So we left Salzburg with our second exorbitantly priced automatic transmission rental car and set our sights on the location of not one, but two Winter Olympics, Innsbruck!
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| Making a Souvenir Medallion before leaving Salzburg! |
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| We also grabbed one last ice cream! |
Austria/Germany Observation #6: Oh that Ice Cream!
Though Austrian and German cuisine lacks a bit of variety, there was one thing that we kept hankering for - homemade ice cream! Technically I believe this is actually Italian, but man it is really good! In China we can get
gelato as well, but for around $5USD
per scoop! Whereas in most of our experience in Austria, it was just 1-2 Euros per scoop, and they give you the cone for free!
After finishing our ice cream, we made our way towards Innsbruck. First, we made a stop at the nearby Swarovski Kristallwelten, a sort of theme park/giant retail store for the world famous Swarovski crystal brand next to the original site. I actually had no idea that Swarovski was originally from Austria!
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| The Giant |
The park has a bit of a European circus theme about it, with some pretty interesting artifacts and admittedly creepy music piped throughout. It also featured some bona fide circus acts, like this contortionist and tightrope walker - no safety apparatus at all!
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| This large sculpture is filled with Swarovski crystals that glittered brilliantly during the twilight hours of the day! |
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| We met the tightrope walker! |
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| And got to keep crystals from his 25 year old tightrope-walking shoes! (No really, those are his lucky shoes!) |
Swarovski, it turns out, was founded by a Tyrolean family (Tyrol is a region in Austria) in 1895, and it's still fun by that founding family. The museum onsite features a bunch of very cool unique works and experiences:
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| The world's largest Swarovski crystal |
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| The mouse that started it all |
After our detour to Swarovski Kristallwelten, we pulled into Innsbruck in the late evening. I have to admit, I originally thought Innsbruck was yet another small alpine town, similar to Melk or even Hallstatt. Turns out, it's actually roughly the same size as Salzburg, with over 120,000 residents. Further, as mentioned above, it was the site of two Winter Olympic Games (1964 and 1976).
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| We got to watch a youth hockey practice! |
What Innsbruck is most known for today its outdoor alpine activities, so we made sure to get a taste of that. So, we headed up Muttereralm, a popular mountain activity resort. At the top of the mountain, we got yet another set of pristine Austrian alpine views:
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| Cows. For as many cows as we saw in Austria, eating steak doesn't seem to be a thing... |
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| Picking wild blueberries! |
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| And eating them! I thought they didn't taste that good, but I guess things that you pick yourself taste better... |
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| Reflective pond |
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| Enjoying a sammich |
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| I love the reflection in this shot! |
Seeing as it was summer, skiing was not really a good option for our alpine activity fix. Plus, the kids were probably too small for downhill mountain biking, which is the most popular activity at Muttereralm. Instead, we discovered the incredibly fun activity of
mountain carting. Yes, you read that right! Basically, you ride this tricycle with hand brakes, but no pedals, downhill on a 5km track. Yes, 5 kilometers. If you're daring, you can get some pretty good speed, and even drift a bit on some of the more harrowing curves. I'm pretty sure you could, without too much trouble, fall right off the course too, if you were focused more on the incredible scenery than staying on the road... Waaay more fun (and dangerous) than the also very fun toboggan rides on the Great Wall! Lukas said he was definitely going to come back and do this again when he's older!
To wrap up our stay in Innsbruck, we visited the Innsbruck Alpenzoo, which focuses primarily on animals that can be found in the region.
Up next, we head to Castle Country! Stay tuned!
