22 MAR 2014 - The first day of our spring break. And ironically the first leg of our trip would be to escape the spring and seek out the winter that we've missed all this year. (But I hear people back home haven't missed out on winter.) We took a regional train five minutes to Stazione Firenze Campo di Marte. Then we took this lovely Frecciargento north to Verona, where we would make a switch to the train to Innsbruck.
We had an hour or two to kill in Verona before our next train left, so we wondered and found a park. Forrest climbed a tree.
And I took pretty pictures of moss growing on old stone bricks.
And climbed ruins.
The train ride followed the same pass our bus did last time we went to Austria. But this time it was the daytime, and we could see up to the mountains. It was incredible. One thing I didn't document photographically, but is worth mentioning, is the language and architecture transition. For the most part, the landscape looked like it does above, but at some point the building typology changed from typical Italian, to a typical Austrian one... The language transitions were also quite interesting. Keep in mind this is all the same train. At first, announcements would be in Italian then English. TRANSITION Italian, German. TRANSITION German, Italian. TRANSITION German, English. INNSBRUCK
WE'RE BACK! And this time fog and clouds didn't completely cover up the mountain!
I took a picture of this last time, but will post it again, just for humor. Golden roof, Golden arches. Goldenes Dachl.
TRAVEL GROUP. All through spring break, I would be traveling with Aaron and Forrest, but Lizz and Rachel coincidentally had their spring break take them to Innsbruck too, until they would catch another train elsewhere. But they got to hang out with us for a bit. Since Forrest and I have already visited the city, we got to give a quick tour of the place.
Incredible mountain view. This did not exist last time we were in Innsbruck.
Lighting!
After Lizz and Rachel left, we hiked up to check in at our hotel. We had a good view.
And since we still had a nice chunk of daylight left, we decided to try to hike up the mountain. We decided that we were too cool for the wining trails, and we decided to try and climb straight up the face of the mountain. It was a fantastic time.
And we found this door to something or other. And of course, Forrest climbed it. Aaron and I went around.
Eventually we made it up to the next town. (last time we took the funicular up there. This time we hiked.) This was a statue of some someone pouring water. It was the top of a water fountain that was supplied from the mountains. I tried it. it was the BEST WATER I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE. So cold. So fresh. Simply the best.
Forrest found the log he climbed last time.
Forrest. The one with trees, not the person.
We got to climb higher than we did last time too.
Epic awesome group photo.
And thank goodness for the funicular system and Zaha Hadid We ran out of daylight.
Hiking all the way back down there would have been pretty iffy in the dark.
ZAHA IN THE DUSK!
Innsbruck!
And that evening we decided to find some good Austrian food, but we started with Austrian beer. It was fairly cheap and was pretty good.
23 MARCH 2014 - Pension Paula, our hotel. This day our one goal was to go into the mountains, and partake in the winter sports that Innsbruck is so famous for. We walked down into town to catch a bus to Axamer Lizum. Now in this photo it appears to be raining, but slightly higher up, about a foot of fresh snow fell overnight, and would continue through the day. Our bus stopped halfway to the place to put on snow chains. And for good reason. It was snow that would have cancelled school in PA for a week. And we were winding our way up the narrow mountain road. When we got to the top, Forrest and Aaron rented snowboard gear, went on their way. I rented ski gear and signed up for lessons. Overall it went very well. And by the end of the session I was able to make my way down the hill with only minimal lapses of control. I only fell a couple times. And I can officially say I learned how to ski in the alps.
However after two hours My legs were feeling pretty sore. The ski boots lock your feet in a forward position. And since it wasn't what I was used to, I took a break in here. And it got worse. To the point where I tragically decided I was done for the day. It took me a half an hour to get my boots off. And once I was finally able to contract the muscles in my lower back part of my leg, they didn't want to stretch again. There was free wifi and I did some ipod research as to if this is a normal problem. I couldn't find anything specific enough, but was slightly concerned.
After awhile I decided to make use of my lift pass and hobbled awkwardly toward the incline (Or whatever that rail car that takes you to the top is called.) I just wanted to see what it was Aaron and Forrest were up to. And this was it.
I'm sure on a clear day the view would be fantastic, but today, it was a white abyss. And that is what my friends were snowboarding into. They are insane, haha!
This is the mountaintop lodge (Is that what it is called? Hehe) Well actually, it is the rebel fortress on the planet Hoth.
I painfully limped back inside. It was pretty cool.
They even had some green! And that wood curved roof is pretty awesome.
And the lifts disappear into the white down below.
I struggled to get back to the car, but once I was there, I really enjoyed the ride down.
The snow let up just a little bit, and I was able to see something other than white.
So much snow. Amazing that this thing can even operate in these conditions. (Which for winter sports were quite good.)
Back at the bottom, I waited for Aaron and Forrest to arrive back from their downhill run.
AARON!!
FORREST
24 MARCH 2014 - I was somehow able to pitifully make my way back up the hill to the hotel. The next morning was better, but I was not able to move my one foot too much without pain in the lower back part of my leg. So I adapted an acceptable means of walking while avoiding that. Even though it probably looked very awkward.
The walk to downtown from the hotel was stunning that morning.
It was probably a really bad idea, but I followed Aaron and Forrest up to the top of the city tower. Here we could enjoy some awesome views. (looking toward Dom du St.Jakob)
Olympic ski jump.
On the inside of the tower was alot of graffiti. Looks like some yinzer was here once.
There was a boat outside the cathedral.
I didn't see the inside too well last time we were there, but here it is. It was elaborate, quite a feat of detail.
False perspective in the mini dome.
That afternoon, we would take that Transavia jet to our next destination.
Pretty cool view past the wing. Ya see that plane coming in for a landing in the distance?
The takeoff view was pretty spectacular, if I must say so.
See ya Austria, onward to AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS!
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