Now We Arrive in Innsbruck
After buying our two little barrels of Ettaler beer we drove South through Garmisch and Mittenwald toward Seefeld and the Austrian border. For some reason the main road was closed. We were detoured along with a long line of other cars down a very narrow one lane road that took us between huge snowpiles lining the road. We drove through steep mountain roads. past farmfields, and through tiny towns before emerging on a somewhat major road near Leithen, South of Seefeld. I don't know if the main road was closed due to an accident, road work, or an avalanche. In Leithen I stopped to buy a ten day Austrian highway vignette - their method of collecting a one time toll for using their highways. From here it was only 20 minutes to Innsbruck.
Once the center of power for the large Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria was reduced to a small republic after its defeat in World War I. Following annexation by Nazi Germany in 1938 and subsequent occupation by the victorious Allies in 1945, Austria'... ... read more 
