Feuilleton 340   Austria — Hotspot of Europe

( words)

VIENNA — SEMMERING — SALZBURG — INNSBRUCK

Austria is currently the hotspot of Europe, Vienna its capital. European summers are synonymous for visiting the countryside, sea- and lakesides activities, culture, festivals and, as I have explained earlier, a word as difficult to translate as Gemütlichkeit, “Sommerfrische”.

In a series of totally different approaches we have portraied the most famous hotels of the city, telling the story of Vienna and its legendary lodging places. Please visit our books pages to see our works on the legendary hotels of the city.

At the Imperial you can walk the corridor of our Path of History — the hotel's permanent history exhibition, curated by Carola Augustin, while at the Hotel Bristol (pictured) we have built a stylish bent HISTORY wall featuring Artivive, an augmented reality concept.

Our correspondent Adrian Mourby has visited an other Austrian town, Innsbruck, the capital of the province of Tyrol. He stayed in a hotel where Mozart had spent the night, too. Our opening photograph shows a guestlist engraved in stone. Here is his story.

European summers are synonymous for visiting the countryside, sea- and lakesides activities, culture, festivals and, as I have explained earlier, a word as difficult to translate as Gemütlichkeit, “Sommerfrische”. 

Grand cultural festivals such as Verona, Glyndebourne or Salzburg are approaching their peak. However, there is a multitude of smaller art festivals, such as Thalhof, or Sommer.Kultur.Semmering, located in Lower Austria.

SEMMERING 

It used to be one of the most famous resorts of European high society of the past, but the legendary Semmering was knocked off its pedestal with no scruples by dubious financiers. I visited Sommer.Kultur.Semmering and take a closer look into this serious matter in a German written essay — ENDSTATION SCHWINDSUCHT. 

I'd also like to draw your attention to a concept called Artissimi, introducing Vienna's cultural heritage. It is the brainchild of Elisabeth Wolf in Vienna, who creates bespoke programs on nearly any cultural subject or theme. It sometimes involves a visit to the famous Hotel Sacher, the most important exhibitions of each season, public art, architecture, private views to studios and galleries or just a museum visit. "Artissimi is like a holiday in Vienna ..."

Below you see just a small selection of what our Reading Room has to offer — over 1000 stories can be found there.

Enjoy your weekend
Yours as always
Andreas Augustin