Despite our initial pessimism about the weather for our journey to Innsbruck we were blessed with sunshine for most of the way. With spectacular views of the Swiss countryside with waterfalls and mountains passing by the windows we were very glad we decided to take the slightly slower train, it’s all about the journey! For most of the journey we had the 1st class carriage to ourselves so we were able to eat our yogurts and croissants with a view in glorious isolation. There was even a good coffee machine on the train, very civilised indeed.
We cannot help but marvel at the engineering skill and sheer manpower that it would have taken to build these train lines through the Alps and quite literally through mountains in some cases. Thank goodness for our trusty travel book, Europe by Rail, otherwise it would be easy to miss some of these amazing train lines.
Europe by Rail: The Definitive Guide: 17th edition https://amzn.eu/d/97NIRBD
We arrived in Innsbruck to sunshine which is always a bonus and made our way to our hotel for the next couple of nights. As it was sunny and the forecast for tomorrow was not great we headed straight out to see a few things and get something to eat.
Innsbruck is a fairly small city surrounded by mountains and the picturesque old town (Alt Stadt) is close to the river. As it was a sunny Sunday evening there were lots of people out enjoying the sunshine. We wandered for a bit before finding somewhere to eat. An Austrian staple is the Wiener schnitzel and we thought we should try it. It was just what we needed after a full day travelling.
The forecast for Monday (Labour Day holiday) was thundery showers so we left the hotel well prepared for a wet walk but were pleasantly surprised that the BBC weather forecast was wrong and despite a cool start it turned into a very pleasant warm day which made exploring Innsbruck much more pleasurable. The buildings in the old town are very pretty with lots of colour and gorgeous metal signs outside. After a delicious breakfast we spent the next few hours happily wandering.
Mark was also pleased to see a very peaceful and good natured Labour Day March and it was all I could do to stop him joining in. Too much watching Citizen Smith as a lad I suspect. We ending our wandering with a delicious ice cream before heading back to our hotel for a quick rest before heading out to a Greek restaurant for supper. When in Austria…
We awoke to rain this morning and the mountains were obscured by a veil of clouds. A wet walk to the station for our connection to Vienna. We had planned to catch the train with the observation carriage but given the weather the views were a little reduced but it was still a lovely way to travel although Tracey did fall asleep! There is something about the movement of a train apparently.
We have now been away for 4 weeks and in some ways it seems longer as we have been able to do and see so much. We haven’t fallen out yet so all is going well. Our list of places to visit is getting shorter now but we are determined to enjoy them just as much as we did in the beginning. We are resisting booking our Eurostar home at this stage as that feels to permanent.
Next stop Vienna!
No comments:
Post a Comment