(This happened last weekend by the way, just haven’t had
time to post about it until now…)
First free (no plans, no trips with the school) weekend
these past couple days, so what do we do? Stay behind like the true poor people
that we are.
Ok, so we’re not that poor, but we are trying to save some
money and not bust the bank while we study abroad this semester. Let’s face it:
travel is expensive. So Thursday through Friday we hunkered down and got to
work on homework (“quiz” for philosophy of the human person, quiz for nursing,
paper for Medieval, project for Medieval…) since the rest of the campus had
left on their various trips (I think Croatia, Slovakia, and Slovenia were the
biggies). With majority of campus gone and not much to do, things were pretty
quiet around here…Until then something spontaneous happened
Friday at midnight we bought a group train pass and on a
whim decided to travel to Linz, Austria. Why you ask? It was close, bigger than
Gaming, and had a picture of this face with a waterfall coming out of it next
to its description in the travel book.
who can
resist this face?? (this isn't my picture by the way, I took it from Pinterest)
The next morning came and we were at the bus stop outside
the Kartause at 9:00 sharp. Prof. Newton just so happen to be walking by as we
were waiting for the bus, shouting out, “Where are you off to?” (He’s British,
so make sure you read with that in mind) “Linz!” we replied enthusiastically.
His confused response?
“Why?...”
Oh boy…not a good sign. Not only were we tired, lacking in
good judgment, and unsure of ourselves as is, but now our professor had just
confirmed those fears in his response. What in the world had we gotten
ourselves into?
Ilsa and Ginny on the train...not really sure what Matt is doing?
We made it to all our buses and trains for the rest of the
morning, even surviving the one cart train from Sheibbs to Pochlarn with a
little hesitation. Upon arriving in Linz we immediately noticed the sleepy
disposition of the town, but didn’t think too much of it, and headed off to
explore. We wondered through a park, found a beautiful church, and then headed
off to find some food when we stumbled on a real gem: the town was holding a
festival that weekend! People and venders from all around came to display their
authentic Austrian food and goods. There were crowds and crowds of people,
random folk bands playing all around, and even free samples of food that just
added to the lively atmosphere of the festival.
View of part of the fair from on top of a church
We got some food and set out to see the sights. Eventually,
the group of us that were traveling together made a split, half wanting to do
one thing, half just going with the flow. Ginny, Ilsa, and I went to find this
lookout that could be seen high above the city, getting trapped in an
electronic store in the process (ok, so maybe not trapped, but when Ginny tried
to leave the way we came in, the attendant started yelling at her in German and
pointed elsewhere). We escaped, and made our way down another street, away from
the fair. Eventually, after much
searching, we came to find that the lookout was a part of an exhibit that was
visiting town. So, like the good natured tourists we are, we paid the 5 euro for
“OK tours (not good, not great, but OK!) and headed up the stairs…
(to be continued)
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