Supplementary Info on Carinthia & Austrian Culture

I got a message this morning that I think makes a good supplement to the information that I provide on TourMyCountry.com. As I state in the "about" section, the website draws my personal, subjective view on Austria - here you can read on an alternative approach from one of my readers:

"Darf Ich mich vorstellen, Ich heisse xxx, geb Spittal a.d. Drau und lebe seit xxx in NYC wo Ich meine Firma besitze. (May I introduce myself, my name is xxx, I was born in Spittal an der Drau and live in NYC, where I run a company - translation included by BM)

Since I don't have umlauts on my keyboard, and its simpler and less formal, I'm going to continue in English. I just stumbled accross your web site and felt the urge to write you and compliment you on a good job. If you will please endulge me,however, there are some things I take exception to, like the harsh and trivial way you deal with Carinthia for one. Don't get me wrong, I'm no big fan of many of my narrowminded provincial-landsmen, but because some Europeans didn't like Haider, it's hardly fair to describe them as xenophobes or right-wing nazis.

They are certainly not. You conveniently left out the fact that for almost 50 years, the Kaerntners, being good socialists, elected SPO for their Landeshauptman (governor - comment added by BM) and Klagenfurt, Villach and Spittal Mayors. That is until FPO's Hfrt. Leopold Guggenberger, former Mayor of Klagenfurt upset the applecart! Shame on you?

The Socialists of couse delivered the goods and votes for the party machine in Vienna, which took them for granted and usually delivered very little in return for Kaernten! But of course, that's to complicated and political to expain and you do have to sell google adds. (socialist co?) Which leads me to your analysis of Vienna, where you do hit the nail on the head. Das ist Wiennerisch - stets arrogant! Myself, like you, I love Salzburg. The Salzburger is open, friendly, productive, elegant, cultured, and business friendly. In short, the cutest little "big city"in Europe, and I've seen them all, while working in Copenhagen for xxx in the mid 70s.

It is my chosen home in Austria although I have cousins all over. Overall, you've done a great job of presenting Austria to the world, but remember one thing, before you bash Sound of Music, for all the corny stuff you correctly point out. Austria was unfairly labbeled a nasty little nazi country where Hitler came from. (promoted by the likes of Lillian Helman and Otto Preminger, who just wouldn't be persuaded otherwise by their good friend Chancellor Bruno Kreisky)

The movie broke that mold, and you should praise Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp family in Vermont for that ! ! ! Thanks to the turn of events from that movie, Austria and its rich culture, recieved renewed interest and a tourist tide from all over the world, which has not receeded to this day. You can thank your wealth and prosperity in many ways to that annoying (to us Austrians) fake movie. Keep up the good work and if your ever in NYC, look me up. Best regards and pfeadi.'"

Further Reading:
http://www.tourmycountry.com/austria/freedom-party.htm

Austria Travel Links: Directory online again

I recently encountered a few problems with my server, which resulted in the loss of the database for the link directory and broken e-mail adresses. Both issues are solved now and you can use the normal e-mail contacts as provided on the webiste again. Additionally, the Austria Travel Link directory went online again - thanks to the help of Manuel Will, who works as a programmer and web designer in Salzburg.

Here are the main navigation points of the directory:
Bars & Entertainment
Websites by Region
Hiking & Summer Sports
Hotels & Accommodation
Music & Culture
Public Institutions
Restaurants & Dining
Sightseeing
Skiing & Wintersports
Transportation & Travel
Travel Practicalities
Vienna
Wellness & Spa

Biofuels in Austria: New Technology from Vienna

Austria has a strong agriucultural lobby, which promotes the use of biofuels to fight climate change. Whilst environmental activists have long recognised most of the arguments for first generation biofuels as highly dubious, second generation biofuels (those made from non-edible organic matter) are a big hope for future energy supplies. Researchers from the Technical University of Vienna have now developed a technique to transfer a funghus into an organism that reproduces sexually, which will make it a lot easier to modify it for the application in bio-chemical engineering. Read more details in English here or the original press release of the TU Vienna in German here.

A parent website for two siblings...

TourMyCountry.com has developed from an idea first tested at a different website - the independent, student-run website www.Visit-Salzburg.net, a travel guide for people who want to experience Salzburg behind the scenes of the usual cliches. This is essentially the idea that I tried to lift to a pan-Austrian level at TourMyCountry.com. Now that the two website's collaboration is still alive after more than two years, we set up a "parent" site that links the two: www.onreda.com will present traffic information and other background for the two Austria travel guides. In fact there is reason to celebrate: TMC went beyond 33,000 visitors last month, Visit-Salzburg beyond the magic 30,000. Together, the "Onreda Travel Guides" cover Austria in pretty good detail - and will continue their development.

New Articles: Fresh Grade-A contents on Austria

Has been a while, but now finally I can announce some 80 new articles on TourMyCountry, mostly on non-Viennese topics. Have a look:

Microbreweries in Vienna
Kirche St. Erhard, Vienna
Annakirche Breitenlee
Kirche St. Nikolaus, Stammersdorf
St. Nepomuk Kapelle Döbling
Kirche St. Jakob, Penzing
Kirche St. Jakob, Heiligenstadt
Nussdorfer Pfarrkirche
St. Aegidius, Pötzleinsdorf
St. Gertrud, Währing
Pfarrkirche Neulerchenfeld
Heilig-Geist-Kirche Ottakring (Josef Plecnik)
Wallfahrtskirche Mariabrunn
Rochuskapelle Penzing
Pfarrkirche Ober St. Veit
Pfarrkirche Oberlaa
Mostviertel
Industrieviertel
Weinviertel
Waldviertel
Traunviertel
Innviertel
Hausruckviertel
Mühlviertel
Steirisches Thermenland
Oststeirisches Hügelland
Lustenau
Lechtal
Pitztal
Ötztal
Tannheim
Stubaital
Wörgl
Wörgl History
Lesachtal
Gailtal
Wieselburg
Göstling, Lunz am See & Lunzersee
Neusiedlersee Part I; Part II; Part III; Part IV
Ossiachersee
Bodensee, Part I; Part II; Part III
Wörthersee, Part I & Part II
Millstättersee
Wolfgangsee
Attersee
Traunsee
Hallstättersee
National Park Hohe Tauern
National Park Kalkalpen
National Park Gesäuse
National Park Nockberge
National Park Thayatal
Grünau im Almtal
Lavanttal
Bad Hall, Part I & Part II
Silvretta Hochalpenstraße
Montafon
Großes Walsertal
Brixental
Kaisergebirge
Malta & Maltatal
Rosental
Murtal
Ausseerland & Steirisches Salzkammergut
Palais Zichy
Palais Sternberg
Bad Vöslau
Bishops of Vienna

Haider Museum in Klagenfurt, Carinthia?

Some might have expected this, to me it is at least not very surprising: Fans of the deceased rightwing-populist leader Jörg Haider plan to build a temporary exhibition on Haider's life and career of their idol which might well turn into a permanent museum. The museum will be in an old tunnel in Klagenfurt, which was used as a bunker by local civilians - and high-ranking Nazi-officials towards the end of WWII, as the German paper "Sueddeutsche Zeitung" reports (in German). For further information on Haider and the Freedom Party of Austria, see the respective article on TourMyCountry.com.

Jorg Haider Museum planned in Klagenfurt

Some might have expected this, to me it is at least not very surprising: Fans of the deceased rightwing-populist leader Jorg Haider plan to build a temporary exhibition on Haider's life and career of their idol which might well turn into a permanent museum. The museum will be in an old tunnel, which was used as a bunker by local civilians - and high-ranking Nazi-officials towards the end of WWII, as the German paper "Sueddeutsche Zeitung" reports.