Frankfurt & Thuringia

Less than 24h after Bergamo, I headed to Frankfurt for a week of business conference, speaking and working from the Frankfurt office.

Tuesday and Wednesday, IHS Markit presented in the New Year's Briefing the latest outlook in the economy, materials and automotive.

Sustainability Panel

On Wednesday morning, I talked about the outlook of the truck market and production in Europe.

Presenting the outlook

More than 300 clients present

On Thursday and Friday, I worked from our office in Tower 185/ PwC-Tower. 

View from 18th floor over Frankfurt

For the weekend, I visited my grandma in Eisenach together with may brother and a little road trip around Thuringia and had a great view from the Great Inselsberg - one of the highest mountains in the state.

View from Great Inselsberg

Still winter in Thuringia

Grandma and Victor

Bergamo

Another Friday, another train ride. This time, I headed south to Italy. Unfortunately, the locomotive gave up after the Brenner Pass and we slowly moved downhill. The ride ended prematurely in Brixen and I had to wait for the following train from Munich. Luckily, in Verona I could change my onwards ticket and got to ride in the Italian fast train - FrecciaRossa (red arrow).

My destination was Bergamo where AIESEC Alumni Europe met for the 2020 planning weekend. Two days to get to know the new team members, set goals and create the plan for the year.

AAE Board: Gabriella, Chris, Jean Paul, Peter

AAE Team: Bill, Chiara, Jean Paul, Gabriella, Dan, Chris, Peter, Gwen, Jan

(absent: Stephi, Diana, Petra)

We also explored the city a bit for dinners (lovely Italian food) and a park for our teambuilding exercises.

Bergamo at night

Bergamo Città Alta

Unfortunately, I did not have much time to explore the city as my train left in the early afternoon. This time, I arrived without any delays.

Dancing in the Hofburg in Vienna

This year's ball weekend started with a train ride to Vienna and checking in again at Motel One Staatsoper. 

spacious room

In the evening,  most of the group met for Dinner at Lugeck Figlmüller for Schnitzel and other delicacies. After a brisk walk through the city, we joined the election party of the new president of AIESEC Austria.

Stephan's Dome

Hofburg

Passageway

The next day, we met for dance classes in the morning followed by lunch in another original Viennese restaurant - Griechenbeisl. We sat in the Autograph Room where famous people signed the walls and ceiling. One of the waiters pointed out the most famous to us.

 

Entrance to Griechenbeisl

Autograph Room

Duck for Lunch

After lunch, I walked back through the city finding cute little couple traffic lights:

Stop 🛑 

Go 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️

We got ready and for the ball and met the rest of the gang on the stairs for a group picture - all of us in ball gowns and smokings.

AIESEC Alumni at WU Ball

Heidi, Andreas, Chris

At Midnight and two o'clock in the morning, we got ready for the Quadrille - lining up in long rows and waiting for the orchestra to start the music and the  master of ceremony to announce the steps.

Line up for the Quadrille

Time for dancing

On Sunday, I thought I would be late for breakfast at Café Landtmann - instead I arrived third. Over the next hour, more and more arrived and could say farewell to all before leaving back to Munich!

First three at Breakfast

New Year in Bratislava

On Monday evening, I travelled by train from Munich to Bratislava and Katy picked me up.

my name on the board magazine - 

actually Chris Lohner - the voice of all train announcements in Austria

We made a midnight sightseeing tour to the Slavin Memorial that sits on a hill and offers great views on the lit city. The memorial and cemetery remembers the Russian soldiers who lost their lives in liberating Bratislava at the end of WWII.

Slavin Memorial

Bratislava Castle

The next day, I explored the city by tram and on foot after meeting friends for a tea in the Eurovea shopping centre.

Eurovea Shopping Centre

I took a bus to the Bridge of the Slovak National Uprising (Most SNP) - the most famous of the five bridges over the Danube river.

Most SNP

From the Holy Trinity column, I walked up the road and stairs to the castle. The column remembers the times of the plague in the city.

Holy Trinity Column

On the way, I also passed St. Martin's Cathedral - the gothic church dominates the old town and was the place where eleven kings and eight queens of the Hungarian kingdom were crowned between 1563 and 1830.

St. Martin's Cathedral

A lot of people and families used the chance for a walk up to the castle, through the Baroque garden and different structures.

Baroque garden

Castle

In the evening, Katy and I joined her friends for New Year's Eve - at midnight, we watched the big fireworks in the street. Afterwards, her friend Yuraj fed us with a four course meal. We made it home by 4 in the morning.

Firecworks

After the late night, we got up late and left in the afternoon to meet friends in Devin. Later, we , watched the sunset on the Danube river and walked around Devin castle for some exercise. As it was quite cold, we drank a tea nearby before returning to Bratislava.

Little tower of Devin Castle

Sunset on the Danube

In the evening, we met another of Katy's friends for dinner in the city. A lot of cafés and restaurant were closed - luckily we found one open near the Blue Church. The light was not the best to make photos of the church.

Blue Church

Mixed platter

The next morning, I took the railjet back to Vienna and the Munich.