Scenes from National Day & Meeting the President

As mentioned in the previous post, Wednesday was Austria's National Day.  And these Austrians, well, they celebrate their neutrality in style.  Despite the gloom and spitting rain, the first district was buzzing with citizens eager to meet their representatives in the Parliament building, shake President Fischer's hand in the Präsidentschaftskanzlei, and climb the tanks and helicopters on display in Heldenplatz.

President Dr. Heinz Fischer on National Day 2011

Naturally, we followed the crowd of umbrellas into the Parliament building where we toured the two chambers of the gorgeous Greek revival house and, to our surprise, we were also personally greeted by Barbara Prammer, the President of the National Council.      

 Waiting in line before the Parliament Building

Federal Assembly Chamber

 National Council Chamber

We moseyed our way through the Volksgarten from the Parliament building to the President's Chambers

The best part of the day, however, was MEETING THE PRESIDENT!  After touring the private rooms of the Präsidentschaftskanzlei in the Hofburg, we were warmly greeted by President Fischer and the First Lady Margrit in the Maria-Theresien-Zimmer. 

Touring the private rooms of the Office of the President

Allegedly, the professional photographer who snapped our picture shaking their hands is going to post said pictures on the President's homepage or Facebook page.  I've been checking both sites each day.  No pics yet.  The pictures are shared in this post. 

The festivities on Heldenplatz