It's #WahrzeichenWednesday again and this week we are headed to #Oberösterreich. Pictured here is the Schiederweiher pond in Hinterstoder with the Spitzmauer and Großen Priel mountains in the background. Known as the pearl of the Stoder valley, it was voted as the most beautiful place in Austria on the 2018 season of Austrian public broadcaster ORF's series "9 Plätze - 9 Schätze." The approximately 5 acre lake was actually constructed as an artificial pond by Hofbaumeister Johann Schieder between 1897 and 1902. It is only about 5 feet deep.

It's #WahrzeichenWednesday and this week we're headed to Schloss Orth in Upper Austria #Oberösterreich. The castle is renowned in part due to the co-produced Austrian-German television series "Schlosshotel Orth" (1996-2004) about a fictional hotel of the same name. While the actual Schloss Orth did serve as the backdrop for the television show, it was never actually a hotel. Built in the tenth century on Traunsee lake in Gmunden, the castle was rebuilt in its current form after a fire in 1626. See photo 3 for a sketch from 1656 by Matthäus Merian. Besides being a local #Wahrzeichen, Schloss Orth, or Gmunden and Traunsee more generally, serves as a gateway the Salzkammergut region, a UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Landscape with gorgeous Alpine lakes, imposing mountains, and excellent hiking.