Day trip to Innsbruck

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Innsbruck, Austria- April 16, 2011



This was a day trip that we decided to do the weekend before dead week started because neither Alyssa nor I had been before and I felt severely lacking in my Austrian travels. Innsbruck is around an hour train ride away and the train leaves every 30 minutes so we got up early(ish), had breakfast at the center and made our way to the train station around 10:30 am. We got there and immediately looked for a kebab stand because there center puts out rolls, cereal and fruit for breakfast so you’re always starving an hour or two later. As we walked from the train station to the center while eating our kebabs we began to notice how incredibly beautiful the town was. It was like this amazing perfectly preserved baroque town was place in the middle of the Alps…oh wait, no, that exactly what it was. On all side of the town there were huge mountains rising up like snow capped walls. When we got to the center we saw lots of entertainers, an open market and lots of shops all in perfectly preserved elaborate baroque buildings and of course the main event the Golden Roof. The ruler of the town was so rich to show off his wealth and power or whatever he made a roof completely out of golden tiles for the balcony that looks out onto the plaza. After that we walked to a nearby park and enjoyed the flowers and the park and the sun for a while and I climbed a tree. I got stuck for a while but I eventually made it down. After the park we walked through the town and went into all the cathedrals we could find and decided to end at the Marie-Theresa Platz and get some very pretty artisan gelato. We ended there because that was where the cable car picked up to go to the Zoo. We were told by the ice cream shop man to take it to the very top and that’s the Zoo because it’s the world’s highest zoo. Well we got there. It was not there. That was the ski lift to the top of the mountain. We then asked and were told to hike down the path through the woods. Luckily we were wearing tennis shoes but it was steep. We got there just in time. The zoo stops letting people in 30 minutes before closing and we got there 35 minutes before closing. We saw all the animals including the moose, buffalo, and vulture eating a dead animal. Then we went to the petting zoo and lucky for us all the stupid kids that get in the way were gone already! Afterwards we went to the Augustiner (I haven’t really understood why but there seems to be an Augustiner in every Austrian city. At the Augustiner they make really good authentic food and they brew their own beer on site. Generally they are several hundred years only and nothing has changed except electric lights and indoor toilets.) for dinner and then made our way back to the train station to catch the train back to Salzburg before the soccer game and everyone got drunk and crazy. It was a great trip and we were so lucky to have great weather!!

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