Question & Answer - Part 2: More on Salzburg

Now here is an interesting one:

QUESTION:

Hi. I'm XXX from the Philippines. I've been collecting caricatures from all the places I've been to and I will be going to Salzburg this coming April. I just wanted to ask if you would know where I could find the caricature artists on the street. if so, where should I be looking for them. Thank you very much. Sincerely, XXX

ANSWER:

Hello XXX, There are caricature artists around the cathedral in the city centre - mostly on the Domplatz and under the arches between Domplatz and the surrounding squares. I think they are there all year round, although I have to admit that I have never paid much attention to them. I hope you have a good time in Salzburg and get a great caricature! Best wishes, Benedikt

AND THE GRATEFUL REPLY:

Hello Benedikt! Thank you very much for your honest and detailed reply. I will surely enjoy my trip. Thanks a lot! XXX

Q&A: A Question about "The Sound of Music" Tours

I decided to start posting questions that were sent to me by e-mail at the blog, in the hope that my answers will help other people, too. Here we go with one regarding "The Sound of Music" Tours in Salzburg:

QUESTION:

"Hi, I am going on holiday with my husband and 3 children to a hotel outside Salzburg in February (the Neubichleralm in Piding, near Bad Reichenstall) and we will spend at least one day in the city. I was last in Salzburg in 1982 (!) and hope to revisit the places I enjoyed then.

However, my children are avid fans of THAT film and so we are considering a Sound of Music tour as well as Mozrtsgeburtshaus/ pferdwasche etc... Is there one company that is better than others or are they all fairly similar? I know its kitsch and unrepresentative of Austria and we will make this clear to our children: I spent a few summers in Scheibbs, NO and have great memories of the Wachau, Krems, Heuriger etc so we can make sure that they get the message! Any advice welcome!"

MY ANSWER:

Hi XXX, I've never done a Sound of Music Tour myself, but I assume they are all rather similar - Panoramatours is the very big one, Bob's Tours is a small local company that might be more personal; otherwise, especially since you are several people, renting a car and touring the lakes yourself will be the best deal and grant you with the freedom to spend time wherever you want.

Essentially, 80 percent of all Sound of Music locations are *within* Salzburg and very accessible; then they go to Anif, where you can't get into the castle, because it is private property; and then they take you to Mondsee, which is nice, but not worth the 35 Euros that I think they charge - since you can get their by public busses or with your own car. I hope this helps! Have a great stay in Salzburg! Links to our website are always appreciated! Best wishes, Benedikt

New Layout is delayed - current issues with TourMyCountry

You might have noticed that the new layout that I have promised just before Christmas has not happened yet - this is due to difficulties with my general time-budget. Nonetheless, I think about three major innovations for the next couple of months:

- The new layout with features like info-boxes
- A link directory instead of the rather useless current "link list for Austria"
- Increased number of photographs, especially for articles that are purley texed based (for an example, see the new one on Mayrhofen in the Zillertal Valley).

I hope I will make good progress with all three points.

Best,

Benedikt

Skiing, skiing & more skiing!

As winter proceedes, the skiing industry is nearing its peak - according to current press reports, it is hard to find any room in the top skiing towns of Salzburg and Tyrol for most of January.

If you havn't booked your skiing holiday yet, it is about time!

Here some useful links:

http://www.skiaustria.com/
http://www.skiingaustria.co.uk/
http://www.ski-austria.com/

For an outline of the skiing areas of austria by province, I wrote the following article:

http://www.tourmycountry.com/austria/skiingareas.htm

And a general introduction to skiing in Austria:

http://www.tourmycountry.com/austria/skiing-austria.htm

Finally, note the new articles on skiing resorts such as Obertauern, Ischgl, St. Anton, Lech, Zürs and Kitzbühel.

Happy Skiing!

Benedikt

Prosit Neujahr - Happy New Year!

Oh well, the new layout that I had promised to be implemented by Christmas hasn't happened yet; however, I did spend some time on TourMyCountry.com and created a directory of districts of Austria - there you can browse the provinces, districts and all muncipalities of the country altogether with maps of each area. For example, to find a list of all communities of the Flachgau or "Bezirk Salzburg Umgebung". This is not overly useful for the ordinary tourist, but provides me with a "red line" through the country and the sightseeing articles I have done and will do in the future.

Speaking of the future: A very happy new year! As for resolutions, I plan to play with the layout of the website and want to "return" to the Vienna section to add more content there. Specifically, I would like to do a district-by-district guide to sightseeing. Furthermore, Styria and Carinthia could use some more attention. We'll see how the traffic picks up this year.

Finally, a current piece of information: There is an apparently very nice show on Alice motives in fine arts for children currently shown in the MMK in Salzburg.

Benedikt