A Visit to Linz

It's about midnight in Linz. I slept for a couple of hours after a busy first full day in Austria. Not entirely adjusted to the time change, but I'll get back to bed soon.

Yesterday we arrived in Austria in the mid-afternoon and drove from Vienna to Melk. We (father, sister, and I) were all tired from the trip from North America, so we took it easy and turned in while it was still light. After a long night's sleep, we got up early, enjoyed a roll and espresso at a bakery, and walked to the Abbey, through the old town, and to the Danube River. Melk is very charming and well-maintained. The old cobbled streets were captivating. From there, still early in the morning, we drove to the town of Durnstein, where there's a ruined castle on a hilltop in which King Richard Lionheart of England was briefly imprisoned in 1192-3 on his return from the Third Crusade. I remember the ruined castle from my last visit, when I was about five. I lost a rubber "super ball" in the dungeon area in the interior. The hike to the hilltop was said to be 57 minutes each way, so I opted to get back on the road.

A fun surprise along the way, on Highway 37, was the village of Willendorf. The "Venus" museum was closed (it was still pretty early morning), but it was fun to drive through the little village's narrow lanes. I had always imagined Willendorf was in Germany, so it was unexpected! The famous four and a half inch figurine was discovered in 1908 during construction of the Wachau Railway along the Danube's left bank. Not much else was discovered with the statue, which is dated at between 25,000 and 30,000 years old. It is located at the Natural History Museum in Vienna, although there's apparently a larger replica at the "Venusium" in Willendorf. Not as large as the nearly room-sized replica that Hellboy rolls over attacking "tooth fairies" in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, though.

After a scenic drive along the Danube and then through upland pine forests that are the site of a seemingly thriving pine lumber industry, we arrived at Linz, where my family lived in 1966 and 1967. It was too early to check into our next hotel, at the Hauptplatz, so we revisited several old favorite spots, beginning with the Pöstlingberg on the "Urfahr", across the Danube overlooking the ancient city. Originally a fortress defending the bend in the river (source of the Latin name, "Lentos" or bendable), the pilgrimage church was built between 1738 and 1748.

This is not by any means the oldest thing we visited in Linz. Next on the list was the Martinskirche, originally built on the foundations of a Roman building, before 799 (when it was consecrated). Charlemagne was said to have worshipped there on his visits to Linz as Holy Roman Emperor. We also walked through the Friedrich Gate to Linz Castle, built in 1481 (we walked ten miles in all, today!).

We also visited the Botanical Gardens, where I found tadpoles in a pond where I once enjoyed watching the frogs!