Sporthotel Salzburg: Dachstein Ski Hotel

Give a warm welcome to the fourth entry in the Salzburg Hotel directory of Visit Salzburg - Sporthotel Dachstein West, a three star hotel from the Salzburg side of Mount Dachstein:

http://www.visit-salzburg.net/hotels/sporthotel-dachstein.htm

Good luck and a successful season!

Snowmobiling in Austria

Hi,
First, great website - thanks I will use your sight often as my sister just moved to Vienna.
I want to come over to see her this winter and I am wondering if there are any places in Austria where people snowmobile? Can you rent sleds - so you have any contacts?

Thanks so much, xxx

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My reply:

Thanks for your kind words regarding my website! I have never come
accross snowmobiles in Austria except for emergecy services that use
them on slopes. So I am afraid I can not offer any information on that
- if you find a place that offers snow mobiles, I would be grateful if
you could inform me about it so that I can include a few words on it
on the website.

Thanks a lot and enjoy Austria,

Benedikt

Freedom Party Austria: More Feedback

Two posts down this blog, you see a message by a reader that thought I was too harsh about Carinthia's xenophobia and the Freedom Party of Austria. So I sent him a link to my article on Jörg Haider and the Freedom Party and received the following friendly reply:

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Dear Benedikt,

I am forced me to recant my statement ; "too complicated and political to explain", since you do a very good job and do explain it very well, especially the corrupt political system. The summary of the Freedom party history is quite interesting, thorough without boredom. I always found it amazing, the tricks Haider would use to bolster his popularity, such as elaborate state visits to Sadam Hussein to tweak the nose of Uncle Sam and his critics.

Many Carinthians found this immensely entertaining as they understood full well, what he was up to. I'm not sure I would describe the party as xenophobic, though. Weren't they just trying to protect Austria from illegal immigration, people who came to milk the system. If you look at the Danish and Dutch experience, they learned the hard way.

I remember vividly my youthful summers spent in Spittal, comming home annualy to our family residence over the summers in the 60s and 70s and my parents engaging curious friends, neighbors and family, who would anxiously cross-examine us over everything in America. It was always fun and interesting discussions as they had a chance to get the real story from "die Amerikaner" as we were respectfully refered to. All knew, our family had found the "American Dream" and wanted to rub shoulders. Back then, Austrians had a hard time understanding, and did not want to accept, that yes, indeed, corruption existed in Austria through the stifelling control of the parties and was not exclusive to the US.

You describe that very well and I congatulate you and thank you for the link to the thorough, articulate description of the disgraceful party control over all aspects of Austrian commerce. May it be relegated to the dustbin sooner rather than later!

You are welcome to post my comments, anonymously, if you feel it would be of interest. In retrospect however, I feel that I was a little too harsh on you.

My best regards to you,

xxx

E-Mail from Rudolfsplatz, Vienna

Here is another friendly e-mail that I received yesterday - please don't think that I publish only positive feedback, I usually post all longer, substantial e-mails that I get through TourMyCountry.com regardless of whether the feedback is positive or negative.

"Dear Benedikt,

I am sitting in my flat next to Rudolfsplatz in Vienna's First District, and just came across your website. I'm getting ready to spend my second night in the city, since I arrived just yesterday, but I will be living in Vienna for at least two years.

Since I was a contributor to a blog, I know how much work goes into one, and, although I'm not in the habit of writing fan mail, I wanted to thank you for putting together a very informative and entertaining information resource. I've lived in a number of other countries, but I've never come across a website that provided such a down-to-earth and honest portrayal of a country. I think your website would be better, however, if you provided some background on yourself.

I think the personal information would help your readers to better evaluate your views and put it into perspective. For example, you must not be from Vienna, since you're so critical of the city, but knowing where you're from can perhaps also provide an insight on how Austrians from other parts of your country see Vienna. In addition, I wondered where you live now, and what took you away from Austria and whether you still live abroad. Information about your age and present occupation would also be of interest. As I read your website, I even wondered whether you were a man or a woman, until I saw the reference to your name. And judging from your family name, you might be Jewish, which, if true, would give your judgments regarding Austrian xenophobism greater credibility. In short, your personal story, posted on the website's home page, can provide another insight into Austria.

By the way, I had an interesting conversation with a colleague of mine, an American like myself who is married to an Austrian and has lived here since graduating from college. As we passed the Votiv Kirche, my colleague commented on the billboard in front of the church, mentioning that he knew the pastor very well, a long-time resident who is Maltese. I was personally shocked to see how the billboard obstructed the view of the church, but my colleague related how it happened. He said the pastor obtains a good income from the billboard's revenue, which is essential to the renovation, which cleaned the building's limestone and returned it from black to the original white color. The pastor said Austrians go through three stages when confronted by a new idea -- first they claim it is impossible to do, then they criticize it, and then finally they imitate it. (Evidently the other major Viennese churches have started to do the same thing.)

And thank you for letting me know that "Edelweiss" is not actually an Austrian song!

Best regards, xxx"

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Here is my reply:

Hi xxx,

Thank you very much for your kind words! I appreciate feedback, since the website is a one-man-show, user feedback is the only measure by which I can improve the site. Regarding your suggestions to include more information about myself: I have to balance information because of the reasons you pointed out quite correctly (to underline the subjective character, to allow readers to evaluate my approach better, etc) with my drive not to make it too personal and blog-like (I hate websites that are done only for the sake of promoting oneself).

To accomplish this balance, I have a only short statement on the purpose of TourMyCountry.com with a brief biography of mine at http://www.tourmycountry.com/austria/about.htm (don't know if you have noticed that, but it is linked from the bottom of every page). For those that are interested in me in more detail, I think that a google search for my name will take them directly to my "professional" CV website at benediktmandl.com, where further information can be found.

As for your friend's analysis on Austrian behaviour regarding novelties: I perfectly agree with it. For this topic, see also http://www.tourmycountry.com/austria/lifestyle-culture.htm and
http://www.tourmycountry.com/austria/like-dislike.htm and http://www.tourmycountry.com/austria/badhabits.htm and http://www.tourmycountry.com/austria/features-austrian-people.htm (with the latter one I just noticed that it needs to be layouted and linked properly - as I said: Feedback helps me improving the site).

If you happen to have a website, blog or facebook profile - I would appreciate links to TourMyCountry.com! Thanks a lot and have a great time in Vienna (I am in Luxemburg for the summer and will return to Vienna in late September)!

Benedikt

Friendly mail for TMC

"I had first visited Austria in Wien in 1991, fell in love with my "clean NewYork" (born and raised there). Then later I traveled throughout Austria and now am a permanent resident with so much more to see and do.

I just happened onto your site and think it is great. You have given me moreideas. It is interesting that your home province includes my absolute favoriteplace - Bad Hofgastein. Keep up the great work"

Relaunch: Slightly new layout for Visit-Salzburg.net

Last night, TourMyCountry.com's sister-website www.Visit-Salzburg.net was re-launched with a slightly altered layout. For returning visitors, the online Salzburg travel guide might appear essentially the same as before, but subtle changes ensure improved usability, a tidier look and - most importantly - a more concise HTML code in the background. This means that loading times are shorter. The new layout makes the website more similar to TourMyCountry.com and will make it easier for the two websites to present themselves as two pillars of one strategy - presenting Austria as a holiday destination from behind the scenes.

Toni Sailer dies at 73

Sad news from Tyrol: The Austrian skiing-legend Toni Sailer died at the age of 73. For more on the skiing champion from Kitzbühel, see my article on "Toni Sailer" in the skiing section of TourMyCountry.com.