Weekend in Innsbruck Yo!

            This weekend has been my favorite by far.  We went to Innsbruck, Austria for a chill weekend of hiking through the wilderness and swimming in lakes.  I got our group lost on Friday night by getting on a tram that was supposed to go toward the university but ended up going to the garage, but all ended well.  I read online that Innsbruck is a relatively safe city to walk around in at night.  We did, however, half to walk half way across the city back to the hauptbahnhof. We used that as a warm-up for the next day.

            We stayed in a nice hotel, nicer than anyplace I’ve stayed in Europe.  After our complimentary breakfast on Saturday morning, we took the bus to the mountain where the 1964 and 1976 winter Olympics took place.  This mountain is a hotspot for hiking, biking, and even golfing.  Most people take the cable car up the mountain and hike down, but not us.  Being adventurous, we hiked up and down taking our own path going where we wanted to go.  Somehow, still at the bottom of the mountain, we found ourselves in the middle of the golf course facing the driving range.  Luckily two ladies told us the way around, and we found the Olympic bobsled run.  I don’t if it is shut down or not, but there was nobody there, and the gates were wide open.  So we went in.  After exploring the bobsled course, we hiked across the ski slopes in hopes to make it to the chapel that was half way up.  Taking shortcuts through the wilderness, I remembered how much I loved my backpacking trips I took when I was younger.  I want to start doing that again.  After many water and picture breaks, we made it to the chapel.  Once again, surprisingly enough, there was nobody there but the door was wide open.  So we went in.  The beautiful chapel combined with the view of the mountains around Innsbruck made this stop quite an experience. 

            The map had a picture of a cross a little ways up the mountain so we decided that would be a great place to have lunch.  Once there, we saw the beautiful cross over looking the valley and the mountains on the other side.  There was also an elderly women sitting under the cross who really enjoyed the little bit of German I could speak.  She couldn’t speak English, however I knew enough German to talk to her for a little while.  She told me she was eighty-six, but she did not look it.  I would have guessed low seventies, but even then, I would still have been impressed by the shape she was in and the fact that she was hiking on a mountain. 

            For the trek down, the group split up.  Rock and I wanted to take a different longer path down, and the others wanted to take the same path down.  Rock and I were so glad we took the long way.  It was extremely beautiful, and an easy hike.  We also got to record some fun bloggie videos.

            At the bottom of the mountain, we regrouped at a popular swimming hole.  The water felt so good.  It was freezing, but after a long day of hiking, there is nothing more rewarding.  We swam, layed out, and fed the fish before catching the bus back to the city.  We ate dinner at a local Viennese restaurant where I had the best chicken cordon bleu I have ever had the pleasure of eating.  We finished the night off with a trip to the casino, and I left with forty extra Euro in my pocket!