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Austria

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	GRAZ
	SALZBURG

VIENNA

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CAPITAL	Vienna

AREA	84, 000sq km

POPULATION	8 million

LANGUAGE	German

CURRENCY	Euro

TIME	GMT +1

TELEPHONE CODES	00 43

ELECTRICITY	220V



Vienna

Visas: EU citizens do not require visas

Public holidays: New Years Day (Jan 1); Epiphany (Jan 6); Easter Monday; Labour Day (May 1); Ascension day (6th Thurs after Easter); Whit Monday (6th Mon after Easter); Corpus Christi (2nd Thurs after Whitsuntide); Assumption day (Aug 15); National Day (Oct 26); All Saints Day (Nov 1); Immaculate Conception (Dec 8); Christmas Day (25 Dec); Boxing Day (26 Dec).

Good reading: Greene setThe Third Man in a rather spooky Vienna; Christina Stead's The Salzburg Tales is a Chauceresque novel about gatherers at the Salzburg Festival in the 1930s who tell each other stories; John Irving's Setting Free the Bears is a finely spun tale about releasing the animals from Vienna's zoo. Mozart & the Wolf Gang by Anthony Burgess is an enjoyable celestial fantasy in which the great composers discuss music and Mozart.

Local dishes: Traditional Austrian food can be stodgy, of the meat-and-dumpling variety. Wiener Schnitze is Vienna's best known culinary concoction. It's a fried cutlet, usually veal, covered in a coating of egg and breadcrumbs. Also famous are the excellent pastries and cakes, such as strudel, a baked dough filled with a variety of fruits and a sprinkling of raisins and cinnamon.