Read Your Indulgence

Day 1 – Vienna!

May 19, 2009

Wow– exhausted from the trip, but running on STEELE energy, we all checked into the hotel. My room was not ready, so I had a glass of champagne at 11am with Richie Rich in the hotel lobby! The Ring Hotel was beautiful– a perfect “casual luxury” property in the heart of Vienna. All of the NYC Life Ball guests were staying at hotels within a block away. That afternoon, Josh Wood, one of New York’s finest event and nightlife producers, invited me to go on a Jewish walking tour of Vienna. As tired as we were, we jumped right into it! The tour was amazing. In the middle of our tour, this elder woman slowly walked up to us and simply stated “I was in Vienna during the war”. For the next 30 minutes, she told us her bone-chilling story of survival right in the streets of Vienna where it all happened decades ago- I have goosebumps as I write this blog post.

After the tour, I wanted to take a nap. However, it was time to get changed and attend a private fragrance event by Pierre Guillaume, picture with Patti Reisner to the right. All of the Steele Travelers met at this beautiful Viennese fragrance shop for a private champagne tasting and fragrance “smelling”.

After the event, we hopped in some taxis to the Steele Travel Life Ball dinner. This beautiful restaurant, “schon schön” was transformed into a colorful private dinner function for about 40 of our guests. The staff was elaborately dressed in Life Ball attire– it was quite a special evening. The food was absolutely delicious. Each modern Viennese dish was delicately prepared and served with delicious wines and cocktails.

After dinner, we started party hopping including the official Life Ball pre-party at Le Meridien Hotel where all of our Life Ball flight crew, VIPS, celebrities, and Life Ball personalities met to get a lil’ wild! We got home at around 6am that night.