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About Austria

     Austria (German: Österreich) (Österreich (help·info)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich) (Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The capital city is Vienna.

    The German name Österreich can be translated into English as the "eastern realm", which is derived from the Old German Ostarrîchi. The name was Latinized as "Austria", although it has no etymological connection with the name of Australia (which derives from Latin Australis meaning The South). Reich can also mean "empire," and this connotation is the one that is understood in the context of the Austrian/Austro-Hungarian Empire, Holy Roman Empire, although not in the context of the modern Republic of Österreich. The term probably originates in a vernacular translation of the Medieval Latin name for the region: Marchia orientalis, which translates as "eastern marches" or "eastern borderland", as it was situated at the eastern edge of the Holy Roman Empire, that was also mirrored in the name Ostmark, for a short period applied after Anschluss to Germany.

    The current official designation is the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich). It was originally known after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1918 as the Republic of German Austria (Republik Deutschösterreich), but the state was forced to change its name to "Republic of Austria" in 1919 by the peace Treaty of Saint-Germain. The name was changed again during the Austro-fascist regime (1934–1938), into Federal State of Austria (Bundesstaat Österreich), but restored after regaining independence and the birth of the Second Austrian Republic (1955–present).

About Dornbirn

     Dornbirn is a city in Vorarlberg, Austria. It is the administrative center of the district (Bezirk) Dornbirn, which also includes the city of Hohenems, and the market town Lustenau.

    The largest and busiest city in Vorarlberg and the tenth largest in all of Austria, Dornbirn is an important commercial center and shopping mecca. The regional ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Institution), the Fachhochschule (University of Applied Sciences), two General Education Secondary Schools, the Higher Technical Vocational College (HTL). Many large companies are situated there. The city was formerly a major centre of the textiles industry, which has been in decline since the 1980s.

    The earliest proofs for human presence in what is today Dornbirn can be dated into the Mesolithic era. The name "Dornbirn" derives from 'torrin puirron', meaning the 'Settlement of Torro' (the name of an Alemannic farmer living there and thus has nothing to do with "pears" (German "Birnen"), although this fruit is prominently portrayed on the city emblem. This name is mentioned for the first time in 895, in a document from St. Gallen (Switzerland).

    Dornbirn became part of the Habsburg Monarchy in 1380. In 1793 it was elevated to a market community. It was not given municipal status until 1901. In 1932 the mountain village of Ebnit was added. In 1969 Dornbirn became the seat of the new Dornbirn district administrative authority.

    Located in the center of the Rhine valley, Dornbirn is a notable junction of regional and interregional bus lines, connecting Bregenz in the north, Feldkirch in the south, and the Bregenzerwald in the east. The A14 Rheintal Autobahn passes to the west, with two exits. The Achrein Tunnel between Dornbirn and Wolfurt, which currently is under construction, will directly connect the northern exit with the Bregenzerwald. Dornbirn also is a junction of the Federal highways B 190, B 200, and B 204. Within the city there is a network of city buses.

    Dornbirns railway station is of comparably lesser importance, though all trains along the line will stop at Dornbirn. With four stops along this line Dornbirn also has the most stops of Vorarlberg's municipalities.

    A small airport is located at nearby Hohenems, and near the coast of Lake Constance there are a number of gliding clubs.