Hallo! Last we chatted, I was just departing dear Liechtenstein. My train ride passed some gorgeous mountain villages and lots of out-of-season ski slopes.

My first stop in Austria was Innsbruck, a little city tucked into the alps. And I mean seriously – this place is absolutely surrounded by huge, snowy mountains. I’m used to seeing the Olympics and the Cascades on the distant horizon from certain vantages, but having these huge mountains looming so close from all angles was another experience entirely!

I dropped my bags at my hostel and had several very awkward encounters with the hostel check-in guy. He was just kind of all over the place, and when I found out he could give me a free public transit card, he was very strange about it, and I had to wait over a half hour before I received it. So yeah, not great. But there were several sweet Australian girls in my room, and we chatted a bit!

Then I was off!

I planned to get up to “The Top of Innsbruck, a viewpoint area that required multiple cable cars and lots of €€ to get to, but in the end, I’d taken so long to get the transit pass that I would have only had fifteen minutes at the top. I settled, instead, for the views from the bottom of the first cable car, and those were quite lovely on their own!

Then I made my way back toward the river.

And then to Old Town, hustling and bustling with activity.

One of my favorite things to do is to get a good view, and this city was full of them. I climbed the City Tower for a view from the center of it all!

Check out the staircase!

Then I simply wandered around. I found some beautiful churches and the Triumphpforte.

My walk back was just as lovely!

Innsbruck was much like Lichtenstein, in that I endured much less rain than expected. Fine by me! It was mostly sunny or partly cloudy all day long, and relatively warm. I’d worked up a craving for goulash by this point, so I grabbed an outdoor table and a glass of Zweigelt. ‘Twas quite yummy.

I only ordered a bowl of the goulash, but they served me a (more expensive) goulash meal, which came with this strange dumpling ball thing. I think it was mainly potato and flour? Very chewy and super filling. I left a few pieces of the extra tough meat because I just couldn’t eat any more!

I’m still on my early clock, so I caught up with my Australian bunk mate and settled in for bed around ten. This was my first time in a hostel dorm room in four years, though, and I’m out of practice! My bunkmate got up to pee at one point, and then several other girls did the same. Because of the streetlights streaming in through the window behind me, I just assumed it was morning time! I spent a bunch of energy trying to rouse myself, only to finally look at my watch and see that it was 2:30am! Yikes! The whole night was very restless, with people getting up to pee constantly. I didn’t get much sleep, though my Fitbit says I did. I don’t trust it this time!

Because I was so groggy in the morning, and I couldn’t think of much to do, I wandered and wandered until I found a nice Turkish café for breakfast. I popped a squat and read for nearly two hours! I even got a refill on my yummy Turkish tea. It was delightful.

Innsbruck seemed like a pretty sleepy town while I was there. I think generally, it’s just a gateway to the mountains, but we’re very much in the off-season right now. Not enough snow for skiing and snowshoeing, but too much snow for hiking and mountain biking. So it just didn’t seem super lively! I was also bummed because my hostel had a bar with a lovely menu and regularly scheduled live music, but I stayed on a Sunday and May 1st, which is a holiday in Austria, so the bar was closed both nights! Hmph.

Carrying on with the wandering after breakfast, I found some more pretty churches.

This is the most famous building in Innsbruck, with the Gold Roof:

I wanted to visit the Hofkirche, which seemed to be the most famous church in Innsbruck, so I bought a combined museum ticket, which got me into several museums in the area.

The first was the Volkskunstmuseum, or Fold Art Museum, which was connected to the Hofkirche by this beautiful courtyard.

Though I hadn’t planned to see this museum, it ended up being quite lovely! Lots of old rooms set up in the old style, with huge stoves in the corner and lots of wood paneling and carved wooden furniture. I couldn’t tell if any of them were original to the building or if they were all recreations.

In fact, my favorite part of this museum was the sheer amount of intricate wood carvings. Brushes, rolling pins, chests, cribs, weapons. So many beautiful carvings!

There were also lots of strange modern touches. For example, I might be wandering around a room, looking at things in the center, when suddenly, I’d hear a light click on in a cupboard I’d just passed. I’d open the cupboard to find more objects inside. Motion detecting exhibits! I had quite a start when a full door swung open at once to let me into the upper level of the Hofkirche. Was not expecting that!

The ground floor of the church is famous for its huge bronze figures. You’ll see the one that made me giggle. The information pamphlet even said, “The wearing of the patina shows that it is often touched.” Yikes!

Thoroughly pleased by that visit, I picked up a treat for a snack. It was fluffy and delicious!

And then I was off again, this time further uphill in the opposite direction than I’d gone the day before. I came across a couple more lovely churches.

And then I was treated with a view!

I was here to visit the Tirol Panorama museum, which had a huge panoramic painting of a battle taking place in the surrounding area. It was also peppered with more viewing rooms, lots of artifacts, and some… Strange historical art pieces.

Ha! Scary!

I was impressed that the panorama itself really was of this same area, with those same two beautiful churches I’d just visited below! Lots of other buildings had not yet been erected, though.

I went outside to catch one more glimpse of the view.

And then I discovered a little hiking path, the Panoramarunde. It circled the Bergisel Olympic ski jump as it wandered through the forest.

That ski jump is no joke!!! Several stories high! It takes a special kind of insanity to think skiing down and jumping off that thing is a good idea!

The hike took about an hour, by which time, it was finally sprinkling just slightly.

Back in town, I visited the Swarovski store. This was my favorite piece, and it could be yours for a mere $16,000!

I had a yummy dinner of salmon tagliatelle with white wine, and then I made my way back across the river to my hostel.

I caught up with my bunk mate, who was also leaving the next morning, and then I was out again by ten! Gotta rest up for the travel day ahead. Danke, Innsbruck, for all the lovely viewpoints! And for not raining too much!

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

-Lizzy-wa