Austria

Have been to Austria and Vienna several times, once with my father while on a GATE 1 tour of Poland, Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary in 1997, and with my MBA classmates. We visited the Hofburg Palace, Schonbrunn Palace, and St. Stephens Cathedral. Also, went to Austria with my son and stayed right in the middle of downtown!

Austria is the country to visit to see biodiverse life; it is one of the most forested countries in Europe with almost half of the country covered in forest lands. Austria is also a leading country in environmental sustainability.

An amazing place to visit in Austria is Eisriesenwelt in Salzburg, a German word meaning “World of the Ice Giants.” Eisriesenwelt is the largest ice cave in the world!

An interesting historical fact about Austria is that, after WWII, the Austrian Parliament declared Austria to be a permanently neutral country. The country also chose to not use any nuclear energy and is trying to gain support for non-nuclear energy research. Also interesting is that Austria is famous for its musicians; Mozart, So were Haydn, Schubert, and Strauss were all Austrian.

Country Information: The  Republic of Austria, founded in 1804! The capital is Vienna. About 8.5 million people live here and the primary languages are German, Slovenian, Hungarian, and Austrian German. In Austria there is religious freedom, but many Austrians are Roman Catholic followed by smaller Protestant, Islam, and Christian Orthodox followers. The top exports are cars, vehicle parts, machinery, packaged medicines, refined petroleum, crude petroleum, metal goods, iron, steel, and textiles. 

 

Sweden

Beautiful Tivoli Gardens in Sweden, 1992 Have been to Sweden twice, once with the family while on a Royal Caribbean Cruise through the region. We visited Visby, one of the best preserved medieval cities in Scandinavia. This ancient city on the west coast on the island...

Dominican Republic

6 summers of volunteering at Outreach 360 in Monte Cristi, near the Haitian border Outreach360 has been working in Latin America since 1994, and our family began volunteering in 2013 through 2018 in the Dominican Republic.  Outreach is such a wonderful program that...

United Arab Emirates

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