Nov 22, 2012 - Innsbruck

Today we visited another Olympic venue, the only winter Olympic venue of the four we visited on this trip. I could not believe how tall the ski jumps were; how do those skiers jump off them and live to tell about it? We stayed at the Hotel Goldener Adler, which cornered the old town. It was built in the late 1400s, and Mozart, Wagner, Sartre, John Glenn and assorted princes, dukes, etc have stayed there. Outside the room was a list of who stayed in each room. Nobody famous stayed in our room, just a few dukes and duchesses! That evening...

Nov 7, 2012 - Four contries in two days

The only reason why I didn't post sooner is because there was no wifi. We spent all day Tuesday on the bus travelling from Belgium to Switzerland. Needless to say I was very tired hungry and cranky by the time we did reach lucerne at 6:30pm. I made some rude comments while our tour guide was trying to show us a piece of lucerne's history. When I saw my room last night I thought it was a punishment. Last night's room was the complete opposite of Belgium's room. My room or zimmer was literally a revamped closet. The attached bathroom was an...

Jul 21, 2012 - Innsbruck

Wow! Can't say enough about this trip..it's totally awesome and we have really just gotten started. Met new friends from South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. We are the only Canadians,,whoa! The scenery is fantastic..so much to take pics of, We were in Munich,Germany a very busy place, crowds, lots of history. you will see pics of some of the historical buildings, then on to Innsbruck, Austria went on a horse and carriage ride through the most beautiful mountain village, the houses are carved out of wood,,the design, some of the homes...

Jun 12, 2012 - Day 12 Travel to Innsbruck

Hi Everyone Well we had a very nerve racking day. We woke up at 6:30 and dropped the apartment keys off at Henry's Bar and decided to have one last cappuccino there. We were on the road by 8:00 am. This journey once again was to take us 4 hours to arrive in Innsbruck, Austria. I guess our first mistake was to take the scenic route and to avoid traveling through Milan, Italy. We did not want to hit the rush hour traffic from 7 to 9 am. Since we were familiar with the route around Lake Como we decided to travel this way. We also wanted to see...

May 22, 2012 - Innsbruck

May 22 – Innsbruck, Austria (Note: We started this trip 3 months ago!) Our group walked from the cg to a bus stop and took 2 city buses into Innsbruck (which translates to: bridge of the Inn River). At the Tourism Center Ivan and I bought 24-hour Innsbruck cards that allowed us to ride all forms of transportation and give us free entry to most museums, even a guided city walking tour. A good buy for 49.40 euros each. That included our tram and then a cable car ride up Nordkette Mtn. We wanted to walk the new Panoramic Trail but is was still...

May 21, 2012 - Long drive to Innsbruck, Austria

May 21 – Long drive to Innsbruck in the rain We left our Fusina campground at 8:30 and drove in rain until about 3:10 when the sun came out as we exited a tunnel (from Italy) into Austria! What gorgeous scenery with the fairy-tale appearance of the homes and towns in the mountains! Got to our campground on a hillside outside Innsbruck about 4:00 and parked. We could see snow on the mountain peaks almost all around us! After our travel meeting and Happy Hour we walked downhill about 3 blocks to a lovely old Tyrolean restaurant for a typical...

Mar 29, 2012 - Genoa - en route to Nice

Mega journey today - leaving Innsbruck at 9:30am and arriving in Genoa at 5:30pm. The first train was the longest journey. It was a great train with a restaurant car where we had lunch - bit of a novelty. This was taking us through the alps, past villages still covered with snow. Our first stop was Verona - where we changed trains for Milan. This train was different, but still great. Our third train from Milan to Genoa was crowded and we were understanding that we had left the orderliness of the French, Germans and Austrains behind and were...

Mar 28, 2012 - Innsbruck

Innsbruck has been magical. Both Salzburg and Innsbruck are in a "bowl" surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountains. Austrian buildings are of varying colours - greens, blues, mustards, browns, pinks.....making the scenery very quaint. There is a newer area, but we are spending our time in the old city regions. There are more cyclists - not in bike gear - but in street clothes and no helmets. There are many more smokers - and I am surprised that they are not all alcoholics as beer, wine and spirits are so cheap. Today we went up a...

Mar 15, 2012 - Austria

Austrian Alps Wow , this drive was amazingly beautiful. The assent was gentle and the landscape was ever changing. We drove through the Dolomite's and then hit the Snow covered Alps, we saw a lot of snow and even a partly frozen lake and a load of castles along the way. This has to be the best Alp experience, we have done all of the European ones now and I rate this one as a MUST DO. Its amazing how one side of the road is covered in snow and not just the Alps, but the tree house roofs and fields, yet the other side is free from all traces...

Feb 16, 2012 - Garmisch, Germany & Innsbruck, Austria

Susan and I decided to do a group trip with our Harrogate clan to a small ski village in the southern tip of Germany. Our journey started with a frantic morning drive from Harrogate to Manchester airport with our friends Dan and Calli car pooling with us. Our under estimation of the traffic congestion made for a very speedy second half of our journey, which may have left most people green in the face. Thankfully we arrived just in time to catch our flight. After a short flight to Munich we met up with our friends Susie and Patrick, got the...

Jan 4, 2012 - Salzburg to Innsbruck

Left Salzburg today to head across to the other side of Austria, to Friedrichshafen. Decided to stop at Innsbruck for some lunch and a quick look around. The drive into Innsbruck was a bit of a worry. Had to go through some quite high passes (over 1000m), and the weather turned a bit nasty - high winds, rain, and then some snow. Our car doesn't have the appropriate tyres for this type of driving, so we hoped to get to our destination before it became a problem. Made it to Innsbruck ok. Its a mad house. People everywhere. As we drove into...

Dec 21, 2011 - Lucerne to Innsbruck

Snow snow snow snow snow. Very pretty and apparently it is a bit warmer when it snows. Austria had 35cm of snow last night on the ground and 1m on the hills. It is everywhere. Before we left this morning...we managed to go up Mount Pilatus. The gondola ride up was nice, but the snow and cold weather made the view almost non existant. As our gondola guide said: "Az you can zee - you zee nothing". Very apt description. We also got to stop in Lichtenstein...the 4th smallest country. Had a very expensive lunch (also charged in Swiss Franks)....