Month: May 2012

  • Our Last Days in Linz

    We have been back in the USA for not even a week yet, but it seems like a long, long time since I took these pictures. 

     

    Good bye, view from my window. When we arrived, that building was only one story tall. 

       

     

    Good bye, clothes drying rack!

     

    The last Saturday in Austria, the kids helped out an American family whom we met at church with their daughter’s 9th birthday party–Be A Star. 

            

     

    I was impressed with Rachel’s present-wrapping abilities. 

     

    Good bye, Moores! Thanks for your friendship!

       

  • Our Last Tram Ride

    We didn’t have a car in Austria. Most places we went, we walked. But if we wanted to go across town, we’d take the tram. You’d buy a ticket from a kiosk. A 24 hour card was 4 euros for me and 2 for the kids. 

     

    All the trams were decorated differently with ads from local businesses. But inside, they mostly looked alike. 

     

           

     

    What was our destination on our final tram ride? Schnitzelhaus for a farewell wienerschnitzel! Yum. 

       

  • Linz Carnival and Lebkuchenherzen

    After the May Pole came to town, so did the carnival! We decided to check it out on Saturday night. It was about the size of the Grange Fair/Clearfield County Fair.

                   

    There were a few differences. One was the archery booth. People had actual bows and arrows to shoot at targets to win stuffed animals and the like. We didn’t get a good picture. (All these pics were on James’ phone.)

     

    Many people–teenagers to grandparents–were dressed in traditional Austrian clothes, leiderhosen and the like. 

         

     

    Can you see that guy’s moustache??

     

    Another difference is that a lot of the booths had what appeared to be highly decorated gingerbread cookies. 

       

     

    They had messages like “I love you” or things along those lines.  James and Rachel got cotton candy, but I decided I wanted to try one of those.  

       

    It had a long, white ribbon on it, and I saw several people wearing them around their necks. Were you supposed to eat it, or was it a decoration?  I decided to try eating it.  I think it was a decoration.  It was hard and tasted sort of bland.  It was like eating a Christmas ornament, I suppose!   

    I went home and looked it up on online. They are called Lebkuchenherzen, and they are something you buy at Valentine’s Day and at fairs and such. But they didn’t say if you were supposed to eat it or just hang it on your wall. I bet the Austrians had a good laugh at me chawing down on a Lebkuchenherzen. 

     

     

     

  • The May Pole

    May 1 is a big holiday in Austria, and in lots of Europe, actually. Linz had a May Pole. They had a parade the last week of April to carry it into the town square. I wish I had known it was happening, because I would have loved to have seen it. 

     

             

     

    I don’t know that they actually do anything more with the May Pole. I was told it hangs around for a few months, then they take it down.  Not a very exciting end, eh? 

  • Cards

    Michael decided to go crazy in Linz and constructed lots of card towers based on places he had been.  He made the Colosseum and the Tower of London. I am not quite sure what these ones are, but I was simply impressed that he could stack cards so high and intricately.

     

            

  • A Walk at Sunset

    One of our last days in Linz, James and Libby and I took a walk at sunset to the Rapunzel tower. 

     

    The surrounding park is lovely. 

               

     

    After that, we met with the rest of the family and had gelato from Rachel’s favorite gelato stand guy.

     

    We enjoyed eating it in the Hauptplatz and having a memory for when we came home!