Austrian & Swiss Culture
Although the stereotype may be that Austrians are all beer
guzzlers, and it's true that there are a lot of excellent
Austrian beers, Austria also has an active café culture,
and produces many good quality wines. Austria has about 5000
vineyards covering 141,000 acres, including some within the
city limits of Vienna itself. The dominant white grape in
Austria is Green Veltliner (responsible for more than a third
of output), which produces tart, fruity wine. It is only just
gaining recognition outside Austria, partly because the best
vintages are so enthusiastically snapped up by the internal
market. Austrian wines made with this grape outperformed renowned
Cardinals in recent blind tasting sessions.
[Read the full article] |
|
Austrian food has a lot of common with German food, but is
also influenced by Hungarian and Slav cooking, remnants of
the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.
Traditional Austrian cooking is based around meat and potatoes,
goulash, pastries, sausages, and dumpling after dumpling after
dumpling, but in recent years there as also emerged a 'New
Austrian' school of cooking which uses less salt and butter,
and tries to create lighter, healthier organic dishes.
Austria has been described as a 'knoedel country', because
the people eat so many dumplings. Varieties of dumpling range
from potato to strawberry, but the most common is the Semmel
Knoedel.
[Read the full article] |
|
|
|
|
Austria A-Z - famous Austrians, Austrian towns and cities,
well-known buildings and tourist attractions, foods, drinks,
products - all things Austrian. From Achensee to Zillertal
from Alps to Zwieselstein. Click on the links for further
in-depth information.
A = Accommodation, Achensee, Airlines, Alpbach, Alps,
Altmunster, Arlberg, ATM, Austria, Austrian People's Party
(OVP), Austro-Hungarian Empire.
B = Bad Aussee, Bad Gastein, Bad Gleichenberg, Bad
Hofgastein, Bad Ischl, Baden bei Wein, Badgastein, Banks,
Bars, Beaches, Beer, Bim, Bodensee, Books on Austria, Bregenz,
Bregenzerwald, Bruchner Anton (composer), Buschenschenk, Buses.
[Read the full article] |
|
Austria is two-thirds Alps, so unsurprisingly when its soaring
mountains are not covered in snow and skiers, they swarm with
happy hikers (an estimated 3 million of them per year).
Most trails are very well marked, (with red and white stripes
on trees or boulders along the way), and there is also a difficulty
coding system based on the colours used for skiing runs. Blue
is easy, red is intermediate, and black is the hardest. Just
as with ski runs, beginners would be ill advised to take on
the difficult routes immediately.
The best time for hiking is the summer - June to September
- when temperatures average in the twenties Celsius
in most areas. The tradeoff is that this is the also the time
when you will encounter most tourists, and when prices are
at their highest.
[Read the full article] |
|
The area now known as Austria has been inhabited for at
least 25,000 years. One piece of evidence for this assertion
was the discovery in 1908 of one of the oldest piece of art
known to man - the 5cm tall statue 'Venus of Willendorf'.
The statue is of an extremely fat woman with plaits but no
face and no feet. Archaeologists are not sure of the exact
significance of the statue, but if you want to have a look
yourself it is displayed in the Natural History Museum in
Vienna.
3500BC A man with dark hair and blue eyes dies in a bloody
fight. (See 1991AD)
500BC Celts settle in the area. This is the beginning of 'civilisation'
in Austria. The Celts set up trade routes and mine salt.
[Read the full article] |
|
Looking for a good read on Austria & Switzerland? Interested
in Austrian and Swiss culture, language and history or thinking
of visiting the country on business or vacation?
In association with Amazon we review some of our favourite
books on Austria & Switzerland.
Titles from Lonely Planet, Fodor's, Frommer's, Penguin, Aurum
Press, McGraw-Hill, Workman Publishing, Insight Guides, Cambridge
University Press, Rough Guides and Eyewitness.
[Read the full
article] |
|
A collection of professional images of Switzerland. Photographs
of Swiss cities, towns, monuments, famous buildings, landmarks
as well as photos of scenery and people.
All our images are © copyright. If you wish to purchase
or commission a photograph of Austria or Switzerland please
contact us for further details and pricing, otherwise sit
back and enjoy!
[View images] |
|
A collection of professional images of Austria. Photographs
of Austrian cities, towns, monuments, famous buildings, landmarks
as well as photos of scenery and people.
All our images are © copyright. If you wish to purchase
or commission a photograph of Austria or Switzerland please
contact us for further details and pricing, otherwise sit
back and enjoy!
[View images] |
|
The election by Austrian voters of far right Nazi sympathiser
Joerg Haider and his Freedom Party into a coalition government
sent shock waves around the world in 1999.
Haider has been accused of racism and anti-semitism, but in
the Austrian media he is considered to be a normal part of
politics.
The Austrian head of state is the president who is directly
elected for a six-year term. The Austrian parliament consists
of two chambers, the National Council of 183 members which
is elected by proportional representation, and the Federal
Council, which is elected by provincial parliaments. Austria
became a full member of the EU in 1995.
[Read the full article] |
|
Mozart, a name synonymous with musical genius, is undoubtedly
the best known and most popular classical composer the world
has ever produced. He is the composer of over 600 pieces of
music and was an astounding child prodigy, composing by the
age of five and well used to performing in front of the kings
and queens of Europe before he was ten years old.
Almost inevitably there was another side to this genius. There
is no definite proof, but large amounts of circumstantial
evidence point to Mozart suffering from various types of mental
illness, including Attention Deficit Disorder, Tourettes Syndrome
(which can cause sufferers to swear uncontrollably), bipolar
disorder and even coprographia - an obsessive need to write
down filth.
[Read the full article] |
|
The legal situation regarding prostitution in Austria is
complicated and varies by region, but it is basically legal.
Prostitutes are to be found in brothels, strip clubs, saunas
and massage parlours, and others practice an interesting innovation
called Kabinsex.
The 'cabin' is similar to that which would be used for a peepshow,
but with two holes in the wall. The first hole is at the appropriate
height for a porn film to be watched through it, and the second
hole is located just below waist height - so that the
prostitute can administer her services through the hole without
even meeting the customer.
[Read the
full article] |
|
The 2005 Durex Sex Survey proved what many may have long
suspected - Swiss people have sex in pretty much the
same ways as people in the rest of Europe.
According to the survey, the Swiss have sex an average of
104 times per year, which makes them slightly more active
than the inhabitants of co-hosts Austria, but 38% of Swiss
respondents still wish they could have sex more frequently.
17% said they had had a one night stand, 40% had had anal
sex, and 22% had been involved in some kind of bondage. This
makes them slightly less kinky than North Americans and British,
and roughly similar to Scandinavians.
[Read the full article] |
|
As the founder of psychoanalysis Freud was one of the most
important psychologists in history. By popularising ideas
such as penis envy, the Oedipus complex, dream symbolism,
anal retentiveness and Freudian slips (technically known as
parapraxes) he has done more to promote psychology in the
public imagination than any other man.
He was born Sigismund Schlomo Freud in 1856 to a Jewish family
in Freiberg, now part of the Czech Republic, but then part
of the Austrian Empire.
[Read the full article] |
|
Austria's alpine scenery will take your breath away,
so what better way to enjoy the mountain air than hurtling
down a snowy mountain on two planks?
The Alps account for about two thirds of Austria's area,
and so skiing is naturally a big thing. Austria has about
22,000km of pistes in 800 winter sports resorts- and this
is in a country with about the same area as Ireland, or which
could fit into Texas almost nine times.
Apart from skiing there's snowboarding, snowshoe hiking,
ice climbing and ice golf. You can even try sailing or skiing
on frozen lakes, or go for a ride on a dog-sleigh.
[Read the full article] |
|
Switzerland is a relatively expensive place to ski. Equipment
hire can be particularly costly, but in return you get some
of the best downhill skiing in the world, and resorts where
facilities are invariably first-rate.
Switzerland's ski resorts offer some of the biggest, highest
and toughest runs in the world. Generally skiing has grown
up steadily around mountain villages, meaning the setting
and atmosphere is very different from the purpose built mega-resorts
of France or the USA. The Alps cover about three fifths of
Switzerland's area, so skiing is available in most regions.
[Read the full article] |
|
The Swiss army knife is a cultural icon famed as far afield
as Japan, where it is known as a 'suisu ahh-mee naifu'. Two
US presidents have had personalised Swiss Army Knives designed,
and there is even one in the New York Museum of Modern Art.
The knife's history dates back to 1891 when Karl Elsener discovered
that the Swiss Army were using German knives. This irritated
him so much that he founded the Association of Swiss Master
Cutlers and began work on the Swiss Army Knife's ancestor,
the 'Soldier's Knife', which was wooden handled and featured
a blade, a screwdriver, a punch and a can opener.
[Read the full article] |
|
All Swiss males are obliged to do military service, although
about one third manage to 'dodge the draft', by being, or
claiming to be physically or mentally unfit, or conscientious
objectors. Most do an initial stint of about 4 months, after
which they are transferred to the Reserves.
Each Reservist is required to keep their own rifle, military
uniform, and 50 rounds of ammunition in a tin at home. It
is strictly forbidden to use the bullets for any purpose other
than self-defence.
[Read the full article] |
|
German and German speaking philosophers have made vast contributions
to philosophy, and through philosophy, to the course of world
history.
Perhaps the most influential were the 'great triumvirate'
of Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel and Karl Marx. Other noteworthy
philosophers include Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche,
Martin Heidegger and the Nobel prize-winner Hermann Hesse.
[Read the full article] |
|
German is the official language of Germany, Liechtenstein
and Austria, as well as being spoken in parts of Switzerland,
eastern France, northern Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, and a
few places in Eastern Europe.
There are also large German speaking communities in North
and South America. In total it is the mother tongue of about
100 million people. It is an Indo-European language particularly
closely related to English, Frisian, Yiddish, Dutch, and Afrikaans.
[Read the full article] |
|
The diversity of Switzerland's languages will be evident
to any visitor. Signs are often bi or tri-lingual, and sometimes
newspaper stands have to be extra-long to fit in all the different
language newspapers.
Switzerland (commonly known to Swiss as die Schweiz, la Suisse,
Swizzera, or Svizra) has four 'national' languages, German,
French, Italian and Romansh, of which German, French and Italian
are also classified as 'official' languages. Romansh is an
official language only in the canton of Grabinden.
[Read the full article] |
|
Switzerland is widely held to be the world's most democratic
country.
All any citizen needs to do to challenge a law is collect
50,000 signatures opposing the law in 100 days and a national
referendum must be held.
To challenge the constitution they must collect 100,000 signatures
within 18 months to trigger a referendum, and need a simple
majority of the popular vote and a majority among the states.
This makes Switzerland's democracy the most direct in the
world - in no other country do the citizens have such direct
control over the law.
[Read the full article] |
|
Everyone knows what the Swiss are like.
Swiss men like to wear tight shorts, white shirts, braces
and William Tell caps, usually with feathers in. They spend
most of their time up in the mountains, singing as they walk.
They also enjoy yodelling and playing their 12m long Alpine
horns. They are ruddy cheeked, fairly rich, and pretty smug
because they have so much fresh mountain air and because their
trains always run on time.
They survive on a diet of chocolate and holey-cheese. The
women are mostly blonde, never grow old, like to help milking
the cattle and are usually called Heidi.
[Read the full article] |
|
Germany is criss-crossed by rivers and waterways, enjoys
a temperate climate, and the elevation of the land rises to
well over 9,000 ft (2,700 m). It is natural that such a landscape
should be characterized by great beauty and awe inspiring
scenes. Furthermore, the long history of civilization there,
as well as the country's cultural and technological preeminence,
means that its human landscape makes for impressions as profound
and beautiful as the natural. With the co-operation of the
tourism departments of German cities, as well as that of several
professional photographers, Soccerphile.com is proud to bring
you a growing kaleidoscope of the many faces of Germany. Whether
you are intending to visit Germany for the World Cup in 2006
and want a preview of what awaits you, or whether you are
browsing for your viewing pleasure, click and enjoy a variety
of sights from the very heart of Europe. Remember: our collection
is growing. Please come back for more.
[Read
the full article] |
|
Schwingen, Hornussen and Waffenlaufen
In Switzerland Schwingen (pronounced sh-v-ing-en) has a history
dating back at least 800 years. Lonely shepherds tending flocks
in remote Alpine valleys needed activities that provided exercise,
fun, and the comradeship and company of other people. Switzerland
is host to over 100 Schwingen events per year, and there are
even Schwingers‚ clubs in the USA.
Schwingen is, of course, traditional Alpine wrestling. Competitors
wear oversized shorts, with a slit at the back so the belt
can be held onto during grappling.
[Read the full article] |
|
Possibly there is no football so misunderstood as that of
Germany. Non-Germans may think of them as professional, nearly
invincible, and always playing the same style of football.
The facts do not bear out these perceptions though. Here are
just a few examples:
Professionalism came late to German football and the national
team regularly lost to professional teams such as England
and Austria, sometimes by a large margin.
[Read the full article] |
|
The weather in Austria and Switzerland in June should be
excellent for supporters watching football and touring the
country. For playing football the conditions will be warm,
though not too hot, with maximum temperatures above 20 degrees
Centigrade in most parts of the country with the warmer temperatures
to be found in Austria and venues to the south. The weather
in Austria and Switzerland can be changeable however at this
time and it is worth preparing for both rain and sunshine
and even a few cool and cloudy days during your stay with
temperatures around a 15 degrees Centigrade maximum. Rainfall
is usually at a maximum in the summer months in both Austria
and Switzerland.
[Read the
full article]
|
|
Arriving late on my first night in Vienna, the only place
still serving food near the Hotel was a Würstelstand,
where I enjoyed one of Vienna's greatest creations, the Käsekreiner,
a sausage stuffed with cheese (3.20 Euros).
Greasy but delicious, this is the ultimate drunken snack.
There must be thousands of Würstelstands dotted on street
corners around Vienna, serving up staples such as Bratwurst
(2.10 Euros), or newer inventions like Currywurst (2.50 Euros),
a spicy sausage chopped and sprinkled with curry powder, then
served on a paper plate with mustard and a hunk of brown bread
or white Semmel roll.
[Read
the full article]
|
|
Some time during the 13th Century, the Swiss canton of Uri
came to be dominated by the Austrian Habsburgs. At the beginning
of the 14th Century the Habsburg bailiff for the Uri canton
was an unpopular chap by the name of Hermann Gessler.
To please his egomania, Gessler had a pole erected in the
centre of the town of Altdorf, put his hat on top of it, and
decreed that the poor locals must bow to his cap each time
they walked past it - or else.
William Tell being a proud and patriotic sort of fellow, as
well as a renowned crossbowman, of course refused to bend
in submission to the pesky Austrians, and strode past without
bowing.
[Read
the full article]
|
|
Austria is well adorned with gay characters. Prince Eugene
of Savoy (1663-1736), the man who built Schloss Belvedere
and resisted the Ottoman advance into Europe, must be the
most famous gay man in Austrian annals. [Read
the full article]
More comes out in Switzerland than cuckoos out of clocks.
More things melt in your mouth than bars of chocolate. And
those tightly-laced Heidi bodices aren’t just for the
girls. And yodelling. Who invented that? [Read
the full article] |
|
Advertise Here
|
