Day 2 Trip to Lyoness Headquarters in Graz

 Jerry Kirstin (Level 7, Presidents Team - USA) and our own Sarah Cranston.

Sheila Gunderson and Jim Richardson.

 Headquarters front desk with Sarah Cranston and Sheila Gunderson.

Greenfinity branded Vespa.

 Recognition Award with the late Nelson Mandela.

 Part of Hubert's Private Conference Room

Alana Bishop, Jeff Hatcher, Gary Allen, Stephanie Graham, Mike from Idaho and Sarah

 Pictures of downtown Graz.

Nick G (from Philadelphia an I having dinner with the gang at an SME in Graz.

Stephanie Graham (our Shopologist), Gary Allen and Alana Bishop

That's me with Stephanie Graham and Alana Bishop

Stephanie Graham (the Shopologist) and her sister Alana Bishop, two beautiful sisters :)

 As Jerry Yerke says, WOW -what a day.  We left early this morning by a double-decker bus for the 2-1/2 hour bus ride to Graz through the picturesque snow-capped mountains of Austria.  It was a great time to get to know each other as we shared stories of where we came from, our teams, families and goals.  

Once we arrived in Graz, we toured two different Lyoness Corporate Locations - both equally beautifully.  We saw where the IT Department, Marketing, International SME Deparment and a lot more brainstormed and performed their day-to-day activites.  We toured Huberts Private Conference Room complete with pictures of the late Nelson Mandela and memorials of schools opening in South Africa (you might be able to see more from the pictures above).

Then we saw the Child and Family Foundations offices which were located directly next to Corporate.  There they accept any donation and will give you a T-shirt for that donation which goes directly to the Foundation.  This office was equally as beautifully.

Next we got back on the Bus and headed to the Townsquare in Graz where we took some pictures, enjoyed the architecture and wished we had time to shop, but it was already close to 3:00 PM and the 

75 or so of us were starving so off to a local SME for dinner we went where Schnitzel, Spaetzle, Goulash, lots of different Beers and Apple Strudel were the meal of the day.  

Arriving back in our hotel around 7:30, we were greeted by Will Walker and Kim Simsby who had just arrived and we enjoyed great conversation before heading to retire for the evening - a very full for us.  

Tomorrow is Sensation!!! We are very excited as there will be over 11,000 people attending from all over the world (we have already met people from Ireland, Italy, Australia, Greece and Canada).  We will be sitting in designated areas according to our country.  The event will be streaming over Lyoness TV so tune in to see the festivities.  Our own Stephanie Graham, the Shopologist, will be the very first female to be speaking to the crowd ever and Sarah will be on stage to be recognized as a Level 4 - this is sure to be a very exciting day and I look forward to sharing all of the exciting news with you tomorrow.  Until then, goodnight from Austria :)

Day One Arriving in Austria

Well we finally made it to Vienna after a brief stop in Zurich.  The fight from Chicago to Zurich was a little bumpy and we were too pumped up with adrenaline to sleep.  I think if we got an hour of sleep on the plane it was a lot. 

The airport in Zurich turned out to be a treasure chest of stores and a fabulous farmers market - wish we had something like that back home.  The flight from Zurich to Vienna was a little over an hour .  Landing in Vienna, under cloudy skies and a slight dusting of snow we started our adventure.  There's a 7 hour time difference between Chicago and Vienna and we should be exhausted but we were and are raring to go.   Walking through the Airport, one of the first things we saw was a group of Lyoness Members carrying Lyoness Loyalty Merchant Flags - simply amazing!!!
 
Driving to the hotel was like driving through a history book of architecture. Each building more detailed and ornate than the last.  I'll upload some pictures tomorrow. 

Well we are to dinner and explore the City a bit.

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 This was our lovely waitress tonight at Cafe Cosmopolitan

This is the owner of Cafe Cosmopolitan.

And look who we met up with tonight at Cafe Cosmopolitan?  Mr. John Jenkins from Philadelphia.   Cafe Cosmopolitan in Vienna is a 7-year Lyoness merchant.  We all enjoyed delicious Wiener Schnitzel and got cashback.  The receipts in Vienna all say Lyoness on them.  Pretty cool.

Tomorrow will be a big day.  We are taking a 2-1/2 Bus tour to Graz to tour the Corporate Office and Child and Family Foundation.