A Weekend in Innsbruck

After a busy week in Vienna, I was really looking forward to a laid back weekend in Innsbruck, Austria! We arrived in the city around 6pm after what was probably our least eventful train ride thus far. Innsbruck was larger than I expected, and it took us a little while to figure out our public transport system. We finally made it to our hotel, which definitely had a different atmosphere from the hostel in Munich. We went to dinner at a restaurant that was recommended at the hotel, and it was so delicious we ended up going back for dinner on Saturday too! Friday was pretty quiet. We wandered around the city, and then went to bed in order to rest up for Saturday. 

We woke up early Saturday morning, had breakfast, and set out to go for a hike. On our way to the mountain, we met a lady who was very helpful, albeit pretty opinionated. She talked about George bush and other politicians. I think Will got the mot of her rant. But she helped us find our stop and recommended that we go swimming at Lanser See later that day. 

Most people take a cable car up the mountain, and then hike down, but we decided that we were going to be different. For most of the hike, we forged our own path but after a few hours we sort of got the hang of the trail system. We made it about halfway up the mountain, before heading back down. It would have been awesome to make it to the top, but we ran out of time. Plus I think most of us were pretty sore by then. 

We had packed a lunch, and found a beautiful spot on the mountain. We shared a bench with an 82 year old Austrian women who spoke no English. We were somewhat able to communicate with her in our broken German. She was super excited when she found out we were from Texas.  After lunch we headed back down the mountain, intent on finding Lanser See. It took quite a bit of walking, but we eventually made it there. It was absolutely beautiful, and the water felt fantastic after our long day of hiking. 

The public transportation system in innsbruck was pretty confusing, but I guess I've been spoiled with the systems in bonn, Munich, and Vienna. We got lost a couple times, but we always ended up where we needed to be. The train ride back to bonn from innsbruck was uncomfortable to say the least. The air conditioner was only partly working, and our ride was almost three hours longer than expected. Nevertheless, we all made it back in one piece! It's been a crazy nine days, but I'm so glad I get to experience it!