Vienna Day 3

The downside to being an exchange student is the student bit, and I ran right into this on Sunday when Jon had to do a group project; me being of a more independent stripe, ventured off on my own to the natural history museum, but before I could really set eye on it properly, I saw this:

Most terrifying inflatable tube man EVER

and thought "wha?" so I wandered over to where the action was, what I can only describe as

(army recruitment tent)30
+ massive speaker/media system
+ interactive "for kids" activities
+ testosterone music fest
- self consciousness
+ (locals(their kids in military uniform))
+ 1 guy in a Joerg Haider hat.

It was supposed to be a celebration of the military for their national day, but I'll show you the pictures, and you tell me if it wasn't a little bit creepy

Storming a tank or playing on it? Playing on it.

Celebrating hometown heroes...ok, but...

...but THIS is excessive!

Yes, let's glorify military technology

As dad said really well, "the fact that the Hapsburg Empire died out is only a technical detail to [Austrians]." Still, this was quite creepy, and I'll bet my month's stipend you'll not see this in Germany on National Day! Having had my fill of "JOIN THE BUNDESHEER!" I went for a bit of a wander before leaving to go to the modern art museum and then for a wander...


Viennese street art 1


Viennese Street art 2

And that was just about as much adventure as I could take for one day, so home it was! As a compensation for my creeped-outedness, J took me to a fun park (think Tivoli or 6 Flags but a little lamer), which you'd think would have been full. Imagine Six Flags on July 4...






...now take some deep breaths to recover. Sorry you all had to picture that. But we got this:

What? Only reasonable conclusion, both J and I could make was Austrians are weird compared to Norse/American ones. We took the chance though to ride the big Ferris wheel and see Vienna by night.

Pretty, huh?

Us looking schweet

And how better to end a chilly night like that than with a cup of cocoa?