakhstan for a conference. Sadly, despite having my airticket in hand and my passport away to get my visa my trip was cancelled Too many cooks was the effective decision, so I was left behind whilst other colleagues went to the event.

In the "time off" I managed to catch up on some work but over the weekend also took a new Australian colleague and his wife on a tour of the Wachau. Sunday was a beautiful day so we left Vienna at about 1000 and set off in the car. A fairly good drive apart from a detour at roadworks when I managed to take a wrong turn so we had a bit more of a "scenic" drive along the north bank of the Danube amongst the villages until we reached Krems. There we got back onto the "romantikerstrasse" and headed for Durnstein.http://www.duernstein.at/sites/ueber_geschichte_en.php.

Durnstein from the south bank with the majestic (and colourful) church tower by the river and the old castle above.

Once there we had a gentle stroll around the old village and along the river bank. The vineyards are all looking good with the spring growth. Durnstein is the site of the castle where Richard 1st ("the lionheart") was imprisoned on his way back from the Crusades.

The old castle is in ruins as you can see!

Next we drive to Spitz and crossed over the Danube on the cable ferry that I have used before. The ferry has no motor and relies simply on the action of the current on the rudder. Very environmentally friendly. The ferry also has a "camera obscura" aboard which gives an all-round view of the valley.

The ferry on its way back to Spitz.

You can just make out the cable over the river and the link back to the ferry in this picture (from another trip).

Once over the river we drove to the "post" gasthaus near Agstein for lunch. We sat outside as it was such a sunny day. After lunch it was off up to the castle at Aggstein.

View from the front of the castle

Located on the side of the gorge, about 1000 feet above the river the castle site has been restored and is now a tourist attraction and wedding/meeting venue as can be seen on their website: http://www.schoenbuehel-aggstein.at/index_e.htm

The others went for a tour of the castle but I chose to sit in the sun with abook and admire a Mercedes 300 SL in great condition that was part of a classic car rally.

Finally we ended up in the village of Melk to have alook at the outside of the maginficent Monastery and grab a coffee and a cake each before retruning to Vienna by the main east-west motorway. All in all a great day out.

The monastery at Melk.

4/5 May - Paris again

So no sooner am I returned from Algiers but I am in the air again. This time it was back to Paris for another committee meeting. The meeting was in offices in the 9th District so the travel was the usual pattern of a mid-afternoon flight Vienna-Paris and the train and metro to a small hotel near Bd. Hausmann. The distant, but distinct, rumbling of the metro passing beneath the hotel every few minutes was not really disturbing. But as no-smoking rooms were only on the first floor I just had to put up with it. At least the hotel had wifi so it was a case of a quick supper and then back to work.

In the morning it was a short stroll to the meeting and a chance to meet up wth my colleagues from the committee again. On the way there was good view of Sacre Coeur in the distance. But too early for the shops......



The discussions were all in French, but as the two previous trips had been French speaking I am getting used to it! A long day at work but progress was made.A time to say goodbye to the others and then the trek back by metro and train to the CDG airport and the late Austrian flight home to Vienna. Because of the timing with the meeting due to finish at 5 pm and the planes being at 7 and 8.30 pm I have to book the later flight in case of any overrun in the meeting or delay on the metro and train. Sure enough this time we ended spot on time but the trains had a few delays. Result - I arrived in the airport just too late for the 7 pm flight but with 90 minutes to wait for my flight - the joys of modern air travel. Still we arrrived back in Vienna on time and I was home by 2315.

Algeria - the postscript

My three day of working in Algiers were tough as all the discussions were in French and I don't get enough practice nowadays. However, my hosts were most polite and obliging and at the end we were agreed we had achieved what we set out to do.

The last meeting on Monday ended a little earlier than expected so I was taken off to see the Bardo National Museum which was fantastic. The museum is housed in a villa, built in what I would call a Moorish style, originally by a Prince from Tunis (as this areas was then) possibly as early as the 13th Century but extended at times since then. The surrounding gardens are a very attractive sight and a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of the city outside. Much of the museum is still completing a major restoration but I had a great time in the archaeological section looking at the early history of the region - human settlements second only to Odulvai (East Africa) in age. These items and some more modern artefacts are in annexe rooms that probably were added on in the 19th century. It was fascinating and a superb end to the tour. I would like to come again and see the older building and the art collection.

We all went for a stroll downtown to look at the shops and buy some local sweet cakes for the office and I was also given a large bunch of fresh dates. These had been the subject of much discussion about the various words for dates in Arabic dialects and the fact that you can get camels and dates in Australia too. A final dinner at a super little family restaurant with great chilli flavoured dips similar to Mexican salsa and beautifully cooked shashlicks of veal fillet.

Tuesday morning and it was back to the airport - very modern and efficient apart from Lufthansa arriving late. That of course meant the plane departed late and I missed the connection in Frankfurt so I ended up on the later Austrian Arrows flight back home.

Algeria is OK in my book and if I go again I will surely make the effort to get more time off to see some more of the architecture and the country.