it’s 7:27 in the morning, my mobile phone sounds its alarm sound, i wake up — grudgingly, as there was activity in the inner courtyard of the hotel until shortly before midnight. a shower & a brief breakfast later i’m on my way to the local IBM office: the austrian life sciences colleagues have set up a press conference on the topic of mobile health — that’s the first exciting act today, and, as ever, i’m nervous about the demo being willing to participate (or not…)…everything works out nicely in the end, it seems the journalists don’t consider their time wasted and we manage to tell our story and even show that it is not just hype but real. oh, and we not only have journalists from the press attending, but also the radio!

in the afternoon we make our way to the ORF tv studios — or rather we attempt to make our way: the taxi driver is not entirely sure where the studios are really, and to increase the uncertainty, his car navigation system (apparently just fitted, as he still has the manual to it close by) disclaims all knowledge of the place we are aiming for…in the end the taxi driver is guided by his colleague in back in the office who apparently has a better map than the car navigation system, and we make it just in time for our 15:30 appointment: our project is going to be featured on “willkommen österreich” on ORF 2! i’m quite a bit nervous, as all kinds of mishap can happen: no GPRS network, no internet connection, no…in the end everything works out quite well: the ORF folks in the studio are quite nice and accomodating, the rehearsal goes well, and a few minutes before 18:00 i’m fetched from the guest room where we had been waiting after the rehearsal and taken to make up: the first part of “willkommen österreich” is already on and we can see it in the make up room while waiting to be camouflaged…after make up it’s back for another 15 minutes to the guest room before we are fetched by another “gofer” and taken back-stage. the gofer girl admonishes us to switch off the mobile phones as we enter the studio area — we tell her that we won’t really, after all, that’s why we are here ;-)…after some more waiting in the wings we are finally on-air! everything works out smoothly, no hitches, the sensor devices work fine, the phone gets all the readings and dutifully forwards them to the server running in zurich — my colleagues from vienna are rather satisfied about the whole event, and so am i then :-)…another trip to the make up room, this time to get the make up down (apparently one cannot just wash it off, really a completely new experience for me) we are off back to town…

…after dropping everything off in my hotel room, i call dorothee, tell her about my tv appearance, and then make my way to the restaurant ofenloch which i’ve found yesterday after the george & the dragon disaster (my face muscles have been feeling sore all day today after chewing that toughest rumpsteak of them all). it’s started raining (after a a very humid and sticky day) and i enjoy the fresher air that’s circulating through the city.

restaurant ofenloch is located in a small side street, kurrentgasse 8, right off judenplatz…has been in this place since at least 1704, lots of old stuff — though it’s not entirely clear how old that the interior really is, as the restaurant had to close down in 1934 after having been host eventually to celebrities such as franz schubert and, supposedly, the immortal comte st germain — to be revitalized by the current proprietors in 1973…nevertheless, the atmosphere is pleasant, down to earth, the menu list is reasonably short, the beer (i have an ottakringer zwickl rot) quite good, and the wine list looks OK as well. i start off with a frittatensuppe, followed by a wienerschnitzel, after which i cannot resist the marillenknödel along with a wiener melange and a marillen schnaps for desert…excellentibus!…another restaurant that ends up on my worth a repeat list!

i return to my hotel, tired after an eventful day — unfortunately, i’ve new neighbors who decide to be rowdy and loud until the early hours of the morning :-(…not sure whether i’ll book in at this hotel again…