Linz History City Tour
As the new term has just began in March, the international student office organized a Linz city tour this Saturday. We got a tour guide so I have finally got to understand more about the history and culture of Linz. For the previous times I was in Linz, it was more like “Hey look! Here’s an awesome looking building. It’s cool, but who knows what it is….”
Another great thing is that the tour guide knows where the entrances are when we get to an attraction or a famous building! Buildings usually have labeling plates, but some of them may have become an apartment for rent to common people. We don’t really know where is the entrance door. Or the entrance hallway may be very dark and we aren’t sure it’s the right entrance. I finally know what I was looking at with the tour guide’s explanation 🙂
We started our tour in the old city hall.
Linz old city hall, look at the floor!
Adolf Hitler lived in Linz for 9 years during his teenage life, and I heard that Linz was his favorite city. He was living on the second floor of the same building. Before WWII started, Hitler already took over Austria and the steel factories in Linz were producing steel for arms/tanks for him. Even though Hitler had a great plan in building up Linz, only three architectural works he envisioned were realized, including two buildings and one bridge across the Danube river.
Hitler's buildings
Hitler's bridge - Nibelungenbrücke
After a short walk along the Danube river, we visited the Schloss Museum again. When I went last time, I already saw the amazing combination of old and new building styles. This time, the tour guide explained why. At around 1800, a guard was smoking in the castle (the Schloss Museum now), and he fell asleep. Since the castle was made out of wood, the fire soon burned down the south wing and also caused a huge city fire. However, the south wing was not rebuilt till three years ago. That was quite responsive, just 200 years 😛
Old and new - glass building and stone walls
Many famous people have stayed/visited/born in Linz or close to Linz, e.g. Mozart, Beethoven, Anton Bruckner, and Johannes Kepler. There are probably more, depending on the criteria for being famous 😛 Mozart composed Symphony No. 36 within 4 days in Linz. You know, that is quite amazing as that includes time for copying the scores (without a photocopier) and for practicing! We got to see the building he was staying in. It is now rented to common people. While we were listening to the tour guide in the courtyard with the symphony playing in the background, all of a sudden, an old man with those white tanks appeared, said hi to the tour guide, and then went back to his unit. I was so confused, as I thought the place would be preserved for tourists. Someone then asked, aren’t the inhabitants annoyed by the background music? The tour guide said everyone who was annoyed moved out already, people who are left are used to it already 😛
This is where Johannes Kepler used to teach in Linz. This courtyard thing is very common here, but I don’t think I have seen it in Canada.
Where Kepler used to teach
On our way to the Mariendom, we passed by a street with ‘welcome’ in many different languages on the tiles. This is in Chinese! There was one that looks like greek since it contains many math symbols 😛 I should have taken a picture of it.
Welcome!
This time I have my camera! Does it look impressive now? It’s super cold in here, and the heating doesn’t work very well. I guess one reason would be the tall ceilings. It’s the largest cathedral in Austria! It’s not the tallest but probably the second tallest. It’s tower is 134.8m tall, while the tallest is the St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna (I have been there too!!).
Mariendom again!
Mariendom from Schloss Museum
That was the end of our city tour. It was definitely very interesting and satisfying for me. I wanted to visit the Pöstlingberg. It’s on a hill and I’ll be able to see the entire Linz from there. However, I didn’t go as I wanted to buy some Chinese grocery before it closes. Well, after I visited the Chinese grocery store, I think I should have gone to Pöstlingberg. The Chinese grocery store was ok, but I still couldn’t find a lot of the things I wanted 😦 Oh well… My ability of making Western ingredients taste Asian would be elevated to a whole new level when I get back 🙂
As Eastern is approaching, I found this rabbit shaped bread in a bakery! I asked the clerks at the bakery what it is. They tried very hard explaining it to me … in German… I ended up buying it just because it’s cute, and it tasted great! I would definitely buy another one. It’s crispy outside and chewy inside with a little bit of sweet taste. Have anyone of you tried a type of street food in 八里 (Bali) called 雙胞胎 (Twins??)? This rabbit bread just tastes like that! But it doesn’t seem to be deep-fried. I was surprised when I tried it, and it remind me of all the childhood memory going to Bali.
Rabbit shaped bread! Yummy!
Last picture for the post! Could you guess what kind of restaurant this is?
McDonald's
This is McDonald’s! The interior is all wood and it looks so classy, like a coffee shop or some sort! Some of them have fireplaces too. Most McDonald’s I have seen in Canada were decorated with those crazy yellow and red plastic >< I like the ones here a lot more. Some of the McDonald’s would have McCafe that is in a separate area and has all kinds of dessert in the glass fridge, like a cake shop. I guess the McDonald’s is more awesome here 😛
lala betty~~ 