God bless America!

Watch what the church in my neighbourhood tells its members near the front door:

booze info

As the weekend comes closer I feel oblidged to recommend you some booze :o) What you shouldn't miss is a Merlot called "Old Fart's Wife":

Tasting note: Rich, vibrant, full red wine, soft plummy flavor with jammy fruit, and underlying tannins that provide the structure required for a wine of this type. (I stole this from another website *g*).

Plane Terrorism Plot

Due to the discovered terorrism plans to blow up U.S.-bound airliners using liquid explosives, the US Homeland Security Department raised the terrorist threat level to "Code Red" for flights originating in the UK and to "Code Orange" for all other commercial flights operating in or destined for the United States.
You really feel nervousness here in the streets. An intern of the Political Department left today and wanted (I did not know if she succeeded) to fly back to Austria in the afternoon.
The Washington Post has published some online-videos, showing the situation on the American airports: Click here.

Austrian Embassy

Front view of the embassy - a mixture of "Nazi-Bau and medieval castle" (quote from one of my workmates *g*).

Our entrance hall from the first floor - the piano is a real Bösendorfer...

The entrance to the Press & Information department - the woman on the right is Ellen, who has been working for the embassy for 15 years now.

That's my office - the table with the flowers is my workplace, the closer desk belongs to hannes, my office mate.

Funny detail about the women's toilets: The note says something like "If we do not feel comfortably sitting down, we should wipe the rim after use" (to whom it may concern: Women are no "Stehpinkler"!!!).

what you didn't know about Finland

Unknown (at least to me) facts about Finland: Finland is home of really crazy world championships - like the championship in air guitar playing (you may have know this), the championship in rubber boot throwing, the championshiop in wife carrying (you may not have known this :o) and the championship in mosquito killing (you DEFINITELY did not know that)!!! detail of the mosquito killing contest: there is a traditional and a "freestyle" competition. Thanks to the Finnish interns for this information :o)

ever heard of a "bridezilla"?

Bridezilla: A bride-to-be who, while planning her wedding, becomes exceptionally selfish, greedy, and obnoxious. Mixture of "bride" and "Godzilla". Other interesting IT-words can be found at: Word Spy.

birthday party

late, but finally some pictures of my birthday - I had a GREAT time and got flowers and a cake from my workmates.

back in time

Last weekend I travelled back in time: Nicole took me to Williamsburg, America's biggest outdoor museum. There you can stroll around a city that looks like in the 18th century and actors play former inhabitants.
Nicole and me, standing at the "pranger"...

Hugging a lady in a gorgeous dress *g*...

power blackout

Yesterday at 11.30 am we had a power blackout in the whole Embassy Row (about 20 embassies including the Austrian Embassy) - no electricity, no internet, no lights. Which meant that we could go home by 1 pm :o) So I spent the afternoon at the hairdresser...
Today I am heading to Richmond, Virginia, to meet Nicole, my friend from Cleveland, for the weekend. Pictures will follow!

BILD-Zeitung American style

Bloody, bloody boulevard journalism: Everyone who has been thinking that the German BILDzeitung ist the worst yellow press throughout the world is WRONG!

hot apple

Check out the Spiegel Online-Article: heat wave in new york (up to 46 degrees) - the mayor declared "Notstand" in the city. In Washington it is nearly as hot - the metro is supposed to drive slower in order to save power.

new york

The Wall Street Bull - a famous tourist attraction in the Financial District.

The entrance of MACY's: It claims to be the largest shopping store in the world. What IS in fact true: I have never ever seen so many ties and gay visagists at one place.

On "Top of the Rock"(efeller Center) - a 360 degree observation deck with a stunning view all over Manhatten and the outer districts. The tower between Anna and me is the Empire State Building.

That's what I call a proper outdoor advertisement!

Christoph and me at the biggest lake in Central Park - we even saw a turtle.

Birthday greetings

Hi folks! New York was AMAZING - pictures and stories will follow this evening. BUT: right now I am stirred by an e-mail from my family. I have never received birthday-greetings like these...

yesterday: baltimore, today: N.Y.

Yesterday the Embassy went on "betriebsausflug" to Baltimore, just an hour north of D.C. with a nice harbour. Schedule: A tour through Baltimore's finest museum, a glass of wine in between and then dinner at a marvellous seafood-restaurant (incredibly high prices, but luckily Ambassador Nowotny paid).
Highligt of the museum: We met the cartoonist of "The Economist" and the "Baltimore Sun" Kevin Kallaugher ("Kal") in person, while he guided us through a special exhibition dedicated to his 20-year-career as a cartoonist. One of his recent cartoons on Bush's ban of stem cell research (Copyright: KAL, The Baltimore Sun:

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand today after work we are heading to NEW YORK!!! Pictures will follow, from Times Square and me, Statue of Liberty and me, Brooklyn Bridge and me and and and and and and and so on...

meet my workmates

I am proudly presenting you the first pictures of my workmates. Let me introduce to you...

you may know the woman on the right *g*. The man on the left is Hannes, my colleague who is sitting in the same room as I do. In his 30ies, great fun, always hungry :o) and very patient!

Two workmates who definitely like each other a lot: Elisabeth, formerly in Syria and Indonesia, married to a former rock star and mum of 3 lively dogs. Joey, my other workmate in the press office: he knows the best bars and the newest gossip in DC.

escalators in D.C.

Just one of many very large metro-escalators in D.C. If you decide to just stand on the escalator 'cause you are lazy it may take 3 to 4 minutes to get from the bottom to the top.

sleep sleep sleep

I ... am ... so ... tired *schnarch" Slowly, but finally my nights out take revenge on me. Today I overslept and came 1 1/2 hours late to work! Thank God that my boss is on vacation and does not return until Monday. Yesterday I went to an open air cinema-festival on "the mall" - a big lawn in the middle of downtown D.C. between the Washington Monument and the Capitol. Great setting at night and hundreds of people...
Today I will go out with my workmates Hannes and Joey - I am totally looking forward to it. So I will not get any sleep until *thinking* ... next week, because this weekend we are heading to New York for the weekend.

Arlington National Cemetary

So far the best sight in D.C. I have been to - the atmosphere ist overwhelming and really hard to describe. Since the Revolutionary War every military person and its family has been buried here - until now there are about 245.000 graves.

go nats go!!!

Today we went to a baseball game: Washington Nationals (nats) vs. Chicago at the re-openend Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. And of course the good guys from Washington won 7:6. Awesome game, awesome impressions - listed below...

no cake, no fun

Usually the Austrian Embassy has a so called "Schubertiade" on Fridays at 3 o' clock. Which means: Getting together in the entrance hall, eating cake, having a cup of coffee and smoking a cigarette. afterwards everybody is happy and the work day nearly over. BUT TODAY THEY CANCELLED IT!!! So I'll invite you to a short extract from my e-mail-conversation with Anna, the other intern here, just half an hour ago:

Anna: is there cake today? i have nothing to do i am bored
Laura: I HOPE that there is cake today - let's just meet at 3 downstairs.
Anna: naja...wenns heut keinen cake gibt krieg ich die krise
Laura: ...
Anna: kannst du mal bitte schauen ob da schon teller liegen? habe schlimme befürchtungen...
Laura: es liegen keine teller - oh mein gott, was machen wir jetzt?
Anna: ogott, ich bring mich um!!!!!!