October 30th 2012

I went to Linz a day early today so I could see the sites, and I wouldn’t have to wake up at 4:30 on Wednesday to take a train. I met up with a couple other exchange students, and we browsed the city. In total it was Jaana, Eric, Juliet, Chris (who lives in Linz) and I. We weren’t all together all the time, but we mixed and hung out together. Over the course of the day I visited the main train station, went down the main shopping street (Landstraße), saw the famous Electrics museum, walked through castle grounds, browsed around a shopping center, and saw 2 churches. To go into detail, the main shopping street was under constant construction so it kind of ruined the effect of the city. But the first church we stopped in was (of course) beautiful and serene. We walked to the river next, then crossed the main bridge to get over to the electronic museum. Inside we saw a lot of technological advancements, interesting lighting systems, a presentation on 3D imaging, and even got onto the roof. I am not sure if we were allowed to go on the roof, but the door was unlocked and about 20 other people followed us out there. From up top we could see over the majority of the city, the river was amazing from up there. Next we went to the main sculpture, which was depicting the suffering of the bubonic plague, then continued on to the castle. We walked through and were granted another great view. Afterwards we headed back toward the Bahnhof to get our bags we had stored in a locker, but stopped in the main church along the way. It was a gigantic baroque style church, and we stopped in while it was dark, making it an eerie experience. We got our bags, then checked in at the hostel (we stopped at a Chinese food Imbiss on the way) and after we had our rooms we met up with Chris. He showed us around, we played pool and just explored the city at night. It was really fun to get to check out Linz, especially since we won't get another chance.