The flight from the UK to Munich was eventful. There were thunderstorms sufficiently severe that airport staff were not allowed on the airport apron, so we landed and sat in the plane until clearance was given. The next leg of the flight, from Munich to Graz was cancelled along with a myriad of other flights. There were huge queues at the Lufthanza Service Centre in the airport, but Harry managed to book a later flight while still stuck on the airport apron.
Harry reached Schloss Seggau at midnight, and the delightful staff there had made secret arrangements for him to collect the keys and instructions to his room. During the aircraft descent to Graz it was possible to see violent lightning strikes. The sad news the following day was that there was one person killed and havoc caused to trees and cars.
This is the beautiful castle at Schloss Seggau
Intensely green
This is Vsevolod Razumovskiy at breakfast with Harry. He graduated originally from the National University of Science and Technology MISIS in Moscow, the University that Harry visits twice per annum.
On the right is Walter Costin, who Harry met for the first time in person. Walter, during his Ph.D. studies, made some amazing three dimensional, high resolution observations that vividly demonstrated the difference between an acicular ferrite and bainitic microstructure. Walter's work is shown in Figure 7.3 of Steels, 4th edition, by Bhadeshia and Honeycombe. Photograph courtesy of Walter.
This group is a part of the totality of participants. Photograph courtesy of Sabine Zamberger from VoestAlpine.
Photograph courtesy of Sabine Zamberger from VoestAlpine.
Professor Horst Cerjak kindly came to Schloss Seggau to meet Harry. They have been friends for about 30 years!
Ernst Plesiutschnig, who used to work with Horst, contacted him to say that Harry is in the vicinity.
This is our classic Schloss Seggau picture, taken many times over the past 30 or so years. It was a real pleasure to see Horst again after a bit of a gap.
We modelled for these pictures.
Horst then took me to a winery that makes fine wines from grapes that grow in the Horst Cerjak family vineyard.
Some vineyards in Slovenia are visible in the foreground. This region lies on the border between Slovenia and Austria, a green border.
The area used to be poor back when Slovenia was a part of the federated Yugoslavia
Horst then took me to see his vineyard, which also has an ancient house on its site. The most picturesque setting, breathtaking environment.
This is the beautiful house.
This Chapel, more than 150 years old and restored by the Cerjaks, is also on his vineyard.
The actual grapes growing.
These are the barrels in the cellar of the house on the vineyard.
The beam at the top is a 9 tonne object, and this whole room is a grape press built a very long time ago.
It is driven by this applewood screw, everything hand made.
This device is a bit more modern, to separate the grapes from their stalks.
Horst's brother, Ernst Cerjak is an artist in his spare time. He is modest so Horst got his paintings photographed and published in a lovely book. Here he incribes it to give it to Harry as a gift.
This picture has nothing to do with Austria or wine. It is the set of brake pads removed from the hydraulic disc on Harry's racing bike.