We had a ball in Vienna!

Wow, what a weekend we just had! Niraj and I had the privilege of attending the IAEA formal ball in Vienna during the height of the ball season. Vienna is definitely a city of music, culture, and sophistication... and what better way to enjoy our first visit to the city than by attending a ball. Here are the Ball Pictures!

The Austrian students at Johns Hopkins organized the whole trip, and I think about 120 or so students ended up attending. We hopped on a bus Friday night, arrived Saturday morning, spent Saturday afternoon wandering Vienna, went to the ball Saturday night, wandered some more Sunday, and drove back Sunday night.

In terms of the non-Ball activities, we were able to get a good feel of the city by walking around in the freezing cold those couple of days. We went to the Belevedere Art Museum, went inside St. Stephen's Cathedral, had Sunday brunch at a cafe in Museum Quarter, watched ice skaters outside City Hall, grabbed a spicy sausage from a street vendor, saw Parliament Building, ate traditional Viennese hot sweets, drank Gluhwein (Viennese mulled wine), and sat in Cafe Central listening to a piano player and enjoying a piece of the famous Sacher-Torte.

But clearly those were not the real highlights of the trip...

Our unforgettable evening began (after hours of getting ready, or at least of me getting ready) at 6PM by attending a cocktail reception thrown for us by the Mayor of Vienna. It was in the basement of City Hall near his restaurant, and it was a nice intimate time to drink some wine and marvel at how good we all looked! (It was almost impossible to recognize people when they got all dressed up for this!) It was a perfect, relaxing way to kick off the evening.

After the reception, we all headed over in groups to Hofburg Palace for the main event. We didn't want to miss the opening ceremonies, but we also didn't want to go the whole night without eating, so we grabbed falafels/kabobs/pizza from the street vendors on our way over. What a classy group we all were in gowns and tuxes downing food on the street!

When we first walked into the Palace, it really did take my breath away. There was red carpet leading up the grand main staircase, and chandeliers covered the lobby. People in beautiful gowns and sharp tuxes were taking pictures and mingling, and everyone was slowly making their way up to the Main Ballroom for the big Opening Ceremony.

Walking into the Main Ballroom for the first time took my breath away yet again. The architectural details of the walls, the colorful frescoes on the ceiling, the thousands of people lined up along the edges of the room, and the magnificent orchestra were only a few of the stunning features. I mean, we were in a Palace! How can I even begin to describe how stunning everything was!

The Opening Ceremony consisted of many stages, beginning with a processional of the Austrian flag and a speech by this year's M.C. From there, we were all highly entertained by a group of Korean percussionists who danced, flipped, and drummed a perfect routine. As can be seen from the pictures, they had ribbons attached to their heads that went every possible direction yet looked so artistic! Then there was opera singing from members of the IAEA, followed by the traditional opening ceremony waltz. This was really unique because in a way it resembled a Debutante ball... there were rows of young girls dressed all in white, holding flowers, partnered with young men in tuxes. The whole group did a traditional Viennese Waltz to formally kick off the event.

The rest of the night was just as incredible as the beginning ceremonies. The whole palace was divided into rooms, each with different live bands playing different types of music. There was waltz, salsa, 80s, disco, hip hop, Celtic, swing, and so much more! Niraj and I didn't even begin to touch all the different rooms! The night was spent wandering from room to room, dancing, people watching, and just soaking in our surroundings. Niraj and I did venture out onto the dance floor to try a Viennese waltz... we tried doing the steps we had learned, but it seemed everywhere we turned we ran into other people! We never did get the hang of the moving-circle-aspect of the waltz but had a great time trying!

All in all, it was a fantastic evening and a wonderful weekend. We were very lucky to have this opportunity and could not have asked for a better way to get a glimpse of Ball Season!