Our Alpine Adventure Continues--Innsbruck

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(The panorama above is from the top of Hafelekar about 8,000 ft above Innsbruck. Also, please excuse the smudge in some of the pictures and video. It seems I got something on my camera lens while at Oktoberfest and I had to clean the lens each time I turned the camera on. I obviously didn't always remember to do this.)

We started out for Innsbruck from Schwangau for what turned out to be over 2 hours of mountain driving through the Alps; many hairpin turns and elevation changes. It was a spectacular ride, though. The Alps may not be as high on average as the rockies, but they remind me more or the Teton Range, very jagged and steep---so beautiful.

We arrived at our hotel, the Penz, and it was a very modern steel and glass building with a glass elevator located right in the old center of Innsbruck. One of the attractions of the Penz is the rooftop bar and breakfast restaurant showing a great view of the mountains surrounding this city. Innsbruck was host to 2 Winter Olympics and you can see why. It is surrounded by tall steep mountains. The rooftop outdoor bar area had a retractable awning roof that cold be closed on inclement days. It was wide open during our stay with the beautiful weather we had. We had wonderful breakfast buffets at our hotels and this one may have been the best, with a very large assortment of meats, cheeses, and exotic fruits to go along with the traditional scrambled eggs, baccon and pork sausage. They even had shrimp wrapped in fried potato strings, yum! Dan managed to save a few things from breakfast for afternoon driving snacks, particularly Landjaegers. Landjaegers are a type of sausage in an edible skin that are just a little spicy and originated in the Alpine area. I was first introduced to them on our visits to Monroe, Wisconsin. Monroe is a very cute small town in southwest Wisconsin with a mostly Swiss population. Dan and I love them.

We also made good use of the rooftop bar both nights we were there. They gave us a bowl of assorted snacks with our drinks and we particularly loved the wasabi snacks. We loved them so much we had the waitress bring us a bowl of them. Somehow, some of them managed to be in Dan's pocket as we were driving to Salzburg. Our first evening we strolled through the old town area and stopped at a nice local bar for a couple drinks. It got so late that we weren't able to find a restaurant open.

The next day we took a long walk through town to get to the Nordkette, a train that would take us up to the highest point you can reach in the mountains surrounding town. Three blocks from our hotel was the Golden Roof. The Golden Roof is Innsbruck´s greatest tourist attraction, certainly its most characteristic landmark. Built by Archduke Friedrich IV in the early 15th century as the residence of the Tirolean sovereigns, the building was earlier known as "Neuhof", meaning New Court. The Golden Roof is the three-story balcony on this house at the heart of Innsbruck´s Old Town.

This state of Austria is the Tirol or as we know it in America, the Tyrol, thus the Tyrolean Alps. We decided to take the Nordkette all the way to the highest point called Hafelekar. You first take a cable driven train to a place called Hungerbar, about a third of the way up the mountain. From there you take a cable car to the next stop, Seegrube, about 2/3 of the way up at about 6,000 ft elevation and then continue on to the top, Hafelekar. Hafelakar is about 8,000 ft above sea level and offers unbelievable panoramic views in all directions. There was a nice cafe at Hafelekar and we had to sit for a while, enjoy the local brews and try our first schnapps. This area of Austria is famous for many different varieties of schnapps. Schnapps here is a liquor usually made from fruit. It's usually about 80 Proof. We ordered four of the apple/pear schnapps and toasted our excellent time here while enjoying the view.

After returning down the mountain, we strolled though Old Town and the girls got to do a bit of shopping. When we got back to the hotel, while enjoying a rooftop cocktail, the subject of dinner came up. Since none of us was terribly hungry, Jan suggested that we have a little picnic in our hotel room. When Jan & Marilyn were shopping they checked out a small grocery store. We went there to see if they were still open and we bought an assortment of cheeses, some bread and crackers, some landjaegers (of course) and some beer and wine. It made for a fun evening meal and we topped it off with some cream drinks that the girls bought earlier in the day, hand mixed in the little shop. A great end to a wonderful day.

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Photos

Penz Hotel-Innsbruck
Weird very modern hotel

After Breakfst Relaxation
On the Penz rooftop

Comments

[mr puggle]

Swarovski Crystal
we went to a little swarovski cottage where you could shop and see them make stuff. i googled it and now it looks all fancy. don't know if Jan likes swarovski but it would be the place to stop for some shopping. http://kristallwelten.swarovski.com/Content.Node/homepage.php?flashnavurl=%2FContent.Node%2Fbesucherinfos%2Fshopping_experience.php%3Fflashnavigation&clientCountry=en

[Jan Kribs]

Shopping???
Sorry, Jennifer, we never really had much time to shop - contrary to what Bob would have you believe. Again, this cable car ride was so spectacular. We never seem to tire of viewing mountains or the Alps. The weather really took good care of us, as you see me in short sleeves high up in the mountains! As for our little picnic in our room the last night, the four of us can have a great time experiencing the simple pleasures in life. P.S. I must thank Dan for the cracker crumbs he left on my bed!!

[Dan Flaherty]

Alps
What a view , so warm outside yet glacier topped mountains! Great view from the top,and being from the flatlands of the Midwest makes the view even more special. The Schnapps at noon put more grey hair on my chest. Glass hotel was interesting, with a little modern architecture thrown into old mix. Should people in glass hotels not throw stones as well?