The 25hours Hotel, close to the MuseumsQuartier in central Vienna, is a hotel with an uninhibited but relaxing atmosphere, which plays on the dreams and sensations of the circus world and elements of the big top.
It may feel like 2013 just began yesterday, but we’ve already turned the first corner into February, which means the ECR is not so much creeping up on us as sprinting at full speed. So, in the five weeks remaining before March 7, what can you do to make sure you get the most out of this five-day festival of everything radiological? Here are our five top tips to get you off to a good start.
ECR badges, patiently waiting to be mailed
1) Get your badge mailed to you
Nobody wants to turn up full of enthusiasm on the first morning, only to spend the first 30 minutes in the longest queue of the whole congress. Be one of the smart ones; register before February 6 and get your congress badge and CME stickers sent to your home. You’ll be glad you did when you waltz past the waiting masses at the onsite registration desks.
The ARCOTEL Kaiserwasser is our top tip for delegates looking for an easy commute to the ECR. ©ARCOTEL Hotels & Resorts GmbH / Fotograf: Wolf-Peter Steinheißer
As ECR 2012 gradually draws nearer we’re carrying on with a close look at some of the hotels available through the ESR Travel Service booking platform, to find some of Vienna’s accommodation highlights. We’ve already given you the lowdown on the cheap-but-stylish Motel One, and now here’s one for those who like to keep their journey time to a minimum… the Hotel Kaiserwasser.
The Motel One is our top tip for delegates on a budget who appreciate a stylish touch. © One Hotels & Resorts AG
ECR 2012 might still be several months away, but we know that many of you are already planning your trips to Vienna. With that in mind, we looked at some of the hotels available through the ESR Travel Service booking platform to find some of Vienna’s accommodation highlights. We picked out a few establishments to suit different requirements, to hopefully help you find a home-from-home for the congress. The first on our list? The Motel One.
ECR 2011 delegates flock into the Austria Center Vienna
Vienna has long been a popular tourist destination, as any visitor in search of last minute accommodation will bitterly tell you.
But holidays are not the only reason to come and relish the remnants of the Habsburgs’ golden age, and a trained eye will often be able to spot many visitors carrying congress bags instead of back packs.
For the past 12 years, in the beginning of March, these bags have invariably displayed the logo of our own European Congress of Radiology (ECR), but many other professions, medical or otherwise, also choose to meet in Vienna. So many, in fact, that the city has recently topped a chart of the most popular congress destinations in the world… for the sixth time in a row!
The WFUMB technical exhibition
This time we didn’t have to travel very far for another episode of our congress coverage, just a couple of stops on the underground and we found ourselves once more at the Austria Center Vienna (ACV), every ESR employee’s second home. But this time there was a difference, 35 degrees outside and the danger of getting sunburn while walking from the underground station to the ACV. So, this is clearly not a story about the ECR, which always takes place in rather more temperate March (and also will take place in March 2012). No, this time nearly the whole ESR staff came to the Austria Center to participate in and help to set up a unique event that has never happened before and will never take place in this form again; the world congress of ultrasound (WFUMB) in conjunction with the EUROSON (congress of the EFSUMB) and the ‘Dreiländertreffen’ (three-country meeting) of Austria, Germany and Switzerland’s ultrasound societies (ÖGUM, DEGUM, SGUM), all held together on 26–29 August, 2011.
One of the big advantages of having our main congress in March is that the ACV is much more comfortable in the cooler times of the year because for some reason it’s easier to heat the building up than to cool it down. On the second day of the congress a big thunderstorm hit Vienna which, besides a lot of rain, brought a welcome drop in temperature. But enough about the weather, after all, our participants came for the congress and its scientific highlights.
