After our visit to the gardens, we decided to get some baked goodies at a local Konditorei (bakery) as it was just after 12 noon. Bought some breads and a couple of pastries, inclusive of one that tasted like an Easter bun! Sat at a park on a bench in the shade for something quick before we were in the car for a while on our trip.
Driving to Innsbruck, Austria from Salzburg, Austria means driving west into Deutschland and then eventually turning south and then across the Austrian border and into the Tyrol region and the Austrian Alps. Check the map on the previous blog to confirm the position of Innsbruck vis-a-vis Salzburg. There is no official border crossing, only a sign on the road. Interesting that in Bavaria, Deutschland the countryside has a lot of corn being grown. This is the same as the Austrian countryside. Driving into Austria meant much more views of the Austrian Alps. They are stunning in their beauty and their ragged peaks. Given the time of the year, very few have any snow on their peaks. Freeway all the way, so speed was no problem as I could average around 130-140 km/hour.
Uneventful drive until just outside of Innsbruck. We took an off ramp believing we needed this exit to get into Innsbruck. Nope, but as I stopped to turn right behind another car and drove forward a Polizei jumped out and pulled us over. I then found out that I did not come to a complete stop nor did I stop behind some line. Advised I could be fined up to 55 Euro for both infractions. He charged me 20 Euro instead and gave me a receipt as I paid cash on the spot. Very strange.....
We had directions from Google Maps that I had cut and pasted into my Contacts. Too bad they were wrong! We got lost a couple of times on which exits to take and then eventually followed the directions which took us high up into the local mountains and probably towards Seefeld? Anyway, we were extremely high above the valley and into the Alps. Far from Innsbruck below. Hmmm, wrong place...went into a gas station to fill up and Lana got the correct directions to get us to Innsbruck. We need to return way down to the valley below and then take the Innsbruck Mitte (central/middle) exit. Found the exit, but the torture was not over yet! We had no directions and lacked a map with any details....(missed not having a GPS but SixT did not have any grrrrrr.) Fortunately, my cellphone GPS came in handy and we could follow this 'route' to the Basic Hotel. Lana did a great job navigating with the GPS and we found the Hotel and parking right out front! Parking karma is good!
Very sunny and hot in Innsbruck. Got up to our room on the 4th floor (top) after check-in. It has been updated and will work for our two nights. Lana describes our room as ..."a nice surprise." After the stress of driving a car in Europe with no GPS and getting lost with Google Map directions, we decided to immediately drive the car to the SixT car rental at Innsbruck airport. Two days rental instead of three days. I cannot wait to drop off the car! It has become an albatross. The car works fine and goes as fast as I want it, but directions are a real challenge and getting lost is so frustrating and time wasting. The adventure is not over though! :-(
We asked the front desk for directions/map. The airport is reasonably close. They provided a map and directions and highlighted the route. Unfortunately, they highlighted a road that would never get us to the airport. It ran alongside the airport area, but eventually into the forest and campers. I don't think this is where we need to go. We turned around and after a long ride back found a street sign with Flughafen (Airport) and to turn right. Yup, we could see the area of the airport and now the challenge was to find the car rental returns parking lot. A couple of wrong turns, but we did locate the lot and parked! Yippee! Now their office was closed in the side building and a note indicated to go into the terminal. Eventually, found it upstairs in an obscure area. The two employees were pretty cavalier about the return but we needed paperwork to verify the date/time we returned the vehicle so we would be charged with two days rather than three days. Plus, they didn't want to be bothered to check the vehicle for damage. There wasn't any damage so that is good. Phew, the car is now with the car rental and we are free!
Grabbed a taxi back to our hotel located near the Altstadt area. Lana purchased a hazelnut croissant to tide her over until dinner. Wow, it was yummy and hit the spot. We decided to stroll around the altstadt area and discover Innsbruck. You might recognize Innsbruck from the Winter Olympics. They have hosted two Winter Olympics in the past so the city is well known. The two photos below I pulled off the internet. Given, we are from Vancouver we could try to compare this city to Whistler as it hosted the Winter Olympics and is in the mountains. There isn't much of a comparison though. Innsbruck is huge at around 170,000 permanent residents while Whistler is around 10,000 permanent residents. I think to explain it in Canadian terms it would have to be in the middle of our Rockies with an airport and rail system. As you can see the city is nestled against the Austrian Alps with many ski hills nearby. River runs through the city and it is a typical old European city with a lot of history. One of the apartment buildings in the Altstadt was built in the 1700s as an example.
Our best reference as a comparable location is Interlaken, Switzerland although that city is much smaller.
It is later in the afternoon by the time we are walking in Innsbruck. We are only about a 5 minute walk from their altstadt so ideally located. Still warm and sunny. Excellent pedestrian area only and for today and tomorrow they are hosting an annual wine festival! Yeh! Given the weather, you can eat, drink and party outside no problem. Some musicians and singers playing and singing Austrian/German music - think polka....
Great views from the altstadt as the sun sets and brightens the buildings on the right.
Enjoying the wine festival, people eating, drinking and taking in the views. You can see the Alps through the street.
Apartment from 1755. People eating outside at one of the very many restaurants that cater to eating on the street.
We are really enjoying the vibes and gradually getting over the nightmare of driving and getting lost. We decide to go down a side street and come across an outdoor wine bar plus musicians. See the pic below as it pretty much covers it. As we sat down at an empty table, within a few minutes a German couple joined us.
Lots of room at our table and we struck up a conversation for about 90 minutes. Kurt and Rosi Semma are Swabian Germans that live in the Black Forest area and have come down to Innsbruck for a couple of days. I get some ideas on checking our "Schissler" family history. Swapped email addresses as they are considering coming to Canada and taking the Alaskan cruise. We enjoyed the conversation which covered many topics. Lana impressed them both with her German language skills, despite her own modesty. The fellow didn't speak English, but his wife was more than capable.
We were getting hungry so departed to find a restaurant serving Austrian food. Eventually, down a side lane came across a place that had "Tyrol" dishes among other Austrian/German food. Ate outside and people-watched, inclusive of a busker looking like Charlie Chaplin. As usual, I ordered a glass of Gruner Veltliner wine (great Austrian white grape). The food was mediocre at best, but it was authentic to the area. We hope to have a better quality dinner tomorrow. Can't expect too much from restaurants that cater to us tourists. ;-)
Tyrolean sampler: egg sunny side up with roasted potatoes and pieces of bacon and beef (?).
Roasted pork, bread dumpling and white cabbage (sweet tasting).
It has been a hot day in Innsbruck, but we can tell we are in the mountains as once the sun started dropping behind the mountains the temperature drops accordingly. It will go down to around 11 degrees tonight from an afternoon high of 29. The blue sky is beautiful here as there is no industry in town to pollute the area. Streets are crowded with us tourists and the wine festival is generating lots of wine drinkers, singing, music and people enjoying themselves outside.
We are back to the hotel around 8:30 pm. Lana trying to locate a fig flavoured gelato with caramel in the altstadt on our way back. No luck so far! Maybe tomorrow. Plenty of gelato places.
Before I forget, in Vienna and in Salzburg there are a number of Kebap places selling middle eastern foods like falafels. In fact, some streets have more than one. Money laundering? Maybe, but there is a large Turkish population in both cities. Lana couldn't find a Starbucks in Salzburg and we googled to discover there are no Starbucks in Salzburg or Innsbruck. She wants to add these cities to her Starbucks list. Hooray for the locals though! Although, that means we need to find new options for public toilets...
We thought this tee shirt was funny:
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