Dom Hotel Linz

hey guys, I actually don't have that much time to write for you today, because we went to Neuschwanstein castle (the disneyland castle) and it was absolutely AMAZING!!! Words cannot describe how good it was and if I start writing about it I may end up going on for pages and pages. I brought A LOT (and I mean a lot) of souviners because I'm only going to be there once and had so much fun (especially on the 4 hour bus ride ...

... a really beautiful and peaceful countryside. We all commiserate with man's behavior to fellow man.

Chilled to the bone, we leave for dinner. We go to a favorite local restaurant of Alex & Richard. It is a country restaurant. Very nice food and a completely local atmosphere.

Alex wants to see a favorite artist at her opening in a local art gallery. She ends up buying 3 pieces to go with one she already owns.

Photos of LInz here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?a id=153313&id=613699523&l=7e084d fdeb

Thursday morning caught a shuttle bus from Cesky Krumlov to Linz which was 350KR. Kinda waste when I have my Eurail ticket, but train to Linz would take 5 hours with 3 changes and bus takes 90 minutes...
Walked around Linz for ...

... 8230;ooops! Oh well, when in Austria, do as the Austrians do, right?

The final day…we went out to get brunch, but the restaurant didn’t have eggs, so, in my infinite wisdom, instead of just getting some toast, I decided to get a linzertorte (knowing that we were also in search of apfelstrudel before Mary Katherine had to be at work at 2). Again, not one of my smarter decisions – I think all the food was starting to get ...

... At 1130, we decided to make the hike up to the Schloss Museum (castle museum) to see a new exhibit showing the flora and fauna of the area around Linz. Unfortunately (although not too unfortunate, because I was pretty tired), we got kicked out for having drinks with us (the person at the entrance let us in, then a lady inside the museum said "normally, people do not have drinks in the museum" – not you cannot have drinks or you need to pour your drink out – ...

... a
200 craggy, metal figures on the ocean beach.

But, the Austrian artist’s work conjure up a more ethereal,
mystical quality. They’re shrouded in mystery calling out their
ancestors and their progeny. When the viewer looks from
particular angles, they become diaphanous, almost soulless —
like the ring-wraiths, the Nazgul, from The Lord of the Rings ...

... bankrekeningen doet? Dus we moeten elke keer in de rij komen staan om te betalen, en we krijgen waarschijnlijk 10 euro terug van Linz, en die moeten we persoonlijk op komen halen! En nou moet ik me dus nog bij het Magistrat melden, omdat ik meer dan 3 maanden in Oostenrijk ben. En dat schijnt helemaal een feestje te zijn, waar je aan het eind wordt weggestuurd om thuis op een rekening te gaan zitten wachten, die je dan persoonlijk moet komen betalen.. Welcome to the 21st century!

... split into groups (I followed the trio around) and were given demonstrations of the techniques presented the day before. Instead of sitting all day this time we stood, which was equally painful :P I didn't enjoy all of the demonstrations, some were not relevant to me or I simply didn't get to actually see anything. It was still worthwhile for the few which were good! That night we went out to dinner in town, courtesy of the winter school ...

... her going during the laundromat shortage. A bit of time was spent at the hotel doing blog stuff and preparing for the next travel day before we returned to the centre of town for dinner. A local Chinese restaurant served nice, reasonably-priced noodles and then we indulged in some McFlurrys for desert. All-in-all Linz is a nice city but it doesn't have that much to do. The upcoming Capital of Culture is helping them to get their act together, so it should be nice for a short stay some time after 2009.

oh, a new flag... Its amazing, the European borders seem to exist on maps only, you ride across them without so much as a welcome sign. After leaving Passau, we were apparently in Austria, although an hour later we crossed the Donau, and we were back in Germany again. It was a bit confusing. Ah, Austria, the trail is silky smooth, with special bikers cafes and pubs on the track. Paul is singing Sound of Music tracks and gazing wistfully at ...