Photos of all places

Couple visited every community in Upper Austria

Gerald Stutz began his journey through Upper Austria's villages in Kallham.(Bild: Gerald Stutz)

Before her death, Gerald Stutz and his wife visited every community in Upper Austria and Salzburg, taking a photo with the town sign everywhere. The crazy passion for collecting remained and the new love carries it with him. 678 "Taferlfotos" are still missing for the now 61-year-old, then he will have visited the whole of Austria.

"Everyone has their own bird" - Gerald Stutz (61) from Rüstdorf nods vigorously. His is a passion for collecting. In addition to shot glasses and water samples from all over the world, the globetrotter has 1415 pictures of himself and place-name signs from all over Austria. Most recently, Carinthia was "finished" and Governor Peter Kaiser warmly welcomed the Upper Austrian: "Now you know your way around our federal state very well."

"You now know your way around our state very well," smiled Carinthian Governor Peter Kaiser as he welcomed Gerald Stutz (left).(Bild: Picasa)

It all started in 2008
"How did you come up with this idea?" asked the "Krone" and the answer is tragically romantic. "I travel a lot in Upper Austria for my work at the Landes-Raiffeisenbank and know every corner. But my first wife only knew the country from the usual weekend trips. So I decided to show her every municipality." It started in 2008, followed by Salzburg after Upper Austria, but then his wife passed away in 2011.

The last municipality he visited in Upper Austria was Eberschwang.(Bild: Gerald Stutz)

120 municipalities in six days
"But the passion remained and the goal of visiting all the communities in Austria and documenting the visit with a photo of me and the village sign," says Stutz, who also sets off on such village safaris with friends. The destinations are often well-chosen. Last year, for example, they visited 120 municipalities in six days - in the Weinviertel region, during wine tasting season.

New love shares passion for travel
"And I fell in love again, with a woman who loves traveling just as much as I do" - the now 61-year-old is happily married and is usually on a "grand tour" with his wife. She was recently on a cure in Villach and reminded him of his booklet with the missing municipalities. "We visited 25 municipalities at the same time," says Stutz, pleased to have filled in some "blank spots" again. Now only 678 photos with place name signs are missing, then Austria is finished - all of them are documented on www.stutzgerald.at.