Well folk this time I’m not telling the tale, my Partner Susan is taking on this task – Over to you Susan…..
Right, well …Walter reckons he can’t remember very much about Linz despite (or because of?) it being his birthday, so I have been taken off the substitutes bench to be the striker for this occasion.
We sailed to Linz overnight and when we 
went up to the sundeck at silly o-clock we were met by a stupendously beautiful morning. This was the day the majority of the cruisers went on a trip to Saltsburg but Walter and I decided to miss that and visit Linz instead. After breakfast we took a walk into town and were chuffed to see there was a ‘Noddy train’. The second car was the one with commentary in English so we settled in that and met a couple of Americans from the ship. These wee trains are a smashing way of seeing round a place – most enjoyable. Anyway, while on it our attention was drawn to the steepest adhesion tramway in the world which climbed the hill on the other side of the river to take folk up to Pöstlingberg castle. By gum, we didn’t need telling twice – any kind of railway holds a great attraction – so once off the Noddy train we bought tickets for the other one. The train has been converted to be able to run on ordinary tram lines in the town (so is a regular commuter service), then on the rails up said adhesion tram/railway. Brilliant!
After a 20 minute journey through the town, over bridges, through the railway station, joing and leaving the main rail line, we commenced the steep climp up to Potlingberg Schloss (cafe/restaurant). There are two stops either side of this building – one means you have to climb a very steep incline to get to the café and the other has a gentle slope down – guess which one we took! Still, the exercise was good for us. After such a steep climb and feeling tired out from the effort of breathing the thin air and suffering from dehydration (ahemm :) ), we sampled the Schloss Brua (A nice dark beer) and appreciated the views from the top. 
Initially the panoramic views across the town were shrouded in heat haze but it soon burnt off.
I had spotted these two towers when we were down below and wanted to get up to them, but they were a wee way further above where we alighted so after our wee sojourn at the cafe I went off alone on a ‘recky’. To my great disappointment I discovered the path leading to them was private – “ Eingang verboten” – so my efforts came to naught. I knew I would be tight for time if I went exploring before we were to catch the train down again but hadn’t reckoned on how tight – I got back to the platform with 30 seconds to spare to find poor Walter just about having kittens!
After lunch back on board ship Walter decided to have a wee laze on the sundeck, so I ventured back into town again armed with a street map.
It is a lovely wee walk into town, either along the river bank or th
rough a park past a modern art gallery. The roads are extremely busy but there are bridges and underpasses so it is fairly pedestrian friendly. Linz has two cathedrals and a few other churches, loads of shops and beautiful wide streets with plenty of greenery. There were lots of wee passages leading off the main shopping streets which attracted me too. Mind you, the column in the main square was hideous.
At dinner our fellow guests toasted Walter on his birthday then to our surprise, he was presented with a chocolate cake complete with firework candles by the Maitre De. (We had not mentioned the birthday to the crew but they must check passports) Sadly, as I grabbed Walter’s camera the candles went out so I missed the photo opportunity.
