Happy 2010!

Apparently Vienna is the New York of Europe around New Year's. I heard it was the place to be and there was a Mid Singles Conference for 25-40 year olds happening, so I went. We danced the New Year in until 3:00am. Many of the Germans prefer to partner dance rather than just dance. There was one guy who was particularly fun to waltz with. At the stroke of midnight we all hugged and kissed our new acquaintances and then danced the Viennese waltz.

Late New Year's morning we followed the Viennese tradition of watching the live broadcast of the Philharmonic Orchestra's concert. It was fantastic. I think I'll have to continue that tradition from now on.

Vienna is the city of music and there was was a free organ concert in the St Peter's chapel. Jordan, a fellow American living in Germany, joined me at the concert. Then we wandered around the city a bit and saw a few sites. There was classical music playing all over the place.

The conference had a humanitarian focus and dinner on Friday was a 'hunger banquet'. All we got was rice and beans which left many of us still quite hungry. So Carole and I stopped at MacDonald's on our way back to the hotel. I never go to MacDonald's in North America but it was the only place still open. We sat near the gas fireplace and Carole connected to MacDonald's wifi as we ate. Does MacD's have wifi in Canada?

Saturday the focus was service projects. We made hygiene kits, wooden learning games, and blankets to take to an orphanage in Serbia. I helped with tieing the quilts and my fingers are still sore today from pulling the needle and yarn through. We completed 46 quilts.

Quilting with Carole & Ekatrine

Pascal, Me & Jubi with the 46 quilts

8 hours, 4 Countries, 4 Languages.

Before I came to Switzerland, a friend from Portland connected me through Facebook to Doug, a friend of hers in Zurich. When I was looking to go to Vienna for the New Year's Single Adult conference, I contacted Doug to see if I could carpool with him. Doug wasn't going, but he connected me to Jubi. Jubi was riding with someone else, so he passed me along to Oskar. Geneva is in the far Western corner of Switzlerand. I caught the train to Zurich and then met Oskar. We rode in his BMW convertable through the Eastern boarder of Switzerland, into Lichtenstein, a corner of Germany and then Austria. We didn't have any boarder line ups to wait in....in fact there weren't even any boarder gaurds...just a lovely road sign announcing that we were now in a new country. There was so much fantastic scenery but the batteries in my camera were dead so you'll just have to come see it for yourselves. :)

People came from all over the place for this conference: Ireland, England, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and America. Not everyone spoke German, so much of the conference was conducted in English. I was grateful for that because my German is still incredibley rusty and halting since I've been focusing on attempting French. My hotel mate, Carole, was from the French speaking side of Switzerland so I still used a little French with her and grew more comfortable interacting with people at church in German. Then I went out to buy some souvenirs, and guess who I ran into....a Japanese family! They were quite shocked when I asked them in Japanese what part of Japan they were from. I just wish I could keep the conversation going in French, German, or Japanese without having to revert to English.

Me, Spencer (from DC) and Jordan (American living in Germany)

Reservations Recommended

I find that when traveling in Europe, the journey is as facinating as actually getting to the destination. I'm contantly facing out the window trying to take in all I'm seeing. Saturday night, Carole and I caught the night train back to Switzerland. When I requested the ticket, they asked if I wanted a reservation, and I said no. That was a mistake! I had assumed we'd have no problem getting seats since that was my experience when I visied Europe with my sisters in 2000. However, every seat was taken and people were sitting in the luggage compartments. Carole and I snagged seats where the reservation didn't start until the stop after Vienna. Then I wandered up and down the train looking for a place so that we wouldn't have to be in the hallway all night. A gentleman standing in the hall saw me pass a couple of times and then asked me if I would like his seat. He only spoke German, but I understood enough that he had a seat and for some reason didn't care to sit in it. So he offered it to me for the night but he wanted to leave his luggage there. I gratefully took the seat and figured Carole and I would switch off throughout the night. At our first stop, the woman sitting across from me got off the train. So we scored! There were seats for both of us and they were across from each other so we where able to stretch our feet out onto the other's seat and spend the night in a more comfortable position. It was 3:30 in the morning when the man who gave me his seat came for his luggage. I'm so grateful for his generousity.

Train shots. Carole reflected in the window.
Lausanne - who wouldn't want to live here?