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Austria
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AUSTRIA

Capital: Vienna (pop. 1,600,000)

Population: 8,150,000

Area: 83,858 sq. km.

Economy: In 2002, Austria ranked 14th in the UN's Human Development Index survey and 34th in total GDP, with a per capita GDP of $27,700. Poverty and debt statistics unavailable.

Main Language: German

Monkey's Name: Der Affe (dare off-uh) Das Kleine Äffchen (dahs kline-uh eff-i-en)

Fun Fact: When would-be Kaiser of the Austro-Hungarian empire Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot in the streets of Sarajevo (the main city of Austro-Hungary-annexed Bosnia) on June 28 1914, he shrugged off his wounds, saying "Es ist nichts!" ("This is nothing!"). He couldn't have been more wrong: not only would he and his wife be dead shortly thereafter, but only a month later Austria-Hungary would enter the Great War that would see the empire's final undoing.
In May of 2002, the Monkey first made his way to the land of Mozart, the Hapsburgs, Freud, and Falco: Austria. He stayed a short time in Vienna, the nation's capital and one of the quintessential European cities. The weather was a bit dreary for most of his visit, and his photos suffered a bit for it. In November of 2003, the Monkey returned to Vienna for a second look around. The weather cooperated and the photos from his second trip came out much better.

Aside from inspecting the architectural remnants of the old Austro-Hungarian empire and sucking down coffees in the elegant konditorei (cafés), the Monkey was particularly intrigued by the Vienna's unofficial role as the doorway to Eastern Europe. And in addition to people from nearby ex-Warsaw Pact states, the Monkey noticed a good deal of immigrant groups from places as far afield as Chile and China. All these newcomers help spice up somewhat stodgy Vienna's scene.

Unfortunately, in recent years the presence of these immigrant groups has led to a flirtation with ultra-nationalism embodied by the now disgraced politician Jörg Haider and his misnomered Freedom Party. It was perhaps inevitable that such tensions would come to the fore in Austria given the country's geographical position as a border between the European Union and a number of its poorer Eastern neighbors. But following the expansion of the EU in 2004, Austria no longer found itself sharing a border with any non-EU states (except odd-man-out Switzerland). These days, Austria stands to gain more than ever from cooperating with its neighbors rather than trying to keep them out, and, in the Monkey's considered opinion, continued electoral support for Nazi-sympathetic parties is about as useful for Austrians as trying to put a new Hapsburg in power.

Returning to travel, over the next few pages you can see some of the Monkey's shots from Vienna. Of course, there's more to Austria than its capital, and the Monkey is particularly excited to return one day and make for the Austrian Alps (Der Affe considers himself something of a Hermann Maier type). He hears wunderbar things about Innsbruck, for one, and undoubtedly there are a multitude of quiet Tirolean villages the Monkey would love to visit. He has good friends in Vienna, so he expects to be back in Austria at some point in the near future.
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The Monkey rests on the windowsill of his friend's Vienna apartment.

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