Left Venice this morning and headed for Germany. Not that we are there yet. We have one night in Austria at Innsbruck on the way.
We had intended to visit Verona but the further we got west the greater the pollution and when the roads didn’t quite fit where the GPS wanted to take us we decided to miss Verona and head north, hopefully to cleaner air.
We had to stop before we crossed the border to buy a Vignette – a sticker that entitled us to drive on the autobahns in Austria for 10 days (it was only €7.50 but we still had to pay extra to actually travel on the autobahn – but not as much as in Italy and France I guess.) We’re looking forward to German roads and no tolls.
Got to our hotel about 7km from Innsbruck about 2:30 and found that there was not a booking for us. With a lot of fussing around the women did eventually find our booking and allocated a room.
We dropped off our gear and then drove into Innsbruck to have a look around the old town. This is a pedestrian-only area and has lots of interesting buildings; the Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof); the Stadtturm (the Old City Watch Tower) and the Hofkirche ( the Imperial Church).
The word bruck comes from the German word Brücke meaning "bridge" which leads to "the bridge over the Inn". We walked along the banks on the Inn River. The river is a very milky blue, a bit like the water that comes off a glacier. I guess melted snow must have the same effect as there is still a lot of snow on the tops of the mountains. We got into the mountains not too far after leaving Verona and have been driving through them ever since. It’s quite spectacular countryside but unfortunately, we have not left the haze behind.
Back at the hotel, we admired the view of the alps from the window. There is an equestrian centre next door and when it got dark you could see people riding their horses around inside a very large building.
The hotel also has a spa and sauna which we made use of before dinner. The spa wasn’t quite hot enough but was very nice all the same.
Dinner was very pleasant. Probably one of the nicest restaurant meals we have had in Europe (although we had an excellent seafood lunch the other day). I had lamb and Jill had seafood paella.
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| The alps from our hotel looking over Innsbruck |
We dropped off our gear and then drove into Innsbruck to have a look around the old town. This is a pedestrian-only area and has lots of interesting buildings; the Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof); the Stadtturm (the Old City Watch Tower) and the Hofkirche ( the Imperial Church).
Innsbruck is an internationally renowned winter sports centre and hosted the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics and the 1984 and 1988 Winter Paralympics. It is to host the 1st Winter Youth Olympics in 2012 which is advertised everywhere.
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| The old City Watch Tower in 'Old Town' |
The word bruck comes from the German word Brücke meaning "bridge" which leads to "the bridge over the Inn". We walked along the banks on the Inn River. The river is a very milky blue, a bit like the water that comes off a glacier. I guess melted snow must have the same effect as there is still a lot of snow on the tops of the mountains. We got into the mountains not too far after leaving Verona and have been driving through them ever since. It’s quite spectacular countryside but unfortunately, we have not left the haze behind.
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| The Inn River |
The hotel also has a spa and sauna which we made use of before dinner. The spa wasn’t quite hot enough but was very nice all the same.
Dinner was very pleasant. Probably one of the nicest restaurant meals we have had in Europe (although we had an excellent seafood lunch the other day). I had lamb and Jill had seafood paella.
