Vienna Done Epically With Friends (August 23, 2025)
What would you perfect day look like? From the moment you woke up until you lay your head back on your pillow, where would you spend your time and who would you spend it with? On Saturday, August 23rd, that answer was handed to me without much effort on my part. Truly, I had an epic day and am so grateful to so many for making this possible.
The Perfect Start
If you take a moment to imagine the perfect start to your day, what would it look like? Every day, for me, begins with MEDS-RX. So yes, I started the day like any other with 30 minutes of Meditation, 30 minutes of Exercise (this time free weights in the gym), I’ll skip D for a moment, confirm that I got a full 8 hours of Sleep and I’m about to share where my Relationships and X-Factor got highly elevated today.
For breakfast, I went straight to brunch at the home of Matthias Berger and his wife, Ivana. I’m lucky on two fronts. First, his wife had a belated French-themed birthday party with her girlfriends the night before. What was left over was an incredible feast that was mixed in with an already well-planned brunch from Matthias. The result? Insane amounts of incredible food from fresh French breads to quiches to cheeses to fruits, yogurts, meats, sausages, as well as the cooked foods like eggs and baked goods like hot pastries and finally cakes — yes, plural cakes. OMG!
I say lucky on TWO fronts because if you took a look at Matthias’ profile, he’s a coach that specializes in Intermittent Fasting, so thank GOD I was there on cheat day. Not that Matthias would have had me join him in his routines per se, but so much better that HE could join ME in this food orgy. So good!
As we were finishing up our incredible meal, one of the three friendly house cats decided my lap would do and hoped on up. Yay! I love cats and miss Leo (my house cat back in Port Washington, NY). Then we climbed up onto the roof to get a full 360 view of Vienna and wow was that a fun way to see the city from deep inside the city itself. I could see landmarks from my visit with Stefan the day prior. Great way to anchor myself as to where I am and where I was.
The Perfect Middle
So what would you do next to keep this epic start going? More eating is a bit out of the question to be sure, so what’s a really popular thing you can do in Vienna without eating? Let’s meet at a famous coffee house and chat with friends!
Matthias Berger, Ruth Picker, Birgit Hayn, (me), Andreas Ellenberger & Stefan Wurzer (not pictured is Matthias’ wife Ivana)
I went with Matthias and Ivana to meet up with the rest of our Vienna crew all connected through Andreas Ellenberger (who is good friends with Uffe Rasmussen from Denmark — see related blog post) including Ruth Picker, Birgit Hayn, and of course my host, Stefan Wurzer. We met at Hummel, a quintessential cafe where you order coffee (and anything else you want) and feel free to sit and talk for hours.
We went around the table and each introduced ourselves to the group. This allowed us to be known to each other and ensure that each of our authentic voices could be heard and amplified throughout the rest of the day. From there, we decided a nice hike up the wine country side of Vienna would hit the spot. And it most certainly did.
Epic Evening & Close Out
So we all took public transport to the start of our hike up the nearby mountain where some of Vienna’s finest wine is created. Along the way we rotated the many various conversation topics easily switching between the languages of German and English (well, everyone except me who could only contribute in English). Even in the full German conversations, it was fun to see what percentage of the conversation I could follow despite not knowing the language — it was more than you might expect.
Once we reached the top and took pictures (or at least I took pictures), we dropped down part way and had dinner at Weingut Wailand. this is one of those famous wineries in Vienna who opened up a restaurant portion of their vineyard outdoors. We ordered a number of cheese and meat boards including a vegan option with large pretzels, white wine (not for me), grape juice (more my style) and sparkling water (yes, please!)
The views were spectacular as the sun gently drifted back over the mountains. We noticed the temperature drop around the same time as the sun leaving us and we got on our sweaters and jackets before heading back down the trail and catching public transportation home.
Final Reflections On This Epic Day
While I do not believe in the concept of “perfect”, I do enjoy using the word “epic” for all the standout storytelling elements as well as the impressive and remarkable features. This particular day felt epic given the all ways humanity intersected time and space. In Greek mythology, there are two gods of time: Chronos, Aion and Kairos. Chronos represents empirical, linear time (past, present and future). When most of us discuss “time” this is how we think of time. Aion symbolizes eternal time (i.e. the afterlife) and cyclical time as well as the cyclical nature of certain events (e.g., the seasons). And Kairos embodies the opportune moment or right timing. Ancients often used Kairos as a tool to explain human actions and consequences, as well as a metaphor when describing opportune actions.
For me, a truly epic day as elements of all three interwoven throughout.
During the day, Chronos time was present. With my friends, we easily wove together a rich tapestry of past, present and future. Where each of us had been in our lives and careers, what life is like today and what we see in the future — especially around topics such as artificial intelligence in the coaching industry and the evolution of mental fitness and inner peace.
During the day, Aion time was present. That is to say that several moments throughout the day, time seemed to stand still and felt eternal. Did one minute go by or several hours? How would you even know if it were not for the time of day, let alone the season of the year? The beauty of the seasonality of this time of year was felt in every part of the day, but especially at the close sitting on the top of the mountain among the vineyards having food with friends.
During the day, Kairos time was present. The timing was just right. Truly, there was nowhere else I’d rather be on this Saturday in this part of the world. To have my family with me would have made the day all that more epic (again, perfection is an illusion), but even feeling their absence was part of the “right timing” of the moment. Noticing my desire to be closer to my family was part of the growing anticipation of when I’ll see each of them soon in the coming months. That in itself was a gift.
While I’d love to say I notice all three elements of Chronos, Aion and Kairos in every one of my days, that simply wouldn’t be accurate. This day, however, I felt all three come together in a powerful way to be shared with incredible human beings I deeply respect and am proud to call friends here in this part of the world. May we all have such rich and amazing relationships throughout our lives. For me, this is what it’s all about.
