Quick Trip to Linz

If there is one way in which I approximate almost exactly a native viennese person, it is this: I barely ever leave Vienna. Oh, sure, I go for hikes outside the city limits, but when it comes to actually visiting other areas of the country I have an absolutely terrible record. In a cumulative two and a half years I have been to a few mountainous regions but of the major cities and towns of Austria I have seen very little. I went to Graz for the weekend once, and I have changed trains in Salzburg...

This kind of laziness is exactly why people outside the capital think Viennese people are selfish idiots. Linz is the 3rd largest city in Austria with just under 200,000 inhabitants (dependant, as always, on where one decides the city stops) and is also only about an hour and a quarter from Vienna. Of course, till last month I had never been. As a schoolfriend of mine was also crazy enough (sensible enough?) to move to Austria and now lives in Linz, I finally took the chance of a free day off for the 1st of May to check it out.

To be honest, I did almost no official tourist stuff, but perhaps that allowed me to get a more natural picture of Linz life anyway. The one exception was a trip to the big beer festival/ fairground of the Urfahranermarkt, where I inadvisedly went on a ride and spent the rest of the evening feeling like I had drunk 3 pints of beer despite being sober...

The contrasts with Vienna aren't very strong architecturally, it's Austria so evereything looks amazing, the differences come with the more relaxed, small town atmosphere. If you walk down Linz's main street or go out to the bars, you will meet people you know. I imagine this to be both a curse and a blessing.

Of course, a smaller city means it is even easier to get out into the surrounding countryside, which we took full advantage of. Back in May, it seemed like the lovely weather would stay forever...

I had great fun in Linz, and hopefully I'll be back again! Here's the few photos I managed to get.

Der Tom