Day 8 - Innsbruck, Austria

We were both up earlier than usual this morning as I think we are getting more used to the new time zone (9 hour difference) and jet lag.

Before I forget, the smoking in Europe is much more acceptable and it seems like almost everyone is smoking. Very few places smoking is allowed indoors, but outdoors it is impossible to avoid. Whether strolling/walking or sitting at an outdoor restaurant/bar the smoke will find you. Makes a person appreciate what we have in that regard in Vancouver.

European countries and people go to great lengths to save energy. An example is in some hotels and commercial establishments there won't be a light on until you walk in and the sensor recognizes a person. We get out of the elevator and for a moment the hallway is unlit until you take a couple of steps forward. As well, in the hotel rooms you put your room card into a slot that activates all electricity/lighting. When you leave the room, you remove your card of course and all power is off. I know that us North Americans take the energy we have for granted, but that might change in the next few years...

Innsbruck is incredibly scenic and beautiful in the summer, but it must be spectacular during Winter with the snow on the peaks and into the city.

This morning our goal was to get our bag of laundry done before noon. We packed enough to get us through one week and then launder to wear in week two. Of course, given the weather fluctuations needed to pack for very warm and colder weather at night (Austria). So far though, very little rain. We have been so lucky with awesome weather. In speaking with a clerk in a clothing store she said the weather is normally colder and wetter at this time of the year. Hmmm, timing is everything.

Our hotel desk clerk recommended a place (Bubble Point) to do our laundry. On the #1 Bergisal electric tram at the Franz-Fischer Strasse stop we would find our laundromat. Success, as she was right! Not too many people there. Directions in English helped as you need to remember the number of your washing machine and dryer to activate after putting in the change. The laundry soap was free and the place was pretty clean. We headed down the street to find a place for breakfast. Messino 1903 Cafeteria/Bar Restaurant was the spot. Lana ordered an Austrian/German fruhstuck (breakfast) comprised of cold cuts, cheese, tomatoes and two bread rolls + tea. Very typical breakfast here. I ordered a healthier breakfast consisting of muesli, yoghurt, fruit and granola + orange juice (orangesaft).

The laundry washer and then dryer worked without a hitch. After sorting/folding and taking the tram home, we arrived back by around 11:30 am. Other options are having the hotel do your laundry, but this can be prohibitively expensive. Our laundry inclusive of the tram tickets totalled about 11 Euro. Plus, somewhat of an adventure in a new neighbourhood and not knowing what we will find.

We are using an Eyewitness Travel Guide for Austria. They have a good walking tour of the altstadt so this was our next adventure. We tried to follow the map and did it pretty good, but got sidetracked a few times. Another very warm, blue sky day in Innsbruck so good for walking. We really enjoyed the self-guided walking tour.

One of our highlights was finding a small wine shop "Culinarium" which had a great supply of Austrian ice wine (eis wein). Very helpful and informative clerk. We bought a Riesling ice wine made by an Austrian winery that has been producing these ice wines for hundreds of years. No tastings though! The price was dramatically cheaper than BC ice wines, despite the fact that there are years where ice wine is not made in this area due to weather conditions. This ice wine, like our BC ice wines, can be aged for as long as you want to wait.

Goldenes Dachl (this roof is covered with 2,657 gilded copper roof tiles from 1500 BC and was the home of royalty). It is quite stunning and surrounded by crowds of camera toting tourists. Hey, thats me!  ;-)

 View from above of Goldenes Dachl from the Stadtturm (14th Century tower) we climbed for 3 Euro each. The observation deck was a great view of Innsbruck and surrounding area at around 56 metres.

 Another picture taken from the Stadtturm tower. Netting to stop people from throwing large objects at people below!   ;-)

Dom St. Jakob altar built in the Baroque style. Very beautiful inside with a wide open space and lots of natural light. Lots of colour as well. 

 Helblinghaus - in 1725 decorated with opulent Rococo stucco work. 

Part of the tour involved churches. I think we have seen enough of the inside of churches for a few days! They are a great refuge from the hot sun though. For certain, Europe has so many churches and they are quite magnificent.

We decided to head back to the hotel room to drop off the ice wine and protect it from the heat. I uploaded some pictures from my camera and Lana had a brief nap so all is good. We decide to head back into the altstadt and take advantage of the wine festival and good Austrian food. Found a good spot where there are about three or four outdoor wine bars and then tables for eating food. We were in the shade, but the weather was still warm. The wines (Riesling) were excellent and the food yummy.

Krautfleckerln dish comprised of little pieces of pasta, ham and sauerkraut. On a paper plate with plastic forks and drinking a nice glass of wine.

 Marillen Knodel comprised of bread dumpling with apricot and chocolate in the middle on a bed of fried bread crumbs. 

 OK, we are in Austria and while eating you must be accompanied by a guy playing an accordion!

Decided to return to the room so I could get my blue jeans on and we would eventually look for dinner. First though we wanted to check our walking route to the Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof (train station) in prep for tomorrow's train ride to Milan. The walk was about 15 minutes to what is a very large train station. We can be confident that we know where it is and how long it takes to walk. Cased the station to determine the types of restaurants and if we could get an English newspaper tomorrow.

We head towards the altstadt and are hoping to find a decent Austrian restaurant to eat outside and enjoy our last meal of Austrian/German style food. Found a cozy side street outdoor table at Stiftskeller restaurant.

1/2 plate size of Schweinshaxe with sauerkraut and pretzel bread dumpling.

 Weiner Schnitzel Austrian style and a small jar of cranberries.

Couple of pictures of traditional Tirolean style clothing for those readers still hanging in....   :-)

Final stop of our night was to pick up strudel in the altstadt for our train ride tomorrow. This place has the largest selection of strudel in Innsbruck. We each picked out a strudel for tomorrow. The list below is on the outer part of the building and covers most of the different sweet strudels you can purchase.

This is our final day in Austria. We have really enjoyed the Austrian people and the three cities we visited. We focused most of our time on their altstadts so our exposure was limited, but we would recommend a visit to all of these cities for certain; Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck.