Hands down, the most beautiful train ride I have had in my
life was when I was on my way to Innsbruck. We took the train from Zurich,
Switzerland to Innsbruck, Austria. Deep blue rivers and lakes surrounded by the
Alps. The train going in, out, and along the mountains overlooking such great
valleys. I cannot recommend enough this
train journey. Taking the trains through Europe is always fun as there are
always great views, but Zurich to Innsbruck was particularly incredible. Where
else are you going to take a train ride through the Swiss Alps? We didn't leave
on our train journey until almost 7pm, but as it is is summer and light outside
until 9:30pm or so, we got to watch the sun set over the Alps. Incredible!
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| doesn't do it justice, but the view from our train ride to Innsbruck |
Innsbruck is definitely a town for the outdoor adventurer.
In the winter, there is an abundance of ski slopes and snow activities. In the
summer, I also was surprised at how much there was to do. The “old town” is
very small and quite possible to do all the sites and best museums within one
day. The next day can be spent heading up to the mountain for great views of
the mountains and the city. Once at the top of the mountains, there are A TON
of mountain bike trails, hiking trails, and tons of people paragliding. We
opted for a small hike and to watch the outdoor extremists take on the
mountain.
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singing in the mountains !
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| our little hike above Innsbruck |
Innsbruck itself is a tiny & adorable city. There are
lots of interesting museums to go to. We opted for one that held exhibits on the
cultural history of the Austrians. This may be one of the creepiest museums I have
been to. Not that Austrian history is scary, but the artifacts and background
music was so eery! There was an exhibition on masks, some of the scariest masks
I have ever seen! There also was a section on the dress and fashion of
Austrians, which would have been interesting if they were not displayed on
creepy wooden life sized dolls. The museum was full of interesting items, but I
couldn't help but being completely and entirely creeped out! It didn't help
that my husband and I were the only ones in the museum.
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| creepy museum |
My husbands favorite site was going to the Olympic Ski Jump; The Bergisel. It was interesting, but I enjoyed the views from it more as no one was actually
practicing. However, it was SO STEEP and gave you an entirely new appreciation
of the ski jump as a winter activity. It always was one of my favorite winter
events, but actually seeing it, the athletes have to have some huge cajones to
actually go through with it!!!
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| the Bergisel |
Also, while in Austria, you cannot leave without having a
huge giant glass of beer with sauerkraut & pretzels. Summer time in Austria
is absolutely stunning. Sipping on large pints (mugs called a mabkrug) of beer and eating traditional
food under the sun, surrounded by mountains, was just phenomenal. I actually
was surprised by how hot it was. When in the Alps I always think of the snow,
but it was 31 degrees Celsius or so every day! About 88 degrees Fahrenheit.
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| me and my mabkrug ! |
Innsbruck is an awesome town, like in Zurich, we enjoyed
going to the grocery stores for picnic lunches and dinners and enjoying the
sites of the town. Innsbruck in the summer is great, but I also would love to
come back in winter as I can just imagine how adorable it would be with
Christmas markets and instead of having beer I would be sipping on mulled wine.
I am thoroughly enjoying my time in Austria and enjoying the laid back culture.
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