Scenes from Vienna, Austria Before the Humanitarian Operations Conference

We arrived yesterday in Vienna, Austria, after flying from Boston Logan through Frankfurt. Thanks to both Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines for great flights.

I am in Vienna for the EURO HOpe conference, which begins today at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. I will be speaking at the conference later today and look forward to seeing operations researchers involved in humanitarian logistics.

Last time I was in Vienna was two years ago, just before the 2nd Dynamics of Disasters conference. Next week I will be off to the 3rd Dynamics of Disasters conference, which I helped to co-organize and is taking place in Kalamata, Greece.

Since I never have time for jet lag when arriving on a new continent I always try to walk for hours and then just switch to the new time zone.

Yesterday, I did precisely that as well as this morning and enjoyed rediscovering some favorite spots, from parks to cafes in lovely, cultural Vienna. My mother and uncle had spent time in Vienna during World War II, after leaving Ukraine, so I always feel very comfortable in this beautiful and very elegant city.

Below is the view of Vienna from our hotel.

The pastry shops and cafes are stunning.

And we indulged in some chocolate and cappuccinos yesterday afternoon.

I enjoy walking through the parks.

Of course, the architecture is also stunning and the trams are a terrific mode of transportation.

The EURO HOpe conference was organized by Professor Tina Wakolbinger, who was my PhD student in Management Science at the Isenberg School of Management. It should be a fabulous, focused conference. The full program can be downloaded in pdf format here.