We drive back to Charlotte then to get to Vienna, we fly to Munich on American Airlines and then to Vienna with Lufthansa.
We have 4 hours in Munich Airport. I spend my time reading my book online. It is called 'Boy Swallows Universe'. After finding it hard at first to get into the book I persevere and then I can't put it down. There is drama after drama, constant surprises, twists, turns and Trent Dalton (author) knows how to keep you with his book in hand. It was so dramatic and it was fun to read.
I look up for a few seconds and take a photo of this NapCab. A guy is checking it out. I wonder if two people could go in there? My book is too exciting to find out.
We board our plane. We bussed for a long time on the runway (and then taxied for an even longer time).
There are so many planes at Munich Airport.
We get a glimpse of the countryside, Muhldorf flying out of Munich. Munich to Vienna is a one hour flight.
We arrive in Vienna about 1pm. We won't see Lachie until ~6pm as he is at the Institute. At the moment he is spending 4 hours a day online learning German (for 6 weeks). He has been working in the digital humanism area at other times (more about that later).
This is our AirBnb. I love the space of it. There is an upstairs and downstairs. The pink fluffy synthetic rug is like catching your nails on a chalkboard for me - it gives me a static shock. I want to turn it over. Bill and Lachie ask me whether I can give up my reaction and put up with it. I will think about that. That is Mozart in the background blowing a bubble I think. It is great having a kitchen for breakfast and tea.
The kitchen and dining areas.
And the bedroom upstairs. We are staying in Vienna for 9 days.
Thursday night I am all mucked up with sleeping. We go to sleep at 9pm. I wake up at 11.10 pm and see I can jump on my weekly Mastermind call at 11.30 pm Austrian time. (We are a group of 14 Australians and NZers committed to growing and developing in the distinctions of the Wisdom course to live a fulfilled life and more).I love this call and group and I will do what I can to make the call. This week we acknowledge one of the girls as it is her birthday and check in as there is a Wisdom weekend which most will be attending, except me. On other weeks we do a half-hour mind exercise creating or in break-out rooms led by a Masterminder. (We take it in turns to lead.)
This has been going on for 3 years. It is truly a remarkable group fun and fills your cup with inspiration and love. It was as usual wonderful. For the rest of the night, I read my book. Then in the morning I fade and sleep from 6-10. Bill sleeps through the night.
We meet Lachie at 11am. We walk to his Institute for Human Sciences. He has been in Vienna for nearly 3 months. He loves it here. He was recommended to apply to study here by Holly, a historian Professor from Lachie's Brown University in Providence. He is doing a PhD in the Modern Media Dept there. He got into this fellowship to continue his study. He is living the dream he says. They give him a stipend which covers his expenses, and he progresses further with his PhD. He has always been curious to learn. His PhD is to do with philosophy, AI and capitalism. That's about all I know of it.
Here is Bill waiting for Lachie to let us in to the Institute.
Here is what is on the window on Bill's right above. (Photos did not turn out on the outside and I noticed the same was on the inside where the light was better.)
This is Lachie's office, that he shares with another Junior Fellow.
He has got a Professor look about him for sure.
This is the library - as well as being a resource, they have functions in here.
They have two cooks, who serve them a great lunch Lachie says - pasta and salads and great. One expectation of being a Fellow is to have lunch with other Fellows, to foster conversations among them.
This is a courtyard off the kitchen where you can sit and relax..
Lachie's office, looking up, is top left (the one with the window open).
Lachie has had an article published in this Institute magazine. It is published four times a year.
His picture here is AI generated.
This is part of the application Lachie replied to in 2024 - from https://www.iwm.at/about/mission-and-vision
Apply Now: Digital Humanism Junior Visiting Fellowship
The IWM is now accepting applications for its Digital Humanism Fellowship. The fellowship aims to bring eminent scholars from a wide range of academic fields to the Institute and allow them to pursue cutting-edge research on all aspects of the networked society.
Each semester . . . two junior visiting fellows come to the Institute each semester, carry out their own research projects, and enjoy the possibility of an intensified collaboration and discussion with the senior visiting fellow.
Candidates for junior visiting fellowships are expected to pursue research on digitalization’s intersection with societal, economic, and geopolitical dimensions, as well as other relevant research foci from the humanities and social sciences.
Two fellows will be invited to spend a period of three consecutive months at the Institute in spring 2025.
This is the Institute's Mission and Vision:
The Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) is an institute of advanced study in the humanities and social sciences. Founded as a place of encounter in 1982 by a young Polish philosopher, Krzysztof Michalski, and two German colleagues in neutral Austria, its initial mission was to create a meeting place for dissenting thinkers of Eastern Europe and prominent scholars from the West.
Since then it has promoted intellectual exchange across disciplines, between academia and society, and among regions that now embrace the Global South and North. The IWM is an independent and non-partisan institution, and proudly so. All of our fellows, visiting and permanent, pursue their own research in an environment designed to enrich their work and to render it more accessible within and beyond academia.
Our work sustains three guiding themes: Encounter and Solidarity, Encounters in Democracy and Encounters with Europe. Within them, our permanent fellows create research projects and run programs that permit us to invite around a hundred distinguished guests—as well as senior and junior visiting fellows—to Vienna each year.
An encounter of people around ideas aims to change both. Our staff and permanent fellows strive to create a physical and intellectual environment which enables this. We also bring the spirit of encounter outward. Essential to our mission is outreach to a variety of interested publics, including those who influence opinion and craft policy. We organize public lectures, debates, and conferences; we also publish books, articles, and digital exchanges.
Encounters among our fellows aim to reframe larger questions of academic debate and public interest that address today's complex challenges. We believe that sustained intellectual work and its broad dissemination is essential to a humane future of open, just, and sustainable societies.
After our visit, Lachie takes us to one of his local cafes.
Then we walk through Wilhelm-Kienzl Park.
[Ed. This is not the park.]
A beach by the river canal. The current is too swift, and the river not clean enough, to swim.
Then Lachie went and worked and Bill and I did some more walking
Later we caught up with Lachie in his apartment - Bill waiting outside again.
Lachie got his apartment with the assistance of the Institute. The Institute stipend pays enough for his accommodation and living.
The interior gardens are nice. The owners keep the gardens. One of the residents has conveniently gone for 6 months and so Lachie gets to rent his apartment.
The entrance to and inside Lachie's apartment.
From the back window.
Lachie's shirt is a piece of art. Chiara saw the shirt in a designer shop for 800 euros. She asked Nonna, her grandma, to embroider similar to the designer one - for a lot less than 800 euros. He is going to a flash party tonight, hence the dress-up.
We head into the centre of town for a drink and a bite to eat before Lachie goes out. We go on the tram.
You buy a 7 day pass and you can go anywhere. It costs ?
Vienna Central is historic, cultural, clean and beautiful. This is St Stephen's Cathedral. It took a few hundred years to build. From Wikipedia: "Saint Stephen's was established in 1147; only the west facade of the late Romanesque edifice that burned in 1258 remains. A Gothic nave was built from 1304 to 1450, with a Gothic tower and spire on the south transept completed in 1433. A distinguishing exterior feature is the tiled roof in a coloured zigzag pattern."
The modern building on the left was built with the glass designed to reflect the cathedral.
There are many solid historic buildings.
We have a drink and a bite to eat at a favourite restaurant of Lachie's. I was trying to take my glasses off to look good in the photo but Lachie liked to take one of me in action.
Do they walk the same?