The Austrian Connection

9/11, the day brings back many vivid memories about America's war against terrorism, but for us, a gaggle of arnd 60 people, it was an exciting day. To make matters clearer, it was 9-11 alright, but in 2006!

55 dealers from all across the country, who had performed well, were to be incentivised for their performance and I was asked to accompany them. it was my first international trip, but somehow, i felt nothing. Almost like I was going on one more sales tour!

Luckily this would change and I would have a rollicking time in Austria!

The international terminal at IGI airport had a less than normal crowd, probably because of the date that was chosen. But it also meant faster checkin and lesser Q time. We boarded our flight with one dealer almost missing it, because of late arrival. it was my first wide body aircraft experience, and I almost felt that I had entered a packed cinema hall!

The flight to munich had a stop over in Doha, the famous duty free and we made a beeline for duty free and I soon saw many of our team chappies, loading up on the goodies. what really surprised me was the neat and ordered layouts and the stark contrastbetween the hapenning airport and the dry prohibiting desert outside. temperatures, easily touching 45 degrees in the sun.

Landed in Munich (Munchen) in the evening at around 5.30 PM, German time and we boarded our coach that would take us to innsbruck. I was floored by the Auto-Bahns that we travelled on. Speeds not less than 110(infact there is a minimum speed that you have to adhere to!), yet absolutely no honking or jams. Perfect lane discipline and fantastic traffic management. I'll never forget the sight of the BMW motorcyclists zipping past traffic at around 180 KmPh, weaving in and out of lanes. Germany is incidentally Europe's auto heart, with the likes of Damlier Chrysler, BMW, etc having their headquarters and plants, it is Europe's technology and industrial hub, attracting people from all across Europe, especially East Europe which is economically weaker than the west.

Reached Insbruck on schedule and rested fior the day. I was shocked to see that the hotel of almost 100 rooms was managed by a workforce of less than 7 peple. Labour I was told was scarce and expensive in Austria. So people multitasked and minimised repetitve work. For example, the restaurant was pure buffet style and the rooms were small, to minimise cleaning time(in fact all hotels in Europe have small rooms(compared to Indian standards)). the shocker came when I was told that the water that came out through the bathroom faucet was fit for drinking! It took me some courage to drink right from the tap!

The day began with a walking tour of the old city and I was simply overwhenlmed with the Gothic architecture, the cobbled streets and the shops lining then, giving a quaint old feel to the entire place.

we visited Mozart's house and I was taken in by the painstaking restoration and maintainence of teh old building dating abck to almost 400 years!

The city was filled with musicians and artists who lined the strets, some painting away, some singing or playing the guitar. It was a lovely sight and I was especially appreciative of a musician who was singing his compositions and also selling his album CDs' next to a church, not with desperation but with considerable pride!

Part 2 tommorow!