Nationalfeiertag

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Ok, this is from the Nationalfeiertag (Austria's independence day, more or less) in Vienna. Everything is closed, but there are celebrations, and stuff all over town. For instance, the Hofburg and Parlament are having 'Tag der Ofnen Türe' (Day of open doors) so you can go see some of the government buildings for free. The army (Bundesheer) was also on display celebrating at Heldenplatz (Hero's Square).

So, while at Heldenplatz, we ran into a lot of the 'in' crowd... such as Heinz Fischer (the President), Herr Gusenbauer (the head of the Socialist Party of Austria, and probably the future Chancellor), as well as his People's Party counterpart, and current Chancellor: Wolfgang Schüssel, and a crowd of Austrian generals.

This is some grainy footage of some of the soldiers marching around. I think the party in front of us was busy recognizing a loved one

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Photos

Gefahr
Danger is nearby.

Tanks anyway
and yes, you can see that Eric and I were actually there.

Security
The best part of using the Army for an event, is that they come with their own security and fire protection. Note the Minorettenkirke in the background.

Soldat
Guardin' something. Note the equiptment, because there will be a test later.

Legions of Troops
Marching through the streets!
Note how sweet the officer's uniform is.

On Parade!
These are, from what I could tell, the regular infantry. I find it interesting how old their uniforms appear; that they haven't adopted camoflage.

On the Road
Modern, Stark, Schnell. ok, I stole that from their posters. But this was the big lightboard they had up, and I like the way this came out.

Anti-Aircraft
The purple rounds on display are phosphorous 'tracer' rounds.

Aircraft
A Eurofighter "Typhoon" - one of the 18 in the Austrian Luftstreitkräfte.

Wien Garte
The Wien Garte (Viennese Guard), displayed on teh light screen.

Zee Germans
For some reason unbeknownst to me, there were lots of German proper soldiers here too. I don't know what to make of that.

Helicopters
Helicopters

There were so many tanks
lots o tanks everywhere

The land of Red Bull
They had remote control Red Bull helicopters (which were incidentally had their fuel in Red Bull can looking fuel tanks)

Das Parlament
Neo-cassical style courtesty of the 19th century

Athena
The statue is of Athena, the goddess of wisdom. However, the big joke around Wien is that she does not face parlament because the wisdom is not to be found there!

Sitzugssaal des Bundesrates
This is where the Federal Assembly sits, which is, one of their houses of legislature.

Neoclassicalness
The roman dudes are guys who were Roman statesmen. On the far right we have Seneca, then Augustus Caesar, some other Roman dudes, and on the left we have the old kings of Rome.

Heinz Fischer
This room had pictures of the Presidents of Austria. Most were traditional portraits, but the current presidents was all modern for some reason.

Sitzungssaal des Nationalrates
This is where the other house, the National Assembly, sits. It was bombed out during WWII so it was made in the 50s, and is supposedly one of the best examples of 50s architechture in Vienna. OK.

Rathaus
This is the Rathaus (town hall). Big party goin on.

Entrance to the Hofburg
Party on garth.

Comments

[Ben]

Germans in Austria?
Your right, that is a little wierd for the Germans (in camo, no less) hanging out in uniform at the Austrian independence celebration. Not a very good undercover agent. I dig the neo classical style parliment building. Athena is a good choice, but I think Heaphistus would be a cooler statue.