A Viennese Ball

I think this room needs a few more chandeliers…

We were lucky enough to attend the 2017 IAEA Staff Association Ball at the Hofburg Palace, which was without a doubt the most amazing event I’ve ever been to. There were eight floors, over 3,500 guests, and 30+ different ballrooms and lounge areas.

To give you an idea of just how massive this event was: Evan and I got separated shortly after entering the palace and despite being in contact through text message, it took us nearly an hour to find each other again. Turns out there was more than one coat-check and grand staircase to meet at!

Throughout the night we explored various ballrooms, witnessed a Viennese acrobatic show, checked out some seriously expensive cars, and even tested our Viennese waltz skills (unfortunately, we’re still not very good).

We weren’t able to make it to every ballroom but they all had different themes like the traditional Viennese waltz room with an orchestra, the Latin room with a full band, the pop room with a DJ, and the silent disco room where it was relatively silent but everyone was dancing to music coming from their headphones.

It was one of those nights where we had no concept of time until it was suddenly 4:00 am and we had to make our way through this giant maze of a palace to the correct coat-check and then finally to our Airbnb. To put it simply, it was a night I’ll always remember.

All dressed up with my date

The main ballroom