Upper Austria
Adding to the growing number of regions I have visited in Austria, we left for Linz on Saturday morning. Linz is the 2009 Cultural Capital of Europe, so we knew that we were going to be visiting some museums and anticipated a culture shock. We arrived and hopped on a bus that took us to the youth hostel. When we arrived, the reception area was closed, so we could not check into our room. We found some lockers and left our stuff in one so we would not have to carry around clothes all day. The hostel was located a little bit out of the city, but I really liked it. A lot of the Hostel International hostels are not located directly in the city centre, but they all have close access to the public transit so it is no problem. Our hostel was very close to the Linz Botanical Gardens (not quite in bloom yet…) and in a very posh neighbourhood. Then again, Linz was made up of what seemed to be rich people, every car was a BMW, Mercedes or Audi. We headed into town and quickly discovered that Linz was not anything like Vienna or Salzburg. It has struggled to compete with the historic backgrounds of the two, and has always been more of an industrial city oppose to a tourist one. I have to admit though; Linz was a very refreshing change from the beautiful, but repetitive, surroundings of Vienna. There were some churches and really old buildings, but for the most part, the city was comprised of new and modern buildings. This has a lot to do with the fact that in more recent years, Linz has stepped up its game and is trying to lure tourists. It worked for me!
On the train Steph and I chose what museums and galleries we wanted to visit. We settled on 3 because of our time frame, and my attention span. We discovered the Linz ’09 card, which cost us €10 and gave us access to over 20 attractions, which was well worth the money. We went to the Lentos Museum of Modern Art first, which is right on the Danube. It is a really cool building, made out of exposed concrete with glass covering the entire building. Steph is an architect student at the University of Waterloo, so every now and then I learn a little about the shapes and purpose of buildings. The Lentos was hosting ‘The Best of Austria’ as part of their cultural capital events. Basically, the museum took art out on loans from some of the best museums in Austria. Viennese museums included the Belvedere and the Albertina. While I was looking around, it struck me that they did not choose the best pieces from any museum, or any well known Austrian painters, such as Egon Shiele. After all, the Leopold museum is dedicated to his work. I told this to Hannah when I got back to Vienna, and she suggested that it was probably because they wanted to showcase the lesser known artists and demonstrate where the heart of Austrian art is. Touché Hannah, touché. I have made up my mind that I enjoy modern art. The only pieces I took interest in were painted after 1990. We opted for some lunch after the Lentos, and the weather decided to co-operate and gave us a beautiful day of at least 15°C, so we had lunch outside in the Hauptplatz. It was fantastic.
Determined to discover Linz, we set out for our second museum of the day, the ARS Electronica Centre. It is more like a kid’s science museum, so it was perfect for me. Very hands on and cool, I even had a picture of the inside of my eye taken. The museum had nothing at all to do with Linz but it dominates the Danube and just looked cool. Afterwards, we headed down Landstraße to the OK Centre for Contemporary Art, which was putting on Biennale Cuvée 09, the world’s best in contemporary art. Instead of paintings, it displayed real pictures and played films.
Steph was looking a little tired after this, I am sure she will never go anywhere with me again because of how much walking I always make her do. It was about 5 p.m. and we decided to head back to the hostel and take our stuff to our room. We went out for dinner to a really good Italian restaurant and drank some good Austrian Riesling wine. Conor (the ever so experienced sommelier) told me that Riesling was the up and coming grape in Austria. We hit the town for a while, and decided that since it was the night we had to change our clocks, we should head in a little early, for a fresh new day of travelling.
We slept through my alarm and ended up being late for check out… Life goes on.
To punish us for having such a nice day the day before, Mother Nature decided she would rain on Sunday. I tried to keep the spirits high, it worked… I think. Steph did decide to continue travels with me instead of going straight back to Vienna. We left for Melk, a small little town on the Danube. If Austria had asked me if I loved it a few weeks ago, I may have given the awkward silent, ‘I like you, too’ response. But while sitting on the train from Linz to Melk, I think I fell in love. I saw a different side of Austria that you don’t have the chance to see while in a big city like Vienna. I think that, as a traveller, you have the tendency to appreciate a place that is different from home, because it is refreshing. I think you only fall in love with a place when you realize that it reminds you of home. The river, farms, mountains and small towns along the train tracks let me see how most people in Austria live, and what their towns look like. Much like home :)
Lower Austria
We arrived in Melk, a town of less than 6,000 people. Although the town itself is tiny, the Stift Melk or Melk Abbey, dominates the town. (See the pictures on facebook) It was a beautiful abbey, but that was about there was to do in Melk, especially on a rainy day. We headed back to the train station with high hopes of continuing onto Krems. We had to change trains to get there, and when we arrived at the station, we realized we were going to have to wait 45 minutes for the train. It was already 4p.m., it was cold, it was rainy and we were not smiling anymore. We got on the next train to Vienna.
Life
I am starting to focus on finishing my co-op report for school; I have to send it within the next 2 weeks to guarantee that it arrives at Dal before May 7th, the deadline. It is a struggle to write because of the length restrictions. Every topic has to be answered on only one page, difficult to do when I am asked to write about BAWAG as a company plus the skills and experience I have gained. How do I fit everything? In one of my university classes, we had a poet come in and talk to us (This was obviously not a business course). She said that when you write poetry, every word has to have a purpose, and I feel that this is relevant to me while writing my report… Having such a small amount of room to write is going to mean I choose my words wisely.
A group of us are heading to Bratislava on Saturday. It is the first day of the season for the boat that goes up the Danube from Vienna to Bratislava, so we are taking it. I am looking forward to it.
I am busy at work organizing this workshop for the BAWAG apprentices. The biggest struggle I have is forming the question to ask them. I know they have to be done right, or I am going to see a lot of blank stares and awkward silence, not quite what I am going for. I am picturing Matt and 4 of his friends and how I would go about making them have a dynamic group discussion that does not digress from the topic at hand, not an easy task!
Conor arrives in 3 weeks; I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by! As much as I can’t wait to see him, his arrival symbolizes the end of my time in Europe, something I wish I could prolong, now that I have fallen in love.
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