Despite being the 3rd largest city in Austria Linz may well be one of the least interesting places I've been as far as being a tourist is concerned. It's one of those places where the locals are like "why the hell did you come here?" Which I got a bit because I met a lot of locals during my stay which ended up being a bit over a week. It was one hell of a week too. From sleeping in a train station and nearly being mugged to attending a birthday party where an arm was shoved up a goose, to being part of a pub quiz, to having beer chicken. Yup. What a week it was.

The first night was the only which I spent in the train station. The reason for this is because on the way there a tree fell on the train tracks so my train was delayed by like 3 hours. So instead of getting there at 9pm, I got there at midnight. I figured this was probably a little late to call in on my host so I looked around for a few hotels, but they were all fully booked. By this time it was about 1am. I thought about going to my host's place, but that was a half hour walk away. I wasn't sure what the etiquette was in a situation like this. Do I go there anyway and wake him up, or sleep in the train station. I slept in the train station which in hindsight was the wrong choice.

A few things did end up going a little right for me that night however. I had found a little corner which I could tuck into and put my small bag with my Kindle and passport etc in it behind my large back, so you couldn't see it. I also put my phone in there because it was going flat and I got out the other small phone so I could set an alarm on it. This ended up working in my favour when the guy tried to mug me. It was about 4am and he woke me up and then stood over me as I was sitting up leaning against my backpack. He asked me to empty my pockets and I at first refused telling him that If I had anything I wouldn't be sleeping in a train station. He didn't have to know that it was actually because everything was booked. Eventually after him continuing to get me to I showed him the phone. This is where having that phone in my pocket was advantageous to my other one which he may have actually wanted.

At one point he even stuck his hand in his pocket and made it point at me and said he had a gun. I almost laughed at this. I called his bluff and he started getting quite angry and was still leaning over me and grabbed me by my collar and started shaking and yelling. I was so tired and cranky that I wasn't sure what I was doing but I just stared him down and didn't even blink. He even asked to see what was in my backpack. This was where it was a good thing he couldn't see my smaller bag. My large one had nothing but clothes in it which I was happy to show him (well not happy, but I did). Then he told me to stand up. I started to but then thought better of it. I figured that standing up might escalate things. He might not want to beat the s*** out of a guy sitting down in a sleeping bag. But if I stood up then who knows. Also by continuing to lean against by backpack there was less chance of him seeing my bag with actual valuable stuff in it. Eventually he gave up and walked away. I didn't sleep the rest of that night.

The next day I went to Stefan and Karin's place, my hosts. I told them the story over breakfast and they were quite amazed. One of Stefan's friends was having a birthday party that night with a roast goose dinner and after he told them the story they invited me along. That was an awesome night and one of the best meals I have had since leaving Australia. There was lots to eat and lots to drink. It was a fantastic night. Good laughs too. While the guests did speak amongst themselves in German I bit, they didn't mind switching to English for most of the discussion at all. And they all spoke pretty much perfect English. The highlight of the night I think was when the host and cook decided to shove her whole arm up the goose and then grab a beer with the same hand and proceeded to drink beer and eat more of the goose (this was near the end when it was only scraps left on the bones). Good times. I'm pretty sure some photos and even a video was taken. I've since asked Stefan if he can get them to me, but I haven't heard back yet, so hopefully I can get the evidence.

The next night I went to a local Irish pub where Stefan and his mates go almost every night. There I met some of his mates and his brother Alex. All of them including Stefan were software developers, so we had quite a bit to talk about and a lot in common. I think it was this night that Alex first mentioned Beer Chicken. I recipe in which you open a can of beer and shove it up a chickens butt and then cook it in the oven. The chicken absorbs the beer as it evaporates from the heat. I decided I would like to try that so I was invited around to Alex's place along with a bunch of other people for dinner where that would be the main course. The only problem was the only night that he could do it was like 5 nights away. So I would have to stay a few extra nights than planned.

The problem with his as I mentioned before is that there isn't a whole lot to do in Linz. I went to a science and technology museum which was kinda cool, and looked at a few of the cathedrals (which they had quite a few of) and went up to the castle (which was closed). So after just two days I had pretty much exhausted the touristy stuff. I spent a day doing some shopping for a new phone. I found the exact phone that I want, only to find out that it's like twice the price as it is back home, which sucks.

There was a few more nights of drinking at the Irish pub. There was one night where I went to a Couchsurfing meetup at a Christmas market where we drank punsch and gluhwein and then afterwards went to a bar where there was some live music. There was another night where I went to an Indian restaurant with Stefan and a couple of his developer mates for a weekly programming meeting. Basically they meet at the same restaurant every night and just discuss programming stuff. So that was right up my alley I guess. Eventually the night of the Beer Chicken came around. It was a great night with more drinking and laughs and of course some damn good chicken.

After probably 5 or 6 nights at Stefan's I started to feel like I was overstaying my welcome. Unfortunately I was unable to move on as the next place I was going was Salzburg and I hadn't found a host there. And as it was the weekend all the hostels were booked. So I had to stay just a couple more nights in Linz. So I moved in with Alex for a couple of nights. He is a huge ice hockey fan and downloads games from the NHL. So we watched a couple of games of that. I had never seen a full game before. Gotta say, it's a pretty cool sport. We also watched a couple of movies. And most importantly I was able to download the last 6 episodes of Breaking Bad and finally get around to watching them. And what an end to the show it was!

So, eventually after just over a week in Linz, I was finally off to Salzburg. It was one hell of a week, and I got to meet some awesome people. But I was also glad to be moving on.