Innsbruck

Innsburg was a nice break. We did a lot of nothing here, which was fine with us. It's located in a broad valley between mountain ranges. Deanne scored a huge apartment in the center of the old city, facing the famous "Golden Roof." From our 3rd floor windows, we could look down on the hordes of tour groups and people watch. After all the hiking and trains and moving around, it felt great to just chill out. We had time to plan the next week or so of the trip. Of course we couldn't sit still for long. We took a bus to the south of town and then walked up to the Bergisel ski jump.

Innsbruck has hosted 2 winter olympics and the ski jump platform offers tours. The views of the city and mountains were spectacular. From the top, if we turned around, we could see the downhill ski run where Franz Klammer won the Gold in the 1976 Olympics.

We walked back to the old town from there. A bus took almost as long as walking. The old town is car free and very pleasant to stroll around. We decided to leave it for a traditional meal away from tourist hordes and weren't disappointed. Lunch was pork-laden, heavy, and delicious. Food and wine prices here are sooooo much cheaper than Scandinavia and Switzerland. Who knew that Austria could be seen as inexpensive? It helps that the dollar is strong now compared to the Euro. They're about equal. A fine beer or glass of wine is $3-$4 and a meal with tax, tip, (about 10% here) without drinks can be had for $13-$20.

We made it to one museum, the Hofburg palace. It had a lot of period piece furniture and portraits from the Hapsburgs. It's large and was well-done. But based on what we saw, it looks like this was little visited by the Hapsburg royalty and I got the impression that Innsbruck was seen as a backwater to be visited on the way to or from somewhere else in the sprawling kingdom. Vienna and Budapest were were the action was at, I think.

The views from most places in Innsbruck are out of this world. Imagine looking up to see snow-capped mountains in the background against a blue sky. We didn't get tired of it. We're staying above a nice cafe that makes fresh Apple Strudel every day. People are very friendly, even those that cater to tourists. I can't recommend Innsbruck enough. We're not doing a lot that the city has to offer. Instead, we're just walking around enjoying the sites. Today we walked along the Inn river toward the University and then strolled back a different way.

Tomorrow, we take a 2 hour train to Salzburg, home of salt mines, a fancy archbishop, Mozart, the Sound of Music, and the St. Rupert's fair.

Deanne was 16 going on 17 when she was an exchange student in Austria. And she played Mother Abbess in her high school production of the Sound of Music, so let's just say she's a little more excited to see certain sites than I am.

We hope to spend more time at the fair than any of the other sites of interest. It's a beer-fest that's supposed to be like a mini-Octoberfest. Our United airlines pilot friend Louie, from New York, is meeting us with a friend for the festivities.

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