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Apr 4, 2011

Austria (B198)


Scenes from the View-Master packet Austria (B198).

 

View-Master Austria (B198), Packet cover

Packet Cover

 

View-Master Austria (B198), booket cover

Booklet Cover

 

From the 16-page booklet:

AUSTRIA – THE ALPINE HEART OF EUROPE

This Guided Picture tour is of Austria, a republic of nine provinces located in the heart of Europe. From Vienna in the east to Bregnez in the west, the traveler rolls through Alpine splendor. The snow-capped mountains, valleys, rivers, and lakes are everywhere.

From time immemorial Austria has echoed to the tread of many races, each leaving behind a trace of its passage. The leather breeches (lederhosen) were originated by the Celts who were supreme when the conquering Romans arrived abut 15 B.C. The Romans planted grapes, built roads and towns. When defeated Turks (1683) left behind sacks of coffee beans, a new drink was given to the world. And so it has been …

An Austrian in describing his people said, “We are a fun-loving mixture of races. We speak German, have a Latin temperament, and are as sentimental as the Slavs.”


 

Scene 2

St. Stephen’s Cathedral,

Vienna


View-Master Austria (B198), Scene 2: St. Stephen's Cathedral

Medieval St. Stephen’s Cathedral

 

From the 16-page booklet:

ST. STEPHEN’S CATHEDRAL, VIENNA

St. Stephen’s Cathedral, consecrated in 1147, thrusts its slender Gothic spire skyward in the heart of Vienna. During World War II, the church was severely damaged. The Austrians, 90% of whom are Roman Catholic, erected scaffolds and reverently rebuilt their beloved church.

Vienna’s Karlskirche is one of the finest examples of Baroque architecture. This style used between 1600 and 1800 expresses the joy of living of the people of that epoch. It was designed by Fischer von Erlach to fulfill a vow made by Charles VI.


 

Scene 6

Grinzing Wine Gardens


View-Master Austria (B198), Scene 6: Grinzing Wine Gardens

Pine Boughs Mark Grinzing Wine Gardens

 

From the 16-page booklet:

HEURIGER WINE GARDENS

Grinzing, surrounded by vineyards, is the merrymaking suburb of Vienna. Here vintners hang pine boughs over the entrances as a symbol that they are selling the heuriger, wine laid down the previous fall. The Viennese flock to these wine gardens to quaff the mild tasting, but potent heuriger, and to sing, then wander home in the darkness, perhaps still humming a folk song.


 

Scene 13

Heiligenblut and Grossglockner Mt.


View-Master Austria (B198), Scene 13: Heiligenblut Church and Grossglockner Mount

Heiligenblut (Holy Blood) Church and Grossglockner

 

From the 16-page booklet:

HEILIGENBLUT AND GROSSGLOCKNER

Moving westward, the road winds up to Heiligenblut (Holy Blood) with the snow-capped Grossglockner (12,457 ft.), Austria’s loftiest peak, soaring in the background. The village took its name from a vial of holy blood brought here centuries ago from Constantinople, and now kept in the sharply spired Gothic church. One legend about this vial tells us that when an unbeliever stabbed a picture of Christ, this blood gushed from it.

This is the gateway of the Grosslockner Alpine Road, an engineering masterpiece which hurdles the Hohe Tauern range. In a serpentine of giant curves it climbs to a world of eternal snow. At the Edelweisspitze, nearly 8,500 feet up, the traveler can relax on the terrace and gaze at 37 peaks higher than 10,000 feet. This toll road is normally open from May to November.


 

Scene 18

Inn River & Hungerburg Plateau


View-Master Austria (B198), Scene 18: Inn River, Tyrolean House, and Hungerburg Plateau

Inn River, a Tyrolean House, and Hungerburg Plateau

 

From the 16-page booklet:

THE RIVER INN AND HUNGERBURG PLATEAU

The River Inn flows past these Tyrolean houses perched on the mountain slopes below Hungerburg Plateau. Cable cars soar upward from the city, carrying the sightseer to the lofty Hagelekar (7,490 feet). From its terminus, an endless tumble of jagged pinnacles disappear into the distant haze. Far below, the River Inn winds through Innsbruck and the Inn Valley.


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