AND AWAY WE GO TO THE BALL!

Off we go dressed in our finest riding the public transportation.

Entering up the red carpeted stairs.


All dressed up!

The Festaal room

The Korean Group entertainers who were flown in to perform at the Ball.

Our Canadian friends, Jake & Christine

Lots of shoulder to shoulder dancing. There were 4000 in attendance.

The debutantes with their escorts dancing the Viennese Waltz.

The IAEA Viennese Ball is now behind us, but proved to be quite an interesting evening and one we'll never forget. The evening began as we embarked on straßenbaun and ubahn to arrive at Irodious Greek Restaurant by 6:30 to join our friends Jake and Christine for a nice dinner. The four of us riding public transportation dressed to the hilt seemed to draw a little attention from bystanders. I was even wrapped in my mink (found by my father-in-law at an estate sale.) This was my first time to wear it since not much occasion to do so in Los Alamos and not sure I would have wanted to with all the "animal activists" around! :)

The Ball actually lasted until 5 AM, but we wimped out at 2 AM. We were told that people ask to be invited to this Ball by IAEA employees just so they can see the inside of the Hofburg Palace. It is a spectacular place filled with rooms of varying sizes and styles-rooms with names like Festaal, Zeremoniensaal, Redoutensaal, Rittersaal, Maria Theresien II.... We were in the Trabantenstube.

The dress code for the evening was long evening dress for women and tuxedo, smoking with bow tie for men or formal national costume. Since we had no idea what a US national costume would look like (other than cowboy?!) we opted for the evening wear. All the main activities took place in the Festaal room which was streamed to many of the other rooms on large monitors. There was live music (swing time big band, classic Viennese, contemporary pop, R&B, celtic, and one of our favorites-a mix of pop, rock 'n roll & soul classics.)

All of the rooms were connected by doors so there was a steady stream of people walking around to the different venues. Some actually only had tickets to roam (no seating.) We were glad we had a table to park our weary bodies. There was lots of dancing (all types.) The Viennese Waltz was my favorite-it is so graceful and beautiful.

All in all it was a special, fun evening. We did take a taxi home which made for a quicker trip than public transportation. I felt very elegant in my evening dress, fancy jewelry and extra make-up, but was happy to be home back in my sweats and comfortable again.

The Freemen Singers (rock 'n roll)-Greg loved the guitar player.