Canada continued- August 16th to 19th

The confrence began with a reception on Sunday evening by which time most of the 500 plus participants had arrived. A few drinks ( I think only one was free) and a number of short speeches and we were off. Monday work began in earnest with multiple sessions. I had a share in a presentation about the work we did in Brazil in January. We were three who spoke- me, to describe the background; Chuck (of the Ford GT), to describe how it all went; and, one of the Brazilian company staff to explain what they thought of the system and what they asa compnay had got out of the activity.

Monday evening we had a barbecue out on the back lawn of the hotel.  It was pretty good and we all had a great time.

The BBQ site waiting for the guests

Friends from Brazil, Russia, Germany, Czech Republic, Canada and Australia around  the table

The work continued until Wednesday night when we had a small dinner party courtesy of Chuck at a very good restaurant called "Johns". Excellent food, super service, choice wines and the best company...

A Brazilian mate with his steak at the restaurant - very large.

Out on the street opposite the hotel  a London bus had been turned into a snack bar....................

A novel spiral bike rack on the rivwerside walk

Street sculpture and a water park on the riverside

The Bessborough Hotel at the end of the street just off the centre of downtown.

The flights home on Thursday 19th extended into Friday 19th with the time change. The Air Canada flight over the Great Lakes in daylight was interesting; then only a short wait in Toronto of an hour or two before boarding the Austrian Airlines direct flight to Vienna and  - 10 hours later - the washing machine........

Saskatoon: 15 August; A pretty city and a fantastic car

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny. Icelbrated with an all-American "Prairie" breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausgae and pancake  with juice and coffee - a real indulgence.  The weather stayed great so I called the others and we all three met up and headed off for a walk after breakfast. The Bessborough is right on the river and has great gardens .

The hotel from the river

The Saskatoon River bank by the hotel looking downstream.

We walked  along the bank for a while looking at the recent upgrading of the pathway, some interesting outdoor sculpture and  a few local sights, including this gofer in his burrow. 

A great old bridge, but up close it is obviously in need of some attention..........................

There was also this old anchor from a stern wheeler  recovered  from the wreck about 100 years ago

The walk ended up in an Irish Bar for a light snack lunch.

The big entertainment was after lunch when my old mate Chuck arrived to take me for a ride in his car; but what a car!

Chuck has Ford GT ( A GT 40 replica) made by Ford as a special edition-it is number 4035 of 4038 made. Quite a piece of machinery and we obviously could not do too much top speed but we surely got to the limit very quickly every time. The ride was amazingly comfortable and we had a lot of fun drivng around and ata photostop on Chuck's drive.

Chuck and his "toy"

The amazing engine

The luggage space! Allegedly 1 cubic foot!!

Chuck at work - NO cup holders in this car.

All in all it was a great afternoon and  I handed over to my mate Jan for his turn before retiring to the hotel to prepare for the conference the next day.

August 14th: Canada here I come.....

1120 Saturday morning and I am at the Vienna airport again with the  long journey to Saskatoon, Canada  to attend the Uranium 2010 conference on uranium mining. This trip I was travelling with two colleagues and we  enjoyed each others' company, especially as we had a 6 hour layover in Toronto after the direct Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna.

The flight on Austrian was OK although those Boeing 767 aircraft  are getting a bit long in the toot; noisy planes and the entertainment system is pretty old fashioned.  When we arrived in Toronto the plane was directed to the wrong gate and so disembarkation was delayed  for about 20 minutes after the doors opened so they could re-arrange the various doors and passageways  to enable us to walk into Canada without getting into that part of the airport that is technically the USA!

Still we got ther and made aour way to the  lounge and settled in for the long wait.  Time passed OK with some nice snacks and a few drinks and  free internet WiFi.  We went to the Gate for the Air Canada flight to Saskatoon and were re-directed to another gate due to a plane change. Then we had to wait for catering and then a passenger felt unwell and was put off the plane; so another delay while she was helped off and her baggage recovered from the hold. The plane was an Embraer 175 and the crew of 4 was all female - both pilots and both attendants in the cabin.  Apparently the original plane had popped a tyre and wilst that was being chnaged thry found that the brake system was damaged and so the plane was grounded.
The flight to Saskatoon was 3.5 hours and we chased the setting moon and the sunset all the way - and passed around some big storms wth great views of lightning in the clouds.  Upon arrival at Saskatoon we found that all the bags from the others had arrived (I was carrying all my gear in  my usual carry-on set up to avoid loosing anything). The airport is small and had plenty of taxis and so we were off to the hotels in no time. Arriving at the hotels it was almost exactly 24 hours since I had got up in Vienna, hence feeling a bit tired! So check in at the Delta Bessborough  a real old  style CP hotel and bed.  The others are across the street at the Sheraton.

The Comedy of Errors: Schloss Hof, 31 July

At thus time of year the area around the old Roman settlement of Carnuntum has  its annual arts festival. Carnuntum is located about 50 minutes drive to the south east of Vienna on the banks of the Danube River almost  opposite Bratislava.  It was  major fort, port and town in Roman times at a significant trading crossroards (http://www.carnuntum.co.at/) As a part of wide a range of activities  the highlight is an open air performance of a Shakepeare play  by the travelling company from the  Globe Theatre, London. Last year it was  "A midsummer night's dream" and this year "The comedy of errors". I went with some old friends from Darwin days who have also been working in Vienna for the same length of time as me, Paul and his wife Susannah. We were joined by some other friends of theirs , Ingrid and Leo.

The day started  around lunchtime with the drive through the village of Carnuntum-Petronell  to look around then to  the adjacent village of Bad  Deutsch-Altenburg to see an old gothic church and then take a guided tour around the roman museum (Museum  Carnunthinum)  before going to Schloss Hof   to have an early dinner and look at the baroque gardens before the show in the courtyard at 2000 hrs.

The church was interesting - theer has been a church on the site for 900 years plus . The chuchyard was very well kept and full of mostly family graves, many werre still active as we saw from the memorial for one old lady recently buried at about 100 years old!  The church has an old round building  which was thought to be  the original church as well as the main building which is very distinctive.

Churchyard with well kept flowers everywhere-note the tap and communal  cans for watering

The original round church

The main church with the odd look of the roof at two levels. I suspect the right hand side  was the older part and then the gothic part to the left was added later. Apparently the Hungarians sacked the site at least twice  in earlier times so I guess the site has been rebuilt and  modified many times.

The museum was built in 1901 at the behest of Fraz Joef I who wanted it in the style of an up-market Roman Villa

Museum exterior

The museum is well set out inside- not too crowded and a very interesting display  about Roman building methods and materials and surveying.

Schloss Hof  (http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden/schlosshof_vienna)  was another royal summer palace refuge from Vienna and is being restored. The interior had been badly damaged after the Russian occupation at the end of WW2,  but slowly refurbishment is under way.

This room  shows how they have redone the plaster and mouldings but as they are short of funds you have to imagine that all the grey detail work is really gold leaf covered - like the examples around the door!

The gardens have been a major restoration project and are beautiful but still a fair way to go-the water features are about half done but the lawns and flower beds look great and the Sika deer in the small paddocks at the far end looked pretty content.

View from the upper terrace-Bratislava in the back left distance

Middle terrace gardens

One of the restored water features

Sika fawn

The stage set up in the courtyard

The play was hilarious and very well produced in the usual "Globe" style.  A real Shakepeare, lots of action and lots of laughs farce  -and the problem of having to use two sets of identical twins was overcome wonderfully well. The mosquitoes were not too bad and the weather was just right. It only remained for Paul to drive us home (already planning how we can arrange to be here again for next year) reaching Vienna about 2330.