B. Austria, we arrived at our simple International Youth Hostel (complete with bunkbeds) in Innsbruck, the capital of the Alps by mid afternoon. Our drive was stupendous, we were surrounded by green lush hills and towering snow topped mountains. A couple of times I was tempted to breakout my yodeling skills and then I remembered, I don't have any, but it would make a great ringtone for my cell phone.
And, if you look in the very first picture, you will see a large passenger plane landing right through the Innsbruck valley, going right over the city. We took this while we were at the Bergisel which you'll read about later. It's a totally cool picture.
We dropped all the luggage and headed straight to downtown. First stop was the Golden Roof. Built in 1420 and covered with 2,657 fine gilt copper tiles. The work was completed in 1500 and includes frescoes, the coat of arms and reliefs from the Tyrolean soverigns. Yeah, over my head too, but simply gorgeous.
The city was filled with people for a weekend-long Easter festival, there were lots of booths set-up with various arts & crafts, food and drinks. Ron had actually been to this city about 20 years ago when he travelled with a friend throughout Europe as a last batchelor hurrah!
The next morning we wanted to get on the road so we could reach Italy by the afternoon but we stumbled upon an available tour of the Bergisel Stadium used in the winter Olympics, so we became part of the 140,000 visitors that come here annually. The structure was built in 1925 and renovated and used in 1964 (by a woman architect!!!) and in the 1976 Olympic Games. This unexpected stop remains one of the coolest things we did on our trip. The view from the tower was phenomenal and being on top made you wonder how any of the ski jumping atheletes ever had the nerve to jump off this thing-amazing.
Our next portion of Austria occured on our return trip from Italy to Dresden. We stopped in Salzburg for a delightful lunch at Cafe Mozart. Unfortunately, we were unable to spend a great deal of time here but we did get to see the home where Wolfgang Amedeus Mozart was born in 1756. Clearly, this would be a fantastic city to come back to and do more sight-seeing so, if you're in the neighborhood please put it on your list.
And, if you look in the very first picture, you will see a large passenger plane landing right through the Innsbruck valley, going right over the city. We took this while we were at the Bergisel which you'll read about later. It's a totally cool picture.
We dropped all the luggage and headed straight to downtown. First stop was the Golden Roof. Built in 1420 and covered with 2,657 fine gilt copper tiles. The work was completed in 1500 and includes frescoes, the coat of arms and reliefs from the Tyrolean soverigns. Yeah, over my head too, but simply gorgeous.
The city was filled with people for a weekend-long Easter festival, there were lots of booths set-up with various arts & crafts, food and drinks. Ron had actually been to this city about 20 years ago when he travelled with a friend throughout Europe as a last batchelor hurrah!
The next morning we wanted to get on the road so we could reach Italy by the afternoon but we stumbled upon an available tour of the Bergisel Stadium used in the winter Olympics, so we became part of the 140,000 visitors that come here annually. The structure was built in 1925 and renovated and used in 1964 (by a woman architect!!!) and in the 1976 Olympic Games. This unexpected stop remains one of the coolest things we did on our trip. The view from the tower was phenomenal and being on top made you wonder how any of the ski jumping atheletes ever had the nerve to jump off this thing-amazing.
Our next portion of Austria occured on our return trip from Italy to Dresden. We stopped in Salzburg for a delightful lunch at Cafe Mozart. Unfortunately, we were unable to spend a great deal of time here but we did get to see the home where Wolfgang Amedeus Mozart was born in 1756. Clearly, this would be a fantastic city to come back to and do more sight-seeing so, if you're in the neighborhood please put it on your list.
Salzburg looks amazing! Glad y'all had a fantastic trip!
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