Linz

With so many interesting cities just a short drive away, weekend trips in this part of the world can be awesome. So Reini and I decided to make a cultural exploration of the city of Linz! Linz is a city right on the Danube river. We had a view of the river from our hotel and loved watching the riverboat cruisers.

Linz is now largely a university town with great restaurants that don’t break the bank. Reini had been a few years ago, so he had some idea of what we should see. We bought the Linz city card, giving us access to all the city’s museums for a low price. After wandering a bit through the old town, our first stop was to the Höhenrausch exhibit. Its tagline ‘Art about the Rooftops’ was very fitting. You climb a wooden tower that leads you to bridges which peek into the tops of various buildings. One of the churches had its top windows removed, allowing for a platform to be inserted. I don’t know if I’m describing it very well, but if you find yourself in Linz, it’s worth a visit! Höhenrausch allows for great views of the city and sneaky vantage points of some historic sites.

Our afternoon break involved finding a spot with some surprisingly tasty nachos and then heading back to the hotel for some sauna time! Hotels in central/northern Europe tend to have pretty small rooms, but many make up for that with nice sauna facilities! Once refreshed, we headed for dinner at Wirt am Graben which was totally delicious. Their ingredients are as locally sourced as possible. The Europameisterschaft (European Championship) soccer tournament had just started and there were viewing parties everywhere. On our way to the hotel from dinner, we took the long way and wandered through their main street. Everyone was happily carrying gelato or sipping a beer at the outdoor cafes with TVs. We stopped at a Greek cafe, but because we were full up from our dinner, just ordered a couple of glasses of wine and cheered on England as they pulverized Russia.

The next day we focused our efforts on the Ars Electronica Center. It’s a really huge interactive science museum focusing on energy, which was definitely Reini’s thing! My favorite part was their gigantic “Deep Space” show that made us really feel like we were zooming through space with our 3D glasses. We stopped for lunch at a fun Asian noodles place, where the rain met up with us. We ran to the next museum, the Lentos Kunstmuseum, just across the street (I had a small umbrella but of course Reini did not). We did not stay too long, but enjoyed looking at their variety of artistic offerings before heading back west.

Not at the ocean! Just by the Danube!

I have been practicing driving a bit, so Reini let me drive a little of the way home. The manual car issue in Europe seriously sucks, but I’m learning to accept it (sort of). I feel much more comfortable driving on the autobahn (the Austrian one has speed limits unlike the German potion) because you don’t have to shift gears. But driving in the city! Forget it! Too many gear changes makes me so nervous. It’s time for these silly Europeans to just accept that automatic cars are superior.

Kühe

The Fohringer men have a variety of hobbies. I’ve already introduced their schnapps hobby and their music hobbies. But the Fohringer men love to engage in the traditional village activity of animal raising. Legend has it that this property was once quite the menagerie, home to pigs, horses, rabbits, and of course cows.  The animals are a lot of work and the men have always had jobs outside the village. Reini told me that when he was in kindergarten, his dad was sort of a reverse milkman. He used to drive a milk truck, drive around, and collect the milk from the farmers in the area. He then brought it to the big milk facility where it was processed. Reini admitted that he dreamed of being a milkman when he was little! During the height of the cow hobby, Opa Fohringer’s herd won many awards that he still proudly hangs on the barn door.

The animal variety has since been downsized to just baby cows, Kühe in German. The little cows are ideal because they don’t need to be milked everyday making them less work. They raise them for a few years and then sell them (for a profit) to people who do want milking cows. Reini’s dad really loves his cows. They all have unique names, and he even tied little toys to their nighttime stalls to keep them occupied. Now that it’s spring time, they’re allowed out onto the Fohringer field. I know they love the sunshine and fresh grass. I was told that next weekend they will join other farmers’ cows in their ‘summer vacation home’ known as an Alm to Austrians. For now, we get to enjoy them and pet their soggy noses.

American Football in Innsbruck

 Spring in Innsbruck is fantastic. The city is blooming with tulips, daffodils, and (my favorite) hyacinth. The weather is becoming more agreeable and the most popular mode of transportation switches to the bicycle (even I just got one!). One reason Reinhard was particularly looking forward to this spring is to go to an Innsbruck football game! Of course the day we picked to spectate was the coldest of the month so far, but we still enjoyed all the theatrics. The football team (the Swarco Raiders) boasts that it has been around since 1992. They then entered into a partnership with the Oakland Raiders in 2008, in which some of the Austrian coaches get invited to a training camp back in America.

The game ended up being a fun blend of Austrian and American traditions. There were cheerleaders greeting guests, clapping their pompoms (more ‘American’ on the scale). There were some decidedly Austrian additions to the concession stand offerings – wursts with semmel and large pretzels (without nacho cheese dipping sauce). Fans were allowed to smoke in the stands (definitely Austrian) but yelled their cheers and chants in English. Though there were no Budweisers, both cultures would approve of the beer options.

 We went with some of our Innsbruck friends, and the game was great. The team did pretty well against the mighty Helsinki Roosters – final score was 37 to 21. Cannons went off with each touchdown. My dad had fun watching the game online from Atlanta, though he said he couldn’t pick us out in the stands. 🙂 We hope to go to more games this season. Hopefully we won’t need hats, scarves, and gloves for the next one!

Sunny Salzburg

We were afraid of having gray, snowy weather for my parents’ visit. However, we were granted with a warm, sunshiny day when it came time for our trip to Salzburg. Reini and I have been a few times already so we had all the highlights planned out for my parents. We certainly did a lot of walking to get to all the best spots so we were dead tired at the end.

 

The first stop on the tour was to the ‘Gurken’ (pickles) art installation in the Furtwängler Park. I guess Salzburgers appreciate silly things too! The we headed to the big Salzburg dome church. I had been before and knew it was impressive. But this time, we headed down into the crypts! The crypts were really cool too. Half of it had an art exhibition that I think was about evil spirits.

After a stop at the Zipfer brähaus for lunch and a few big beers (my mom’s fav), we made our way to the Hohensalzburg fortress. Reini and I had been before, but we were still able to discover new things. This time we discovered the audio tour. We got to climb the top of a tower (I imagined that that’s where Salzburgers launched cannonballs at Bavarians back in the day). And we saw an ancient organ (that I imagine was played for princely dinners). The views from the fortress were amazing. I could see why the Salzburgers would build on that piece of land!

Upon departing the fortress, we walked along the lovelock bridge to get to the Mirabell Gardens (because we are Sound of Music fans). I’m sure the gardens would have been more impressive during spring and summer, but they were still exceptionally pretty for wintertime. After the walk through the gardens we were beat (and the clouds threatened to roll in) so we walked back to the car to drive to Reini’s village.

A very busy break

My Master’s program had the month of February off for a break. We could either choose to complete our final exams at the beginning of the month or at the end. Thankfully, I finished all my exams and projects at the beginning so I had the whole month to “relax.” Some of my girl friends and I signed up for a Zumba class for the month through our University’s athletics department. I still don’t know much German, but it really didn’t matter. We danced our hearts out, though not so skillfully, to fun Latin music. We had such a great time sweating off calories that we’re all planning on signing up for a whole semester’s worth of Zumba. The girls and I have been enjoying our break time. I invited them over for “Galentine’s Day” and they’ve hosted some fun dinners too.

Other than hanging with the girls, I’ve been preparing for my parents’ visit! It was their first time here and first time to meet the Fohringers. In addition to hanging out with Reini’s parents, I kept my family very busy touring the highlights of the area. They flew into Munich so we started their tour there. We checked off a few items from their guidebook (Hofbräuhaus, Glockenspiel, Nymphenberg Palace, and their Olympic park). My mom and dad realized pretty early on that the German they learned as children wasn’t coming back to them after the years of nonuse. Luckily we had Reini’s help for the tricky parts. We were able to find some really nice restaurants online and ate very well while we were there. (A tip for the foodies out there, Hofbräuhaus is to be enjoyed for the atmosphere and not necessarily for its gastronomy) My dad learned about the panorama feature on his new iPhone and had fun using it at all the pretty sights!

More info about their trip will follow in a later post!

Austrian sports (AKA skiing)

Austria isn’t known for football, soccer, baseball, or really any sports other than skiing. So they do skiing big. Ski competitions and races are a huge deal. This month I’ve been lucky enough to go to two ‘big deal’ competitions in Tyrol. The first one was at the Bergisel ski jump in Innsbruck. I went with a few of my class mates and we had a blast. It is so crazy seeing the guys literally fly through the air. This competition was a part of the “Four Hills Tournament” in which the Bergisel was the third hill. Reinhard and I watched the first two competitions on the TV to prepare me for the event. I really liked listening to the Austrian commentators. It’s really cool to watch it on TV, but even more impressive in person because the jumpers look like they’re just falling out of the sky! We didn’t have the best of “seats” (in quotes because they were just standing sections), so the view that we got was the guys flying out of no where – we couldn’t see their take-offs.

The girls and I had fun. We painted our faces with little Austrian flags and one girl brought a bunch of flags to wave. There was one American guy, so I cheered extra loud for him. But I definitely waved the Austrian flag most of the time. There were plenty of German flags being waved too. I was told that there’s quite some competition between the Germans and Austrians… The fans went crazy when their favorite Austrian jumpers had their turn. They lit bright torches (the security checks at sporting events are a bit different here…) and blew their noise makers. Unfortunately the Austrians (or American) didn’t win, but we were still pretty impressed.

The second big competition I attended was in my favorite town, Kitzbühel. Reini and I went with his sister Kathrin and her boyfriend Thomas. With Reini’s excellent local connections, we ended up getting free admission, beer, and wursts! (A funny side note about beer: I think beer is really gross when it gets warm, but at an outdoor skiing competition, it stays frosty until the very last drop!) It was really cold that day and most of the spectators were snuggled up in their ski attire, too. I was happy to have warm boots, but my toes even got cold toward the end. The layout of the competition is pretty cool. They have two big slopes near each other. The first one is for the downhill ski race and the other is for slalom. The downhill competition happened the day before we got there. Arnold Schwarzenegger got lots of camera close up facial reaction time for that race (Kitzbühel is a town that attracts lots of celebrities). Then next to the downhill slope is the slope for the slalom competition. We climbed up along the downhill slope to get to where we could see the slalom race. It was funny watching all the people who had a bit too much of that frosty beer try to climb and descend the slippery, steep slope. The smart people packed little plastic saucers to slide down the slope after the event! But we eventually got to our viewing position and had fun watching with the crowd. Lots of cheers and flags for sure! The Americans were a bit better at the slalom, cracking the top 10.

Look at the awesome mountainy view!

  

Hiking up the ski slope

Christmas tree auction

The Kelchsau orchestra is kind of a big deal for the town. Out of the 800 people in the town, 40 people are in the orchestra. So when they have their biggest fundraiser of the year, everyone shows up to support someone they know! Every year the orchestra hosts the Christbaumversteigerung, or the Christmas tree auction! Reinhard and his good friend Armin (a trumpet player) go around to the local businesses and ask for donations to be auctioned off at the big event. Reini said that the businesses expect them and other pairs because they do this every year. They always have something to contribute. They tie little items (branded hats, CDs, eggnog bottles) to tree branches and number bigger items to go with them. Then they auction them all off.

The orchestra first plays a few songs so people are reminded of what they’re supporting. Reini looked especially cute in his band uniform – I’m sad I didn’t get a closeup picture of him! Glühwein, beer, sausages, and goulash are all sold to get people in the mood to spend more money. Then the exciting activity starts! Tree branches and goodies are brought out to the front of the hall (I think was the elementary school gym) by orchestra members and then auctioned off. Some participants even brought their own paddles to raise to submit their bid. Others were content to just raise their hands. People got some interesting things – handmade bird feeders, gift certificates to a nice dinner, new cell phones, chickens (yes, LIVE chickens). It was fun picking out what the local businesses donated. The hunters donated deer meet (to be already processed and delivered upon request, not sitting at the auction in a cooler thankfully); the Fohringer company (transporters of big construction equipment) donated a bunch of branded hats. Lots of the branches included bread from the bakeries and big hunks of cured bacon. Once all the branches had been sold (prices ranging from 100 euros to 300 euros) the whole tree was auctioned off. Those branches were loaded with goodies. The top and the bottom halves of the tree went for 1000+ each (one was an obligatory donation by the mayor). After the “stuff” was actioned, the group then proceeded to bid for chances to conduct the band. Wealthy tourists loved this part. They bid it up big for their turn.

Oh what a fun event and opportunity to raise some money!

Christmas

Christmas here in Austria is very special. I was a little blue that no one here celebrated Thanksgiving, but they certainly make up for it with Christmas festivities!  

  

 Reinhard said it finally felt like Christmas for him when we went to see the Christkind parade in Innsbruck. It’s such a cute event. Reini and I caught a little bit of it when I visited for Christmas in 2013, so I was determined to get a front row view this year! It’s a children’s parade where almost all the marchers are children. The cutest part was when the children were mini shepherds leading around sheep! At the end of the parade was the Christkind who promised the children he’d be back to deliver presents under their trees on December 24.  
Christmas Eve was filled with traditions that I remember from 2013, too. Reini and I watched Elf before he went to practice flugelhorn with his dad before their big performance in front of the hotel guests. His dad played the baritone this year, to mix things up. After their performance for the guests, we went over to Reini’s parents’ house next door and had a really nice dinner cooked by Kathrin. We then went to the top floor of the house where Reini’s dad had the Christmas tree all set up with presents underneath. We sang Silent Night and Oh Tannenbaum before we saw what the Christkind left us. I made Reini wait to open Santa’s (my parents’) presents until Christmas morning.