*~ Cherindipity Moments ~*

This trip was really special for me. It was my first work trip, and also the first visit to a European country. Also the great people that I met and got to know from work and outside of work. I have to say everything was perfect. But there's so much I do not want to forget so I hope to blog down as many details as possible. So this travel entry is a little overlapped with my usual blog cos I will also put in alot of personal though and feeling and experiences... So, look forward to a really long entry. :)

Linz Day 1: *~Free & Easy~*

Woke up before sunrise my first morning in Linz at about 4:30am Linz time (10:30am SG time). Caught my first sunrise outside of the room window.. I opened the window to enjoy the cold wind in my face, i'm guessing abt 16 deg celcius?

*~ my first sunrise in Linz ~*

Met Alan and Chris at 9am for our first Austrian breakfast. :) Well i'm not so sure if its typical Austrian though.. but according to Stan the next morning, its pretty decent German breakfast.

first time i had my egg in a egg dish~ It's hard on the outside, soft on the inside.. mmm~ ;D


*~ i love eggs ~*

We were off to a day tour on our own and we knew where we had to go cos the nice driver that picked us up from the airport had pointed Hauptplatz out the night before.


*~ us in front of Spitz Hotel ~*

Alan warned us about walking onto cycling tracks. Apparently in Europe, the cyclists have the right of way, so if u were to get onto the bike path.. hmm its your fault! (Fact or Fiction??)


*~ cycling track! cool! ~*


*~ .... and a complicated mix of signboards ~*

Excited to see all the public transports and trams in the middle of the road!


*~ the tram ~*

Notice that even the traffic signal is accomodating to cyclists.. comparatively, cyclists are not supposed to be on pedestrian walkways in SG, or they will be considered a nuisance..


*~ traffic signal ~*

The Trinity Column stands in the middle of Hauptplatz (Main Place) and rises some 20m high. Sculpted in white marble by Sebastian Stumpfegger to a design by Antonio Beduzzi and inaugurated in 1723. 3 inscriptions remember the dedication to the Holy Trinity to commerate the deliverance from the dangers of war(1704), fire(1712) and the plague(1713). The column is flanked by the patron saints Sebastian, Florian and Charles Borromeo. (Got all these info from the pamphlet ^^)


*~ The Trinity Column ~*

We decided to take the Linz City Express where we had a short 25 min introduction to the city and some history and of course the historical buildings. Think it was just €6. Cool! Really love doing touristy stuff~


*~ Me & the City Express ~*

This vehicle is sooo commonly seen in Europe. Why!! its so cute.. :(


*~ Me & "my" Smart car ~*

In Hauptplatz you get all sorts of food! We even saw a restaurant from Singapore. Tempted to try, but never did.. :P


*~ A Singaporean restaurant in the middle of Hauptplatz? ~*

We also took a look at Mozart-haus which in 1783 Mozart and his wife Constanze stayed for a short period and in which, he spent just 3 days to write the Linzer Symphonie Nr 36 in C major to thank his generous host of Court of Thun.


*~ Mozarthaus ~*


*~ Parking ticket machine ~*

Unknowingly, we also walked to the Schlossmuseum where we could look from higher grounds over the Danube river and to the other side of Hauptplatz.


*~ Schloss musuem ~*

There's also a children's playground where we suggested Alan to take a few pictures of himself enjoying, to make his kids jealous :P


*~ Back to childhood ~*
If you look carefully enough, right on top of the mountain on the left, is Pöstlingberg.


*~ The other side of Danube river from HauptPlatz ~*

The place is great, you have grassy lands and flowers everywhere! And you also find people just enjoying and relaxing on these hilly areas enjoying the warmth from the sun and fresh air. :)

*~ The hills are alive.. with the sound of music~ ~*

The Altes Rathaus was originally built in the late 13th century. It was then completely rebuilt after the great fire of 1509. It is the seat of the city council and the municipal administration.

*~ The Altes Rathaus (Old City Hall) ~*

Finally we got a bit hungry and it was time to find a nice place to eat. Out in the open under alot of trees, in the cool afternoon. Alan decided he had to have beer for his first lunch here, while me and chris ended up with some fruit punch after some communication breakdown. :P

*~ Wilkommen im Biergarten ~*

I forgot what i ordered for my lunch.. but it was pork with some really nice fruit sauce.

*~ my lunch ~*

The New Cathedral (aka St Mary's) was constructed from 1862 to 1924 to designs by Vinzenz Statz. The stained glass windows show scenes from the history of Linz. Thre spire (134 metres) is said to have been limited in height so as to be lower than St Stephen's in Vienna.
Really magnificent.. i think this was one of the most impressive buildings for me.. :)


*~ Neuer Dom~*

Trying to get to the Pöstlingberg church and taking shortcuts, we somehow found ourselves at the station which wasn't in service..

*~ Pöstlingberg station ~*

I remember meeting a little boy while walking up the stairs of the church. He just came over to say "Hallo". How sweet! But i think he didn't understand when I asked him "How are you?" But really cute, and his older brother got worried and started calling out to him. ;)

From Hauptplatz, I had imagined the church to be much bigger. The walls were pink and there's a simple soft touch to the interior. Nice. :)

*~ Pöstlingberg kirche ~*

*~ paintings on the roof ~*

Having been thirsty, and shops were closed on public holidays, we finally managed to get some water (non carbonated) from the souvenir shop for €1.20 which wasn't too bad. Except the owner started mocking Singapore, which upsetted me a little.. then he started blabbering in german to himself. -_-"

*~ overlooking the city of Linz ~*

Getting off the bus a few stops away from Pöstlingberg, to visit the Linzer Tiergarten which i had mistakenly thought was the zoo Didi had told me about, of the old lion. Out of curiosity, I had easily convinced Alan and Chris to check it out. Except there was no lion... :(

*~ The Linz ZOO! ~*

The animals were amazing, they KNOW when you wanna take pictures with them. They just walk up to you and look at the camera. And if you take toooooo long, they turn away. *cute*

*~ The goat and me ~*

This was one cage i could hardly bear to look at. They were feeding on mice. And I thought I heard squeaking.. i hope the mice were dead when they got put into the cage??

*~ feeding time.. :( ~*

Being cheeky, i sneaked a shot of the guys (if u look carefully enough) sitting inside this very special enclosure. :D

*~ special enclosure for human species :P ~*

We took a walk near the hotel, i think we got off at Rudolfstrasse, where the shops were of course closed. But I think we found a really nice place for dinner. Highly recommended by me!

*~ Monte Verde ~*

*~ Chris & Alan~*

The waitress was really kind, as the menu was all in german. She had patiently described a few dishes to us. Chris and I also managed to get our first Radler (sweeten beer). Somehow I thought turkey with salad would have been Main course Turkey plus salad as a side, but look, This plate is bigger than my face. :P

*~ Me & my HUGE turkey salad ~*

Happy and feeling accomplished for the first day, we headed back to the hotel. And we nicely have a signboard outside the hotel which gives us information of the daily temperature.

*~ The first night was just 19 deg C~*

*~ my lovely bed ~*

*~ all the alcohol i cannot have ;) ~*

This was my Day 1. (it didn't turn out quite as i had hoped because of a broken promise, but it still went well don't you think?)

Linz Day 2: *~ work day and a socializing dinner ~*
Day 2 was a normal working day for us. So after a hearty breakfast at the hotel, we cabbed down to the office Freistaedterstrasse 400. (Thanks to flo's namecard) Some information to note, there is no extra charges for calling of cabs. Cool! But a trip from the hotel to the office, abt 10min drive costs as on avg €10.

Didi met us and showed us into the office where we had a great view to the fields outside. A green flowery field where rabbits and deers will appear once in a while. It's too good for the eyes!! And windows can actually be opened! (unlike what we have back in Singapore's office..)

*~ The fields outside ~*


*~ Our office for the rest of the work week ~*

I really hope i get the spelling right.. A little restaurant called Johann's(?) about 5 min walk from the office. The food was really nice, but my jet lag really affected my appetite for almost a week. Trust me, by the 2nd week i started to eat like a cow already. :D


*~ Lunch @ Johann's ~*


*~ My salad ~*


*~ My sausages & fries ~*

A day of meetings after meetings.. and then finally after 5.30 we are allowed to have beer which is also available in the office pantry! But only after working hours ok ;) Checked out in the supermarket, well beer costs about the same as water, so.. explains why Austrians can drink beer like drinking water? We also shared the goodies we brought from Singapore. Because we had retrospective meetings with the 3 silk teams, Alan had to "surprise" everyone with the goodies 3 times. :)


*~ After work we had some goodies from Singapore ~*


*~ And not forgetting about the beer!! ~*

I told Flo about our little trip up to Pöstlingberg and found out that we actually missed the most amazing part of it. :( The tram ride where u can enter a world of fairy tales, of dragons and hansel and gretel..

Squeezing in a bit of time before dinner, Flo kindly drove Chris & I up to Pöstlingberg again. Unfortunately, the ride was closed by the time we arrived after work. This also means I need to visit Linz once more. :) Anyways, we took a walk around the area where there are also supposed to be "wild" but tamed deers living.


*~ Another side of Pöstlingberg ~*

Another act of kindness and with just 30min to dinner, maybe to ease my disappointment a little. Our guide took us up to the highest point of Linz, GIS, on Lichtenberg. So I've been to the highest point of Linz!! *yay!*


*~ Driving up to GIS ~*

What was a little scary but also a little thrilling is sitting in a car at 80km/h along the narrow winding roads up & down the mountains!! And I will remember that Flo said "you just have to believe". *SCARY!!*


*~ The little green car ~*


*~ Flo & Me @ GIS ~*


*~ Looking from the top of Linz ~*

The socialising dinner at a nice restaurant in Hauptplatz, Promenaden Hof, as Didi & Flo said, was VERY VERY important. Reminds me, I still do not know why flo took a pic of me with my beer. According to Didi & Flo, it was to show Manfred that we took socialising very seriously. (currently, I'm amazed by my memory!)


*~ Dinner dates ~*


*~ More Dinner dates ~*


*~ Flo's dinner which was weird ~*

3 different types of dumplings that looked like fishball, and sauercraut (which is some kind of salad, kind of like sour cabbage?). It seemed to be extremely filling, but it could also be my lack of appetite due to the lack of sleep.. unfortunately... because the dumplings tasted really nice! umm~~


*~ my dinner ~*

What is a nice dinner without dessert right? Lucky for me, Gudrun was willing to share it with me. :)


*~ the best of all: DESSERT ~*