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  Salzburg, Austria
Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Sunday
January 29





Another
cold and gray day, so I decided to get on the train and go back to
Seefeld in Tirol, a ski resort I passed on the train yesterday on my
way to Innsbruck. It was about a 25 minute ride back up the mountain
and through the tunnels and then I arrived at Seefeld. Off the train
and then I wandered into the village and just walked around and
looked at the hotels and then I came upon a huge skating rink and was
able to see the skiing area off in the distance. Seefeld is more
known for its cross country tails but it does have many ski runs and
gondolas taking skiers up to the top of the mountain. The village
was quite beautiful and the hotels were all quite nice. I saw
nothing less than four star hotels and above, very swanky! They had
had a festival the day before and there were many snow, now ice
sculptures, throughout the village, and some were quite interesting.
The giant Asian sumo wrestler caught my eye! After visiting for a
couple of hours, I took the train back to Innsbruck roamed the old
town for a bit and then headed back to the room to relax before
dinner.





Dinner
was, what else, schnitzel and fries at a nice keller/beer hall and it
was very good. Communal seating and I sat with some Brits that had
skied Innsbruck that day. A nice chat and back to the room to ready
for my last day in Innsbruck.









Monday
January 30





A
broken record weather wise as it was cloudy and cold but I decided
that since it was my last day I was going to get an Innsbruck Card
for 29 euros that included entrance to most museums, all local
transportation, and most importantly, one ride up and down on the
cable car to the top of the mountain overlooking Innsbruck. It was
cloudy for the view but I figured it was my last chance. I walked
about two blocks from the hotel to find the funicular that was the
first leg of transport up to the top of the mountain overlooking
town. I found the entrance and swiped my card I got at the reception
at the hotel and was in. A couple of minutes later, a four car
modern looking funicular arrived and about 10 of us got on the four
cars. About 10 minutes later we reached a spot about a third of the
way up that was the bottom of the ski runs and walked a couple of
hundred yard to the main cable car that would hold over 100 people
for a ten minute ride up to almost the top. It was quite foggy by
now and I could hardly see the snow laden trees below, when soon it
began to brighten and soon we broke out into the whitest snow, bluest
sky, sunny day that I could ever remember. The clouds lay below us
like a heavy, fluffy duvet covering the Inn Valley and Innsbruck
below, a spectacular sight! Looking around all I could see were snow
covered peaks of the Alps and it was stunning, this is what I came to
the Alps to see!!





There
was one more leg of the lift system to the very top and off I went,
although my height fear started to overtake me. The next cable was
considerably smaller and looking to the top scared the crap out of
me! By this time I was past the point of no return, the doors closed
and off we went. Arriving at this small station, I went outside
briefly, the view was great but the drop off was sheer and I was soon
inside awaiting the return car. This station supposedly took expert
skiers to the top of what some say is the steepest ski run in Europe,
a 70% pitch, close to vertical and that each year a small number of
skiers don't make it to the bottom alive. I wished they had told me
that before I went up because the view from the main stop below was
just fine. Back down to the main lift area the snow piled up on top
of the buildings was just incredible and they also had made the Igloo
Bar, quite a large set of rooms cut out of a huge mound of snow that
was used as a bar during the season, sort of an Ice Hotel concept.
The view was spectacular and I went into the restaurant, got a beer
and went outside and sat and looked at the Alps in all their glory, I
was was a happy guy!! Down to the bottom and then I caught the
Sightseer Bus, included on my Card and took the hour tour of
Innsbruck and got off at the main train station. I wanted to go to
Hall in Tirol, a quaint medieval town about 20 minutes out of
Innsbruck that I had read about. I found a bus that was leaving
before the next train so I flashed my card and hopped on. Twenty
minutes to Hall and I wandered the town and caught another bus back
to Innsbruck and headed back to the room to relax before dinner,
feeling good after a great sightseeing day.






Dinner
was at the same keller as the night before and I had a great skillet
of potatoes, onions, beef and chicken and it was excellent. Washed
down with a local brew I was content for the night and was soon back
at the hotel to get ready for the next leg of my journey, Salzburg,
Austria!





Tuesday
January 31





Finally
the sun was out and I checked out and walked 10 minutes to the
station to get the Austrian RailJet train non stop service to
Salzburg, a beautiful city I have visited about four times before.
The train was very comfortable, although not a high speed train like
the German ICE of French TGV, but a very comfortable ride and two
hours later I pulled into Salzburg station that was under total
renovation and quite a bit of disarray. I grabbed a quick bite and
then walked 20 minutes to the area of my hotel for the next two days.
I remembered the way from the station from my previous trips and I
was able to find my hotel with no problems, the first time I had
stayed at Hotel Stadtkrug. In Old Town across the river from the
main Old Town, the hotel was quaint and I unpacked and soon headed
out and headed for Old Town across the river with the huge fortress
looking from above, the main sight of Salzburg. For a Tuesday
afternoon in the middle of winter, the streets were quite crowded and
the merchants were quite pleased. After walking around for a while,
I was getting cold and I happened across the Shamrock Irish Pub and I
went in and had a Guinness, which was the first of the trip and it
tasted nice even on a cold winter's day. I met a couple from the
south of Russia and we had a nice conversation, although her English
was somewhat difficult but a whole lot better than my Russian! I
scoped out some restaurants for dinner and then back to the room.






Dinner
was in a small place just a couple of blocks from the hotel and I had
a nice soup and a beef dish that was quite good with some very good
sauerkraut. Hardly anyone was out that evening as it was getting
colder as a major cold front was coming in from Russia, bringing some
very cold weather for the next few days. Talking to Sandy back home
she said that it was like early spring there, but there was no
mistaking it was still winter where I was.

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