Engelberg to |Liechtenstein and Innsbruck - Oct 3, 2009

Left the village of Engelberg at 0730 hr. Clear day and we can see the mountain tops. The Aussies are excited to see snow at the top of one of the mountains. Homes along the way have their quilts hung out of their windows to air them out. The stockpiles of wood are all nice and neat, ready for winter.

More tunnels under the mountains which maintains the beauty of the countryside but also keeps debris of the road. The train line follows fairly close to the highway . Because of their limited resources, the train is electric so there is a line running above the train tracks the whole way. It’s a Sunday and there are a lot of bikers out for a ride today. The winding roads would make a great ride on a sunny day like this. The houses all have flower boxes and in them are geraniums and we’re told that they plant geraniums because flies don’t like geraniums and that means that they won’t come into the house. Good tip to know!

Went through the Alberg tunnel which is 16 km long and took over 10 years to complete. It runs under the St. Anton Ski hills. As we entered Austria, Sue turned on the music from the Sound of Music. It was good to know the words when the sing along started.

Took a horse and buggy ride in a small village outside of Innsbruck. Siegfried and his two horses showed us through a small mountain village. We stopped at the oldest house in the village which was built in the 1600’s. Siegfried shared a shot of his home made Schnapps. Many had never had Schnapps before and after catching their breath again, compared it to something similar to paint thinner. The ride continued through the forests until we arrived back in the village. The slower pace was good for a couple of hours.

We checked into our hotel and had enough time to change and get ready to go out to dinner. WE had dinner at a place that served a traditional Tyrolean dinner and then performed a show which included many traditional musical instruments, yodeling and dancing. It was a great evening. Taxis took us back to the hotel where we sat in the lounge and had a few more laughs before we turned in. The one thing that is hard to get used to here is that they can still smoke in restaurants and lounges…and everywhere really. It seems like a long time since we were able to smoke anywhere in public in Alberta.