Monday, June 4, 2012

Riding Around Innsbruck

06/04, Monday
Breakfast at our hotel gets us off to a great start for the day...too bad it's drizzling and the clouds are caught in the mountains. Kind of pretty, although in a wet way.

The young woman at the front hotel desk, Stephanie, is very helpful, too, with a suggestion to walk into town along a different street lined with beautiful homes and mansions. (Stephanie is a student at Innsbruck University studying International Economics, Banking Innovation.)

Innsbruck is a large city, about 150,000 people. It hosted two winter Olympics, 1964 and 1972. There are reminders of the events, such as a ski jump visible in the distance from the main street.

We are not deterred very long, but our plans have changed...from riding to the top of the mountain on the cable car to going to the Tyrolean Museum of Arts and Crafts...a learning experience instead of a visual high!

We take the mansion walk ending up at the Inn River, then into town to the Arts and Crafts Museum. Lots of wood carving, tools, furniture, church items, sleighs, and masks. The theme seems to be based on Lucifer...music and sounds and mannequin that greets us.

Time for a quick bite to eat. The weather has cleared a little, enough to rent bikes for a 2-hour, 10 mile ride along the river. Mostly parks and homes on the way out; parks and industry on the return, other side of the river. Clouds are still covering the very tops of the mountains, but you see the majestic mountains, some snow and it makes a very nice bike ride along the rushing river.

We decide to have a "light" Austrian dinner...fried egg, potatoes, and beef and beer...before heading back to the hotel. Sandy has a taste for gelato for dessert. Then our final night stroll back to our cute pension.




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