Vienna day 3 - Schönbrunn Palace

Lourens and I decided to take the day and explore Schönbrunn Palace. Schönbrunn Palace is just outside of the city centre and was the Summer residence of the Hapsburg Royal Family during the Austro-Hungarian Empire.



http://www.schoenbrunn.at/en.html  
After a short tram ride and walk we ended up at the massive courtyard entrance to Schönbrunn. The sheer scale of the palace is so intimidating.  There were a lot of people visiting the palace and what looked like some choir and singing groups who must have been putting on performances there.

Lourens and I decided to go for a walk through the gardens and immediately found ourselves in an unmanicured part of the garden by sneaking through the hedge (a relatively common phenomenon with Mensans to want to end up where you're not supposed to be).

The gardens are beautiful and provided some shade in the heat of the day.

We then went to the gardens on the other side of the palace where a spectacular fountain of merpeople and seahorses is at the bottom of a hill. There are so many amazing marble sculptures. To the right of the fountain is the Tiergarten (Zoo) and the palace labyrinth. 

We then met up with Roeland and went on a tour through the main chambers in the palace. We weren't able to take any photos inside here which was a shame. It was interesting to note that all the paintings and the furniture in there were of the  royals who lived there at the time, Franz Joseph and his family, unlike other palaces where all the paintings are of relatives and ancestors who had gone before. It seemed more like the family home of the royals, albeit on an extremely large and decadent scale. The tour was only one floor of many, but it did give a wonderful insight into the lives of that family. 

After the tour we stopped for a snack and then after deciding not to go in the labyrinth and taking a lot of photos, Lourens and I went up the hill to check out the palace reservoir and buildings up the top. The view from the top was spectacular and was a great way to see some more of the city.

It was wonderful to spend time with the LEAP crew before heading to Bratislava. I'm off to meet Jessie at the airport in the morning and head to Bratislava by bus, so I'll update you all from there!

Vienna day 2 - meeting up with LEAPers!

Peter, Lourens and I were all in Vienna at the same time, so I played tour guide and took the guys to the Stephansdom, then Lourens and I walked the same trail through the Winter Palace and the museum quarter that I did the day before. I could walk the same route one hundred times and still find something new to see, Vienna is so complex and beautiful.

We then took a slightly different route and headed off towards the Parliament, Rathaus (City Hall) and the gardens in the area. The Parliament buildings are so spectacular with all the statues and white marble.

The Rathous is enormous and ornate and there was a film festival setting up in the gardens at the Rathaus, so it was great to walk through all the stalls.

We went through one of the gardens and ran into a Greek style temple.

We then adventured off to find the Opera House and met back up with Peter. The Opera house in Vienna is very beautiful and very famous. There were a lot of people dressed as Mozart promoting a Mozart concert in the city.

We went on a slightly errant tram adventure, and ended up at a warm memorial and fountain. The water from the fountain was piped in from the Alps.

After navigating the Ubahn we ended up back at the Stadtmitte. We met up with Tina and went out to dinner at a traditional Austrian restaurant. It was a great place to sit, eat and talk while enjoying Austrian food into the evening.

Beautiful Vienna!

A beautiful morning greeted us as we flew from Bangkok into Vienna.

 
Today was my first morning in the beautiful city of Vienna. People tried to warn me how amazing Vienna is, but I can't really believe what I saw.

Once I made my way from Vienna Airport to my friend Tina's house, we set off to the middle of this city, through the beautiful old buildings to St Stephan's Cathedral, right in the heart of Vienna.

 It was a beautiful day and was interesting entering a church to take photos when there was a service on, but the people in there looked as though they were used to it.

We then missioned through the city, through the palace, once the winter home of the Austrian Royal Family.

 

We walked past the Natural History Museum and the Art History Museum. Tina told me when these amazing buildings were built, they put the patron saints of the Arts on the Science museum and the Arts on the science museum by mistake. They then covered this up by saying how could they protect a building they can't see, so they had to be on the top of the other building. Nice.

In this photo, the Art History museum is on the left and the Museum of natural history is on the right. The art and architecture in this area of town is absolutely stunning and well worth having a close look. The attention to detail is magnificent.

We then went to the Museum Quartier and had a great meal in the sun looking out over the courtyard.

After this, as the temperature crept higher to 35 degrees Celsius, we decided a great option would be to hit the beach down at the Danube. 

This was a great choice! While extremely busy, there was plenty of room for everyone to swim and sunbathe. 

After tiring ourselves out with lots of hard work down by the water, we headed back into town and hit the gym. I like visiting other gyms, but this was pretty cool because of where it was located. It is in the old Gasometer, where huge bells were suspended in water and lifted depending on how much gas there was. This has since been turned into an apartment building, mall and gym complex, very cool.

So all up, a very full on and exciting day! I'm going to sleep well tonight and can't wait for tomorrow.

First stop, Bangkok!

Just thought I'd send a quick update from Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok! My flight boards in just over an hour for Vienna. 

The airport here is really nice and surprisingly busy for this time of night. Good to take a break and stretch my legs before getting back on the plane. Looking forward to a bit more sleep though!! 

Wooooah! Back into it already!

Well two weeks flew by in an absolute blur! Between sitting assessment for LEADR, sorting out stuff for the NZMAG, catching up with Dimitri and Paris and getting over my jetlag, it all went way too fast!

So here I am again, chilling out in Auckland International Airport, waiting for my flight to Thailand! 

*Token Airport Selfie* Yay!

This trip goes Wellington to Auckland (done, too easy for this seasoned traveler ;), Auckland to Bangkok, Bangkok to Vienna. I'm in Vienna until 31 July, then when the lovely Jessie arrives we're going to mission across the border to Bratislava!

Apparently it's just a quick jump from Vienna to Bratislava so that shouldn't be a problem.

Looking forward to catching up with all my friends from LEAP! 

Changing up my presentation slightly for EMAG, instead of focusing on the percentage of Young Members like I did for USMAG, I'm going to be talking a bit more about my experience as Young Members Co-ordinator, what participating on the Board looks like for me, and a bit more about what I feel leading from within looks like.

It will be interesting to talk about that more. I am very passionate about leadership and the way I try to lead, so I'm definitely hoping for some feedback on my strategy.

I've heard a lot about the cool things Young Members groups are doing in Europe, so I'm keen to learn lots from them I can bring back to New Zealand with me.

I'm meeting up with Laura now, to get a few more NZMAG things under our belt before I go, but I'll keep you updated on each leg of the journey!

DFW- day 5 final day :(

Sunday was an odd mix of sadness, relaxation, hope and excitement. 

Saying goodbye to people I had met at the AG was so hard, knowing that we are going to be so far from each other. We are lucky we live in an era where I can send a  message or make a call to someone on the other side of the world and they will receive it instantly. That, and the knowledge we have so much still to talk about for our Mensa groups, provides some consolation.

 (You guys better all come and visit me!)

Saying goodbye to the awesome other LEAPers was a mixture of sadness, but extreme excitement. We have such a good group of participants this year, with such motivation and passion for Mensa. I can't wait to meet up with you all again in Vienna and Bratislava and continue the awesome work we have been doing.

Jessie and I stayed on at the hotel for one last night, getting out and exploring a bit more of Fort Worth and having an amazing pizza for dinner (and struggling to work out the tip!), before packing to come home.

This has been the most amazing, incredible and inspiring journey so far. Realising that the influence LEAP has is going to continue once I have safely returned to New Zealand stuns me. This is not just a once in a lifetime opportunity, this is a changing a lifetime opportunity. My life is now a leadership exchange, forging connections, looking for answers and hopefully, just maybe, for a few people at least, changing the world.

Stay tuned everybody, EMAG Bratislava 2013 is going to rock!!

DFW- day 4

Saturday morning was definitely a bit rough after having such a good time on Friday, and I shot down to breakfast a bit later than I'd hoped! We headed back to the Pecan Room for Lourens' presentation on gifted children's programmes. Lourens' presentation was more of a discussion group, allowing various parties, including gifted teens, to participate. This session was great and created a lot of conversation and gave us a lot of information. I will post the link to Lourens' presentation when it is ready.

Peter then took us on a lesson in leadership, showing us different kinds of leadership and how an organisation can use these types of leadership to achieve its goals. This was a very interesting presentation and Peter's experience in the area showed. I'll put the link to it here when it is available.

Petr talked about the amazing things Czech Mensa is doing for gifted children in the Czech Republic including a school for Mensans and the Logical Olympics participated in by 32,000 Czech children. I was stunned at the level of involvement Mensa has with school children and kindergarteners and it definitely made me think more about what we can help do in New Zealand.

Geoff's presentation was very motivational, talking about how inspiring members in one area can lead to ripples of energy throughout the organisation. This was a great motivator and put many thoughts in my head about how Mensa New Zealand could expand even more.

After the presentations we rushed back to the hotel, put our glad rags on and went to the Mensa Education and Research Fund reception, where the foundation awarded a scholarship to a Young Member from America. 

-Jessie and I at the reception 

We got to meet and interact with Board Members, Trustees and representatives from all though out the organisation. It was a great opportunity and definitely something LEAP was great for.

The next event was the Gala Dinner, a beautiful feast in the Grand Ballroom. 

The meal was great and the company even better. We watched a comedy show put on for us as entertainment and had some firey table entertainment :P

We then adjourned to the lobby for some LEAP discussion and talked about what we had learned over the past few days.

The grand ball room became a dance floor and the band played heaps of old school music. I hung out with a great group and definitely got some dancing lessons from some of the Americans. Some of the dance moves that night were MUCH more dangerous than others! I then went back to the GenY Suite before crashing after a very log and amazing day!