Travel and Linz - Day 1

So let me just start of by saying I haven't slept in some 24 hours or so, the whole light/jet lag thing has got me by the toes.  However, I have an unremarkable amount of energy so I'm going to do a little blog post talking about the highlights of the day.

Arrival

After the 8 hour flight + 3.5 hour layover in Frankfurt I was pretty beat.  First thing I did when I got there was a double espresso.  Bam.  It was good.   Then I got another one from another kiosk in the airport.  At this point I was feeling weird, cause it was something like 1 am in the morning in Chicago but 8am here.  Either way, I got in this tiny ass plane and had a super quick flight to Linz.

Hostel

I snagged a cab and got to the hostel around 11am.  Hostel was pretty nice for 40 euro.  Then it was game time.  I went up to the front desk and got the scoop on the tran system...sorta :)

Tran system wtf?

With a belly full of gusto, I decided I was gonna take the tran system into downtown, and locate the bike shop.  When I finally got to the tran, I realized I had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on.  That's cause I don't speak German...and strangely, it seems (opposite of what I thought) not many Austrians speak English.  I was able with very broken German words I learned on the plane ride over here get a little info and finally got on the right tran.  The tran system is awesome, but slightly confusing.

Downtown 

Absolutely beautiful.  I felt like I was in a book.  I strolled around so slowly, taking in every shop, beer garden, bratwurst.  There was so man farmer market stands selling fresh cheese and meat.  I'm not kidding.  Fucking meat town.  Literally.  I've eaten so much meat already I can't even explain.  

Tour bus and downtown

The Square

The River I'll be biking soon!

Every street looks like this in Austria

Just a few of the meat/cheese shops

Bier

So...I decided based on how long it's taking me to upload photos from this slow public wifi I found...I'm gonna save all my bier photos for when I get back.  Then I'll post up a huge bier post with all the crazy stuff I've had.  

Language

I haven't really ben able to socialize with anyone outside the waitress at one of the resturants I ate at.  She spoke enough English to hold a conversation but most people in Linz do not speak English or do not like to speak it.  Which is a bit of a bummer...I was hoping to maybe make a few friends but I think this means I just need to shift into 'solo journey' mode and just have an adventure for one.  I had a little bit of a people watching adventure about an two ago.  

There was this B96 like van blasting music in the middle of some street.  People were serving up sausages, dancing and drinking like baffons.  I stood for about an hour and people watched.  I get the vibe they can tell I'm american, I'm the only person in Austria that has a mustache and gym shoes :-).  

Day 2 Plans

I will most likely not have internet for the next 2 days I'm going to smaller and smaller towns across the countryside.  I'll post up some info as soon as I get internet access.

For now, Guten Abend.