Vienna in November

In November the Austrian Association Against Animal Factories, and the University of Veterinary Medicine's Messerli Institute, invited me to Vienna to deliver two presentations on animal experimentation and alternatives. Never having visited this fabled birthplace of art, culture and home of Mozart, Beethoven and other geniuses, I was keen to visit. Even more importantly, Vienna was also home to the fabled basilisk!

Like all EU member states, Austria has to implement new animal experimentation legislation by 2013. However, the proposed legislation contains several serious flaws. So we started with a press conference critiquing the legislation. Fortunately it was well attended and reported in the national media. Next, Martin took me on a tour of Vienna's old city. He was keen to show off the impressive range of vegan products which are standard in most supermarkets now, largely thanks to the work of his organisation!
Soon we spotted signs of the basilisk. This unfortunate creature was apparently created when a rooster was fertilised by a toad. The basilisk hatched from the resultant egg. The ugliness of this hybrid was sufficient to cause instant death to all unlucky enough to lay eyes on it. It was eventually vanquished by a sharp-witted baker's boy, who revealed to this poor creature its own reflection via a mirror. Horrified, it died on the spot. Today of course we would have humanely translocated it to a community of the similarly ugly, where it could have felt at home and fulfilled its 'telos' (natural potential).
The christmas markets were in full swing.
When wrongly imprisoned for animal rights campaigns a few years ago, the tip of one of these towers was apparently the only thing Martin could see from his cell. Fortunately, the case against Martin and his fellow activists has been largely dismissed on the basis that it was essentially rubbish (the legal manoeuvres aren't quiet finished), and the resultant widespread public outrage in Austria has greatly increased support for his organisation and their campaigns.
During the Renaissance Vienna was, for a time, one of the capitals of the civilised world. Every person of power apparently maintained a palace there for lobbying purposes. Accordingly, the city is full of old palaces such as this one.