Our last day in Venice, like most others spent in Italy, was exceptionally warm. Why is this important? Because it made the next 5 or 6 hours on an un-airconditioned train up to Austria very uncomfortable. It actually turns out that this was about the second time we had been in this situation since leaving France - for some reason we were jinxed to have reservations in the carriage where the air conditioning had broken down. In addition this situation always seemed to occur on what had to be the hottest day of the week.
So we commenced our hot and uncomfortable journey towards Austria with our destination being the mountainous city of Innsbruck. We were looking forward to this journey because we had read quite a lot about the city and how beautiful the Austrian Tyrol was. Our journey certainly didn't disappoint. We made our way first through Verona and then northward between the ever steepening Italian Alps to the Brenner Pass. We then continued to climb (with the temperature thankfully dropping slowly) until we arrived at Innsbruck.
We then quickly booked two nights accommodation and then proceeded to get lost on the way to the hotel (this was becoming a habit) as the actual steet was numbered in the strangest way possible. We eventually found the hotel, checked in and got our room key, but that wasn't the end of the fun and games. The building our room was in was actually across the road from the main hotel building and we again got lost on the way there........ not so much lost exactly as not being able tyo identify the correct building. This saw us (Eli) attempt to use the room key to open (as some friendly locals pointed out)the front door to some person's house. We eventually found our room, settled in and then headed out for some exploration.
The city itself is sited next to a very fast flowing (and icy looking) river and is surrounded on most sides by the Austrian Tyrol - so there are some very impressive views. The city is also a mixture of modern and old with tram lines running parallel to historical monuments, buildings and cobbled streets. Given that it was late by the time we arrived, dinner was also a priority and so commenced our first attempt to order randomly from a menu we couldn't understand or figure out (this was a feature of eating out in Austria and Germany). Given that most dishes seemed to comprise sausages and sauerkraut, however, we felt pretty confident that we wouldn't run into too much trouble.
The next day, being our last, saw us off out and about reasonably early. While there was quite a bit to see the historical area is concentrated into a small zone and so it didn't take too long to get around. We saw the "Golden Terrace" which was constructed by Emperor Maximillian. This building was part of the Royal Palace (I think) and stands out because of the copper gilded roof tiles laid over the entrance. While there we also saw something rather peculiar, there were a hundred or so people all crouched down in the main pedestrianised area picking things up from the ground. On closer inspection they turned out to be thosands of tiny crystals. So naturally, after laughing at this spectacle, we joined in! It turns out that this was a publicity stunt on behalf of Swarovski, which runs a very large store in the area, aiming to get people to have a look at a new crystal display within the store (and spend their hard earned Euros). It was obviously a good promotion because the crystal store was our next stop - browsing only though!
The rest of the day before catching the next train involved casually strolling around the rest of the city, stopping to check out some of the Royal Palaces, museums and gardens in the area. We really enjoyed Innsbruck and were disappointed that we were not staying any longer. It would definitely have been a great experience to explore around some of the mountainous areas surrounding the city.
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