A Chance to Get Away

After Lindsey’s professional development trip to Dubai, last weekend it was my turn.  Except instead of receiving professional development, I was leading a History IB workshop.  It was a two-and-a-half day workshop but because of meetings and flights, a Vienna weekend turned out to be 5 days away!

Getting There

Because Dammam is a regional airport in a not-too-frequented part of the world, there are some funky flight times.  My flight departed at 1:30 AM on Thursday morning and I completely missed a night of sleep.  Sufficed to say, I was extremely tired (and got a little sick) the first night there.  It also meant that I spent Friday night sleeping instead of anything exciting.

When I did arrive (of course) my room wasn’t ready.  That meant that I was able to spend a few hours exploring Vienna and getting the obligatory beer.

The workshop itself

To be honest, there is nothing much to report about the workshop itself.  The most memorable part of it was just how small it was.  I only had four participants.  This meant that I think everyone left with having felt that I met their individual needs.  It also made a few of the activities awkward, but all of them really appreciated it.

A Night at the Opera

Strange for me, about a week-and-a-half before my trip, I thought that I should actually plan out an activity for myself as a special treat.  I thought about things that were quintessential Vienna.  The first thing that came to mind was music.  I didn’t want to do one of those cheesy concerts that you see guys dressed up like Mozart try to peddle to tourists, so, instead, I looked at going to see the Vienna Philharmonic

Sold Out

Hmmm… Next up the Vienna State Opera.

Success!!

I had two options, Fidelio on Saturday night, or Die Valkyrie on Sunday afternoon.  While I love Wagner the thought of over 6 hours of opera after my workshop did not instill me with joy.  So, Beethoven it was!

I felt that this was a once-in-a-lifetime treat. Well, maybe not once-in-a-lifetime but you don’t get to Vienna every day, so I thought that I would splurge on decent seats (not standing-area or nose-bleed seats).

Taking a look at the pictures below, you can see that I made the right choice I think.  The opera was amazing by the way.

Kunsthistorisches Museum

I decided to continue using my free time to explore some of Vienna’s cultural delights.  My workshop finished at 2 pm on Sunday.  Since many museums close on Monday, I decided to quickly head down to Museumsquartier (the area in Vienna filled with museums) to see what was open.

At one time, the Habsburg monarchy was one of the most powerful in Europe.  As a result, they were able to collect a remarkable number of art pieces. The Kunsthistorisches Museum is filled with a large number of remarkable pieces.  In particular, they have a vast number of pieces from Bruegel as well a Vermeer.

What drew my attention to the Kunsthistorisches was the special exhibition on Gustav Klimt called Stairway to Klimt. Klimt was commissioned to create some of the frescos above the Grand Staircase, and I was able to see them up close on a temporary walkway. (click on the link to see the setup)

after the little bit of culture, I walked around and eventually had this pretzel/sausage fusion thing with cheese, fried onions, and sweet mustard.  It was amazing!

Since my flight was midday on Monday, I went out and did a bit of shopping (I couldn’t come back without presents!)

All in all, a nice little combination of work and play if I do say so myself.  Although now I have quite a bit of work to catch up with!