Here are some first impressions from Paris. I'm attending a conference and went out with two friends this evening.

Around Bastille

It's my second visit to the French captiol. The first time was only for 12 hours or so, several years ago. Not sure whether I'll see more this time.

A street Orchestra, underground


Notre Dame





Before the Wine and after (Moose and bear were really present)

Here are some pictures from a short trip through the high plains, that I took on Sunday before leaving back to Europe again.

After taking the I70 east I found an exit that pointed to "Kiowa", which sounded interesting. Kiowa was more than 20 miles and a dusty road away. The best views over the great land I had when driving further west from Kiowa.

The road to Kiowa

I recorded the Trip with GPS and put it on a map with GPSVisualizer, which now also converts the recorded route into Google Earth files. If you do not have Google Earth yet, I really recommend you to install it on your computer. It is free of charge and you can watch satellite pictures of the whole world.

Driving through the high plains -- Show in Google Earth

On Saturday afternoon I arrived at Denver, Colorado, where I attend a meeting this week. On Sunday, we took for several hours a trip by car into the Rocky Mountains.

Denver - minus degrees and sunshine.

I was in this region already in September 2001, when the 9/11 attacks took place. Johannes and I at that time drove for over a week through the Great Plains and the Rockies. I remember how I woke up on 9/11 and knocked on Johannes' door, to go for breakfast. He opend and dragged me to the TV. There the first plane had just flewn into the World Trade Center. We did not know what to make out of this situation. Few minutes later we were sitting down at the breakfast room, together with other guests - I think all of them were Americans and we stared at the screen of the TV there. When the towers were still standing I remember one man asking "I wonder when the WTC can re-open again". I know, it's a stupid memory, but on the other hand it also describes how clueluess everybody was at that moment.

Later that day, we were driving into the Great Plains, listening to the radio. I will never forget that. The tremendous land, stretching further out than anything I had ever seen, buildings appearing somewhere in the far distance and growing very slowly out of the flat land, and the reports and interviews on the radio. Obviously nobody had an idea what would happen next. Nobody had a clue what this all means for the future. During the afternoon the name Osama Bin Laden could be heared more and more often. A general said "We must pulverize their cities" and meant a not-yet defined enemy. Othere pleged to not run into a war, without knowing for sure who should be fought.

During the following week we drove through the mountains. It was autumn and the leaves of the birch trees were all showing a warm yellow color. The whole land seemed just to glow in this color - at least that is how I remember it. Whilst the political situation became clearer and first actions were taken, speeches were held, we drove through moutain towns where the roads were lined with US-flags.

The usual tourist photos

These things came back to my mind, since we landed here. When driving through the moutains again the landscape had not lost any of its magic. It is winter now, the birch leaves and most of the flags have gone but the impression of greatness is everywhere. And the view on the flat land, when going back from the Rockies to Denver, just opens eyes and heart. I grew up next to the moutains and never was too fond of them. Maybe I felt they block the view to something more interesting. Anyhow - you'll never satisfied with what you have. Here, in Colorado, it is also the sharp natural line that is drawn between plains and the mountains, the contrast between a land that looks endless to a human eye and the roads that guides you between high mountains to their top and down again.

No, it was not that cold. (Seen in a restaurant on the way)

It's four o'clock in the morning now. The time difference is still playing its games with me. But that's ok. The meeting starts in five hours. As long as there is a good breakfast before that, even that might be ok.

On Thursday the Mary Broadcast Band played in Cafe Carina (see also here)in Vienna. They play good and honest Blues and Rock sound, the singer has a great voice and some of their songs, especially the wild ones, make it impossible to sit on a chair - one has to move. Three of their slower songs can be found from their web page and I achieved to buy one of the few CDs they had available. It seems you cannot get the CD up till now in normal stores. Keep an eye (and both ears) on this band, they are really worth it.

Mary Broadcastband Concert in Cafe Carina, Vienna

Paparazzi at the Concert

This positive music event was tainted a little by the news that Alalie Lilt, another very good newcomer band from Vienna, has split recently. Their two albums belong to my favourites as the band had a very special sound, often sad and melancholic.

And yes, I know that the pictures are not best quality. As usual during a concert the lights were not made for taking pictures with a mobile phone camera. So apologies for the bad quality, I hope they nevertheless give you an impression of the evening.

And no, the person on the paparazzi pictures is not me. :)

There are some cities I cannot stop making photgraphs of. Vienna is one of them and I have been there during the last days. I am now on the train to Budapest and watch the snow covered landscape of the Austrian Burgenland passing by. As I have to watch the trees and fields carefully, my report of the last days will be rather short.

City Impressions



Votivkriche - 9th District

Christmas Lights at the Graben

Stephansdom

Strudlhofstiege

On Friday I was initiated to the card game Tarock, that is mostly played in Austria. It has hundred times more rules and falvours than cards, but it's a lot of fun to play it, even when losing.

On Sunday afternoon friends and I vistited first the St. Marx Graveyard, which is an old Graveyard that is not used anymore since the 1870s. It is a very beautiful place to walk around and the writings on the gravestones are often funny to read nowadays. There is also an official Mozart grave. Mozart was buried in a mass-grave on that graveyard, but nobody knows where he really was placed there. So the official grave is just a fake, but nice to look at, if you like little angels.

Marx Graveyard - Entrance and Orientation


Graves at Marx Graveyard


The faked Grave of Mozart and the empty Grave of Josef Strauß

On the same day we also drove to Castle Laxenburg, which is south of Vienna. Lots of people were there, especially for ice skating on the frozen lake.

Castel Laxenburg, south of Vienna

And back from the castle we needed another walk along graves, so we went to the central graveyrad in Vienna, where also some famous people are buried. Of course also there is a Mozart monument.

Zentralfriedhof (Central Graveyard)

As always the hardes part was to leave Vienna. When driving in the taxi from the Hotel to Westbahnhof memories lurked between the buildings. I will be back, that's for sure.

P.S. If you want to see the above pictures in full-size, just click on them. I thought that this would be a simple user interface - but you never know ...