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July 3rd. Citric Acid Plant and Retz:
On our first company trip we took a morning bus ride north of Vienna to a citric acid plant. The company there also owns a citric acid plant in Canada and between the two they produce about 15% of the world's supply. They also process corn as well to be used as a raw material in the production of both citric acid and xantham gum. We actually were only given a tour of the corn processing plant, which was interesting but wasn't really chemical engineering. Apparently they didn't show us the citric acid plant because we wouldn't be able to see much more than some pipes.
Christian Jordan, one of the course directors, planned the day trips
This tanker is carrying quite the cargo
The people at the plant were great guides and hosts nonetheless and provided us with free lunch. After visiting the plant we were taken to a village near the Czech border called Retz. It is a centuries old town which has been known for making wine. An adorable Austrian lady gave us a tour of the town area and a really cool wine cellar tunnel system, followed by wine tasting.
The town square of Retz
Our tour guide
Our group in the town center
A map of the underground tunnels used for the wine cellars. Everybody used to dig their own tunnels from their homes for their wine without coordinating with the city. Eventually most of the tunnels were connected.
A boat in the cellar. Why? I imagine at some point it was involved in shipping wine, but I don't really know.
A picture from inside one of the 2500 liter wine 'barrels'.
After the tour we were taken to another town nearby for a very Austrian dinner with plenty of wine!
Peter and Stevi enjoying their meals.
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July 4th
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July 10th. Vienna Cathedral, Water Treatment Facility, and Brewery Tour
Outside the cathedral
The cathedral interior. I think all the ones I toured had a similar Gothic style.
Another view of the outside of the cathedral
After the tour of the cathedral we had about an hour to explore the inner city on our own.
Public water? I was amazed to find these in Vienna. I hadn't seen free water anywhere in Europe up until then.
This statue is the Pestsäule (translated roughly: Plague Column). It was erected in the 17th century in thanks to God and the Madonna for ending the plague. The street on which it is erected is named Graben.
After that we took the train a ways southeast of the city to tour a water treatment facility. I hadn't been to one before so it was interesting and our guide was quite good, but I wouldn't go out of my way to tour one again. The first few stages of sewage treatment were particularly rank...
The third stage: metal grates. After heavy objects were removed from the sewage at the gravel trap, the metal screens remove other sizeable contaminants.
Our enthusiastic tour guide who was showing us how the particles sediment in this particular stage.
One of the immense settling tanks. It's almost clean water (but not drinkable).
Overlooking the facility
Heading back into the city, Christian took us on a surprise stop to tour the Ottakringer brewery. It even included a free happy hour at the end where each of us got to try a few of the beers brewed there!
They had one of the old barrels like that at the Retz winery. They have large openings at the bottom, the purpose of which used to be to allow small workers to get inside the tank and clean it out between batches. We were allowed to crawl inside!
We had at least ten people in there at the same time.
And this guy frightened me when I first crawled in.
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July 12. Football match:
One of the guys from South Carolina organized a group of us to go see a football (soccer) match in Vienna. It was SK Rapid Wien against Paris Saint Germain; Paris was supposed to win (and they did). It was just a scrimmage but it was entertaining to experience a European football match.
Our crew. Most of them decided to get (knockoff) jerseys as souvenirs, which helped them look less out of place.
The west end of the stadium was especially full of energy.
They apparently are even allowed to bring flares into the stadium.
Outside the stadium, heading back to Vienna.
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July 13. Bratislava - into the Eastern Bloc:
Christian organized a day trip for the group out to Bratislava on Saturday. Earlier I had the name confused with Budapest and Bukarest, but this is the one just a little east of Vienna in Slovakia. Overall it was a great 12 hours of touring the city. We started out in the morning in the sector that still has strong remnants of communism, which was a little depressing. It was very run down, and I started to question coming. But later on we visited the city center, which looks much better.
One of the most interesting communist structures in Bratislava. I believe the idea of an upside-down pyramid is supposed to symbolize the proletariat being on top, or allocating power in the hands of many. I find it funny because it also could be taken as a metaphor for the instability of communism.
This plain old building used to be the best hotel in Bratislava back when the Soviets controlled the city. Kind of sad.
Outside the Grassalkovich Palace
Grassalkovich Palace; Slovakia's white house. One could never get this close to the white house in the US.
Stairs leading up to the WWII Memorial
WWII Monument
A view from the WWII Memorial. I really enjoyed this memorial; it was a vast courtyard taking up all of the top of a hill.
An interesting building I noticed from the memorial but know nothing about.
The US embassy in Bratislava, built to look like the White House. Alex is enjoying being back on American soil!
Bratislava Castle
View of the Danube River in the city center
After eating lunch Christian had us do a two hour group challenge. We turned into mega-tourists and tried to get pictures of our groups in front of as many special things in the city center as we could (we also had to know what they were).
This guy, Cumil, hangs out in the street all day.
A giant chess board, where do I sign up?
Finally, the last thing the entire group did together was to take a train west out of the city and see Devin Castle. I really liked this place because it was so expansive and outside of the city. As it overlooks the river, one can understand the utility that this fortress had in watching over a major trade route.
At the base, below Devin Castle
The inner courtyard of the castle itself
The Danube
Some of the group down below
Many of the guys and myself got a little carried away climbing around.
After getting back to the city center the group disbanded; we had tickets that were good for getting back to Vienna by train whenever we wanted. We took the opportunity to find a pub that served delicious and inexpensive Slovakian food and beer.
Peter and Stevi with their massive three dish meal. I don't know why I keep ending up with photos of only them at dinners.
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July 17. Wind Tunnels, State Opera House, and Hydroelectric Dam
Our third company tour day started out with a tour of a wind tunnel facility on the southeastern side of Vienna. This place was really cool; they have two giant wind tunnels which are used by companies to test the aerodynamics of trains, cars, buses, airplanes, and helicopters. It also simulated extreme weather conditions. They have even used it for cyclists and ski jumpers. The tunnels were under maintenance so we didn't see them running, but we did get to go inside.
The outside of the wind tunnels, which had a ton of insulation.
Our tour guide
The interior of one of the wind tunnels
Note the train tracks
After that we spent time in the city center and toured the Vienna State Opera.
The main theater of the opera. It's too bad that they don't do shows during July and August, although we would only be able to afford standing room tickets.
The massive chandelier on the ceiling of the theater
Backstage
Staircase at the entrance
One of the reception rooms used during intermissions; it reminded me of the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles
Finally our group rounded out the day with a tour of one of Vienna's many hydroelectric dams.
On top of the dam, looking up the river.
Gearing up to go down under!
Below the dam, looking at the under belly of one of the massive turbines through which thousands of gallons of water are churning every second. You could not only hear but also feel the energy!
A schematic of the turbines.
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That is all for now. In the near future: two more company trips and, maybe, Salzburg.
