Crystals as art

I'm back in the US, but thought I'd finish up my blogs. The good thing is, the y and the z are in the right spot on the keyboard :-)

I woke up early on Wednesday at my hostel. I had to check out that morning and move to another place. The hostel was full for the night and it worked out for me because I moved closer to the train station. After another nice breakfast, this time with two types of jam, I headed out to catch the bus to Swarovski Kristallwelten. It was a beautiful ride on the bus. I mean, really, how could it not be. We headed back east so teh valley was getting bigger and bigger but the mountains were still beautiful with the morning mist/fog. It was about a 30 minute ride out to the museum/factory and I will admit, I got a little motion sick on the ride.

Once we arrived, there was a huge factory on the left and then what looked like a park on the left. I had thought this was some sort of a factory tour but in reality its a museum tour. Swarovski built a park and museum that is essentially underground. As you enter, there are works of art done all in crystals. Then, you see the giant and the entrance to the museum (see photo). They've built the museum, gift shop and cafe all under ground. Now I'm even more excited about going in since this is going to be all sorts of art made out of the Swarvoski crystals.

In the main room, there were 5 different displays. One of which was a huge single crystal. It was incredible! To give you a sense of size, it was sitting on the floor and came up to about the middle of my thigh. There was also a 2 story wall that was entirely made out of cyrstals. It was stunning. Of course, they have the museum rather dark with specific lights on them so the crystals really sparkle. It was pretty cool. Once you move into the museum, you walk through a maze of 14 different art installations. I will not go thru each one specifically, but will give a few highlights. Swarovski teamed up with several famous artists from around the world. And these artists come from sculpture, architecture, film and painting. The first one that I really liked was mechanical. Almost like something you'd see at Disney World but very modern. It was completely with perfectly timed 3 sets of dancing legs. The music was interesting and fun. It was great. Most of the installations were sculptures or paintings with crystals used within in them. Some were multi pieces that told a story, orthers were single ones like the christmas tree made entirely out of crystals (very cool!). I think my favorite one was a 15 movie that was done as something you walked through...literally. I watched it twice because it was so intriguing. They set up a maze of mirrors on the ceiling and walls and as you're watching the movie you can see it all around you. Most of the movie is music and it's was as if you danced thru the movie with the characters. It was a very interesting and particularly moving. My other favorite piece was the one Michael Jackson Billie Jean light up like floor. As you walked down the hall, the floor lit up but with images of crystals and colors. It was really fun. I happened to walk thru with 2 other girls and we took pictures of each others feet. This is one of my favorite photos. Overall, I think this is a must see museum if you travel to the area. I've never encountered anything like it.

I hit up the gift shop and got a few items for people. The shop had some amazing and extremely expensive items. It was fun to look at all the jewelry! Then I toured around the park. I had about an hour to kill before having to take the bus back to Innsbruck. So, I climbed up on top of the giant and walked thru the park. There were butterflies everywhere! Since I have a love for butterflies, I was stopping and bending and seeing some that I've never seen before. The one was mostly dark browns and blacks and all of the sudden when it fluttered its wings there was a streak of purple. It was so beautiful! I laid down on a bench for a bit and soaked up some sun. I then walked thru the huge maze made out of tall bushes. It was rather easy...I won't lie. You could see thru the bushes. At this point, it was lunch so I got a hotdog and of course, a beer! The ride back on the bus was again beautiful. Oh, the fall colors! I miss the fall.

Once back in the city, I decided to hit up a couple of more sites quickly. I went into Stadtturm which was built in the 15th Century and used to house a prison. I hiked up lord only know how many steps to get to the viewing deck. I was out of breath by the time I got to the top and then had to crawl thru a window to get out on the viewing deck. The views were of course stunning! You could see all of the city and of course the mountains. It was fun just to be in a building that was so old. The hike back down went much better than the one up :-) From here I hit up the Museum Goldenes Dachl. This is the building in the center of old town with the gold balcony roof. And I found out that its a copper roof that's covered in gold. The building was first built in the 16th Century and the museum had so many cool historical facts. For example, during the second world war, they covered the balcony and protected the front of the building from any bombing during the war. When something have survived for so many years its interesting to see how its changed over the years and withstood all the changes of the world.

The rest of my day was low key. I picked up my bags from storage at the hostel, hit up the laundry map (need to get my clothes cleaned for Oktoberfest) and then headed to my Pension for my last night in town. I stopped for dinner first at what could be the best Italian food I've ever had! Not as good as your homecooking mom! This Pension was really cool. It was like staying in someone's apt. For the first time, I had my own room with a key - a real skelaton key - how great is that!!! There were about 7 rooms and a shared bathroom in the hall. It was so quite and peaceful. I even had a small TV. The only channel not in German was BBC so I caught up on some world news and then passed out early. Hey people...I have four days of drinking ahead...I need to rest up.

10 hours later, I was up and leaving for the train. I took a 7:35 am train to Munich. The Oktoberfest and all activities from Munich will be in the next blog or two...

Thank you Austria! I fell completely in love with you!

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