Ars Electronica Centre on the Danube, Linz photo Gail Priest |
The Danube, Linz photo Gail Priest |
A brief but essential note on coffee for the Australian traveller. Ordering a café latte will get you something quite unlike what you love from your local coffee house. Don't go there! A long black is called verlängeter (fer-leng-e-ter), a cappucino is still a cappucino and my recommendation for the would-be latte drinker would be to try a Wiener Melange.
A walk along Herrengasse can be recommended at any time of the day and close to the Dom (St Mary’s Cathedral) you’ll find Jindrak Conditorei, the one cake shop in town that can claim the right to the Original Linzer Torte (I use blind faith as a basis for this claim since every other cake shop in Linz claims to own the original recipe dating from 1653). Their other cakes are also amazing with unlimited combinations of sponge cake and flavoured creams. Definites to try are Apfelstrudel and Sacher Torte in any Austrian establishment. The Dom itself is magnificent inside and in recent years has hosted a night-time program of sound works during the festival.
Linz photo Gail Priest |
If the weather happens to be awful and/or your hangover from celebrating your Nica for the third night in a row happens to be too much, then a visit to the Parkbad Sauna Oasis is just the ticket. A swimming pool, indoor and outdoor in summer, combined with an excellent array of saunas and spa baths, makes a good comedown after all your hard work.
For Dinner there are many options. If you have fine weather then find your way to Schindler’s Heuriger and order a Schindler’s Jauser. It’s perfect for two people, a simple meal of sliced cold meats, fresh brown bread, a few special dips like Kartoffelkäse (potato cheese) and a schnapps in the centre. Combine that with a Wieselberger beer or two and you’ll be feeling fine. A local wine festival has also wedged itself into the festival weekend in the Altstadt (old town) and this makes for a romantic evening sipping fine wines; try the Zwiegelt.
Pöstlingberg, Linz photo Gail Priest |
And if after all that coffee, food, cake, wine, meat, beer you still want more and all those ice cream stands on the hauptplatz are tempting you, don't try them yet. Walk around to Eisdieler on the Promenade and enjoy one of the best ice creams ever. Seriously!
Rote Krebs, Linz photo Matthew Gardiner |
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Matthew Gardiner has lived in Linz as an artist and researcher at the Ars Electronica Futurelab since 2011. He recently curated “Projekt Genesis: life out of the laboratory” at the Ars Electronica Center. You can find him in the festival program, usually giving a talk, or else out late with beer in hand; if you are an Australian in Linz don't be a stranger. http://www.matthewgardiner.net/
Check out RealTime’s Media Art Archive for coverage of Ars Electronica over the last 19 years
Links
Ars Electronica Festival http://www.aec.at/totalrecall/en/
Ars Electronica Centre http://www.aec.at/
Offenes Kulturhaus http://www.ok-centrum.at/?q=en
Traxlymayr http://www.cafe-traxlmayr.at/
Café Meier http://www.cafe-meier.at/
Schindler’s Heuriger http://schindlers-heuriger.stadtausstellung.at/
Gelbes Krokodil http://www.krokodil.at/
Alte Welt http://www.altewelt.at/
Wirt am Graben http://www.wirtamgraben.at/
Cubus http://www.cubus.at/
Pöstlingberg Schlossl http://poestlingberg.at/
Eisdieler http://www.eisdieler.at/
Strom http://www.stwst.at/index.php?m=4&sm=1
Roter Krebs http://www.roterkrebs.net/
Walkers http://www.walker-bar.at/
Solaris http://www.solarisbar.at/
RealTime issue #116 Aug-Sept 2013 pg. web
© Matthew Gardiner; for permission to reproduce apply to [email protected]