Back to Innsbruck

We arrived in Innsbruck around 1:30 Sunday.  I had mistakenly told our AirBnB host Jonathan that we'd be arriving around 3:00.  I texted Jonathan on the train, but got no response. Judy and I were both exhausted after well more than 24 hours awake, so we walked the relatively short distance from the Innsbruck Hauptbahnhoff (main train station) to our apartment.  We'd actually intended to just find a restaurant to park at until 3:00, but were surprised at how close the apartment was.  On a chance, we went in and found the door open, so we dropped our bags and were about to walk out when a very surprised Jonathan walked in.  The place wasn't ready for us and he was coming to clean up, but we told him we didn't care and so he said, "help yourself to whatever you want," wished us well, and left. We said "thanks, and proceeded to crash and sleep until 6:30.

I don't think of Austria (or pretty much anywhere in Europe) as very religious, but they do like holidays, and they do celebrate Pentecost... which, it turns out, was this weekend and along with Monday is a state holiday.  Basically, everything but a couple of tourist places were closed.  When we got up, we went to the Stiftskeller for a dinner of Wienerschnitzel (fried, breaded veal) and beer (Jim) or wine (Judy).  We visited this place when we were here 5 years ago: the food is good, and they sell Augustiner beer from Munich (excellent) as well as local beer (meh - sorry, Austria is awesome, but not because of their beer).   We walked around awhile, then back to the room and a good night's sleep.

Monday was supposed to be torrential downpours.  Instead, it was pretty glorious.  We rose late, had some lunch (again, Stiftskeller - the open place), and walked all over old Innsbruck.  The clouds lifted, revealing the amazing mountains and bringing the temperature up to the low 70s.

Judy along the Inn river - great view of the Alps behind

I had planned to spend the day grading, but it was just too nice.  We walked along the river (above), then back to the old town.  There's a famous building called the Goldenes Dachl ("court with the golden roof").  According to the signage, it was the 15th century residence or Duke Friedrich IV "with the empty pockets" and Sigmund "the rich in coins."  You can fill in the blanks.  The oriel window and fire-gilded copper tiles were added by Emperor Maximilian I in honor of his marriage to Bianca Maria Sforza of Milan.  If you are familiar with Leonard da Vinci's story, the Sforza family was one of his patrons - his many military-related innovations were for the Sforzas.

The Goldenes Dachl

Coming back to Innsbruck is like revisiting a friendship forged by a brief but intense time together. I think both Judy and I were a little surprised by how quickly we recognized where we were and fell into a comfortable and decidedly enjoyable cadence with what is a wonderful city.  I could live here.  Not sure I could afford to, but I could live here.  And I'd probably be a lot healthier.  You don't see a lot of out-of-shape people in Innsbruck.  It's a little embarrassing.

By now, it was pretty late.  We picked up some supplies from the Spar store, then back to our room.  And I finally started grading.  Gave it up at 10:30 - need to be to Management Centre Innsbruck by 8:00AM!