Geography of Austria (German "Bodensee") on the Austrian-Swiss-German border in the west to the Neusiedler See on the Austrian-Hungarian border in the east. The contrast between these two lakes – one in the Alps and the other a typical steppe lake on the westernmost fringe of the Hungarian Plain – illustrates the diversity of Austria's landscape. Seven of Austria's nine provinces have long historical traditions predating the establishment of the Republic of Austria in 1918: Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol, and Vorarlberg. The provinces of Burgenland and Vienna were established after World War I. Most of Burgenland had been part
Au, Vorarlberg Au, Vorarlberg Au is a town in the Bregenz Forest in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, part of the district of Bregenz. The town belongs to the Bregenz Forest, more exactly to the "Hintere Bregenzerwald". Forty percent of its 45 km² area is covered with forest, 34.4% of the area is used as alpine pasture ("Almwirtschaft") and for other forms of alpine agriculture. The town itself is unlike others in the area, as it has no real centre. It consists of several districts, which are (in no particular order): Argenau, Wieden, Lugen, Lebernau, Rehmen, Schrecken, Kreuzgasse, Jaghausen, Am Stein, Argenstein,