Sept. 21, Vienna Austria
I rode the remaining 20 km into Vienna yesterday; a pleasant and uneventful ride along the South side of the Danube. I am not sure exactly what I expected to find as I entered Vienna. Large cathedrals? A boy’s choir or two? At least a kiosk selling those little sausages in a can that we have all eaten. What I encountered, however was MILES of graffiti–not the vandalistic kind, but creative and artful–with just a bit of edginess. This was great!
Graffiti along the Danube.
At one point a man with blue hair came running by me, followed by a dog with 3 legs wearing a steel muzzle, growling at everything he passed. And I thought to myself, “This is a place that I would really like to visit!”
But I am not going to do any touristy type things here. This is a town that is extremely significant to my wife, Heidi. I’d rather not experience it without her. I did get out, briefly, however, for a cup of coffee. The general opinion was that the best place to buy a cup of true Vienna coffee was at the Cafe’-Restaurant Landtmann, so I walked about a mile to see for myself.
Vienna Coffee
The coffee, actually, was quite good. I talked to the maître d’, (Herr Rainer) and told him about my bike ride and Ozo’s coffee; he was quite interested and impressed. Maybe Ozo’s could send him a sample? Who knows, perhaps Ozo’s could become popular in Vienna!
Today I gave a seminar at the IQOQI – the “Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information” out of the “Austrian Academy of Sciences.” I have to say that this was the best audience yet, as evidenced by their interest and questions. It was great to be there!
Today’s lecture
It was an honor to have Professor Anton Zeilinger present and to talk with him afterwards. Professor Zeilinger is one of the most accomplished quantum physicists in the scientific community, and president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Professor Zeilinger and myself standing next to the telescope that they use in quantum communication experiments.
One of the things that these folks are researching is using the concept of quantum entanglement to develop an unbreakable encryption process for data transmission. Thanks to my friend, Thad Walker, I at least have some sort of a clue as to what quantum entanglement is! But the really neat thing is that eventually they are going to use adaptive optics to aid in optical transmissions to and from a satellite.
…
Tomorrow, I head for Bratislava Slovakia. I am going to spend the night on a boat on the Danube! Then, early Friday morning, I will be giving a lecture at the Research Center for Quantum Information, Institute of Physics, Slovak Academy of Sciences Afterwards, I will get back on the path towards Budapest.
Until then…
Scott
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Great updates Scott! Love Austria. What an amazing side-benefit to the trip to meet these wonderful people all around the globe!
So how were the little sausages? -:)