Happy Birthday to Panama!

World-famous Vienna State Opera. *Photo from Wikipedia October 26 is National Day of Austria, celebrates the anniversary of the Declaration of Neutrality in 1955. Formally, the declaration was promulgated voluntarily by the Republic of Austria. Politically, it was the direct consequence of the allied occupation by the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France between 1945 and 1955, from which the country was freed by the Austrian State Treaty (May 15, 1955). Since then, neutrality has become a deeply ingrained element of Austrian identity. Austria’s national holiday on October 26 commemorates the declaration. Austria was dominated by

Masqueraders during Carnival celebrations. *Photo from Wikipedia August 31 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Trinidad and Tobago from the United Kingdom in 1962. The island of Trinidad was a Spanish colony from the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1498 to the arrival of a British fleet of 18 warships on February 18, 1797. During the same period, the island of Tobago changed hands among Spanish, British, French, Dutch and Courlander colonizers, more times than any other island in the Caribbean. Trinidad and Tobago (remaining separate until 1889) were ceded to Britain in 1802. The country Trinidad and Tobago

Santiago, also known as Santiago de Chile, the capital and largest city of Chile. *Photo from Wikipedia September 18 is Chile’s National Day. It commemorates the proclamation of the First Governing Body of 1810, and marking the beginning of the Chilean independence process. In 1808, Napoleon’s enthronement of his brother Joseph as the Spanish King precipitated the drive by the colony for independence from Spain. A national junta (a civil deliberative or administrative council) in the name of Ferdinand – heir to the deposed king – was formed on September 18, 1810. In memory of this day Chile celebrates its