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Published: August 25th 2008
Crossing the river Inn
Looking back to the old townIt would probably take most of you a while to find Innsbruck on the map. Hell you lot probably couldn't find Austria!! I decided insults are a good method to test if any one bothers to read the blog! Of course it could back fire on me.
We hadn't planned anything past Rome, so we looked at the map in the Lonely Planet guide, read the reviews and decided on Innsbruck. The capital of Tyrol, Innsbruck hosted two Winter Olympics and is ideal for skiing in winter and mountaineering in summer. At any point in the city, from the train station to our campsite, we were greeted with spectacular views of the mountains surrounding the city.
You have to love the different cultures in Europe. I have already mentioned the obvious, Italian's and the Spanish are loud and expressive, while the Germanic lot are more reserved. This was brought home to me within the first hour of arriving in Austria when, at 5:30am, I walked out of the train station in search of coffee. The street's were deserted bar a solitary cyclist stationary at a red traffic light. I was happily jay-walking diagonally across the intersection, only noticing this
fellow when the lights turned green and he moved off. I admit I need to curb my habit of jay-walking, but this guy was ridiculous hanging around. The difference between this law abiding cyclist (I learnt later that the police are rather strict in this part of the world) and crazy traffic in Rome was never more apparent!! Walking near the Piazza Venezia and Capitoline Hill in Rome often required crossing roads with what looked like 8 lanes of vehicles. If you wanted to cross you joined the locals by stepping in front of the traffic. The cars swerved around the outside and mopeds inbetween the crossing herd of pedestrians in what is best described as organised chaos! We found the Austrian's friendly and helpful. This was evident when a bus driver of all people, seeing us walk in the wrong direction to a campsite, stopped the bus to point us in the right direction! What is this world coming to!
Innsbruck is one of those hidden gem's, not totally swamped with tourists, with a relaxed feel about it. We spent our first afternoon having a drink at a "beach bar" along the river before milling around the pedestrian
Innsbruck Old town
Strolling through the streets window shopping district of the old town late into the evening. Afterwards we had dinner in a local restaurant where everyone still smoked cigarettes inside. This reminded us how greatful we were for the smoking ban in the UK and hope Australia has the same law in place.
The options for the next day were a free hike, bobsleighing down the Olympic run or summer skiing. The free hike was the most feasible (cheapest) so the next day, together with a bus full of other free loaders, we convened at the town hall ready for the drive up the to the base of the mountain we would be climbing. Our guide was a chain smoking old Sergent Major who was clearly not in the mood for any back chat from his troops! First order of the day was to change our walking shoes for hiking boots so that we couldn't sue him if we twisted an ankle!! No point arguing as it was free anyway. He then proceeded to march us up and down the mountain in 3 hours, stopping only once for lunch. We were to scared to argue!
With our time in Europe fast coming to an end,
View from the mountains
Felt on top of the world we decided it was time to move on so we packed up the next day and headed to Munich.
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