Hotel Almhof Danler Neustift im Stubaital

Again it was snowing when we woke up but again it wasn't sticking although it was still on the trees at the Alpine Zoo which we went to in the morning. This was Tara’s choice as usual. Greg's favourite was the brown bear which was lying with its head on its paws on a log, probably contemplating whether it was time to hibernate. My favourite was the lynx which was high up in a tree. By the ...

... amazing to see how close the Golden Roof came to being bombed during World War II by the Nazis. The Austrians had bricked it in to save it and some of these bricks were actually destroyed while the Roof and building were saved.

We then walked up the City Tower which was built in 1440 and had an incredible view over the city and the surrounding mountains. It had stopped snowing by this time and you could see a clear line above ...

Walked to the train station and did an expedition to the supermarket to spend our last Swiss Francs as we are back to Euros in Austria. Had a stopover in Zurich for a while and then caught the train to Innsbruck. Again this was a scenic trip over the mountains and it started snowing and was very deep as we got higher- just beautiful scenery. Innsbruck is surrounded by mountains, all of which had snow on them.

We checked into our hotel where we ...

... every corner. Most everything was closed on Sunday, so I decided to trek it up the hill to the Alpenzoo. It's the highest zoo in Europe, and I believe it because I kept walking, up and up and up. It was a beautiful Fall day, and most of the animals were out of their homes.

After the zoo I did a little laundry and went for a jog for the first time in a month. There is a great ...

... did a bathroom stop at Point 3 and then went up to Edelpasse to have a look and take some photos. The cloud was fast moving with thermals and one minute the mountains were visable, the next they weren't! The little car struggled up and down the hills..2nd gear it chugged up and smelly brakes coming down but it was all good! We then headed up to the Josesf Franz point and saw the Glacier that was there..it ...

... in the US. After exploring for about an hour, I met up
with the guide and about 10 other people for a guided hike in the alps. This
hike might have been the deal of the century. It included a local guide, Oleg,
transportation in a nice coach bus to a location in the mountains about 30 min
outside of Innsbruck, hiking boots, a backpack, and a “Innsbruck medal” all FOR
FREE. The other three Americans andAustralians kept ...

... packed in tightly on either side of the narrow pedestrian street. My mom was sucked right in. I don't know how long it took for us to walk the length of this short street, but it was several minutes too long.

We never did visit the cathedral. Our stomachs took over and we went for food instead. We found a nice pizza place with good prices so we went in. Everything seemed OK until my boyfriend asked for a new set of cutlery because when we first sat on our table it had ...

... well as a crystal on display that is larger than my head. The exhibits in each room vary considerably. In this case I think the pictures describe the museum much better than I can. Once at the end of the museum rooms, the visitor must pass through the showroom and store before leaving the facility. Mom and I had a lot of fun in the store and the men waited patiently for us to decide on ...

... also went swimming in the Aare river (a really fast current) which was really cool. All the locals do it, and we just got in there like a dirty shirt. After that we headed to Zurich for a day, where we just walked around the lake and hung out. It was actually pretty fun. Weve been doing a lot of walking lately. I think that so far we have walked about 30 km in Innsbruck and we have only been here for a couple days. Tomorrow we are headed off to Salzburg ...

Sadly, I dont remember much about Austria. Too bad because I have read so much about it lately as the music and art centre of Europe in the 1700s, I'd love to check that out.
I asked my dad recently if we had been there before. He said, 'oh yes, many times, we loved it'. Hmm, what a pity. I suppose it still counts because the images of scenery must be in my mind somewhere... curse this short memory of mine!