On Sunday afternoon, Hannah, Mark, and I went to the Munich train station. There we bid Hannah good-bye (see you soon!), and she boarded a train to Amberg. Mark and I then caught a train a few minutes later to Innsbruck, Austria. Upon arriving in Innsbruck, we caught another train to Hall, a quaint village nearby, where we were staying for the night.
Here is our hotel in Hall, the Gartenhotel Maria Theresia. It was lovely, and we were treated like Tyrolean gentry. They even had a small zoo in the back gardens, complete with monkeys, parrots, goats, and ponies.
Of all the things I expected to see in Austria, a monkey wasn't on the list...
Another funny thing about this place was that across the street from the hotel, there were chickens. Their "coop" was a converted travel trailer, and sure enough, in the evening, all the chickens went dutifully into the trailer to roost, or whatever chickens do at night.
Monday morning, we thought it would be fun to go up into the Alps themselves. We took a tram from the base (near the river in the map above), and the tram took us up a short way. From there, we took a gondola all the way to the top (upper end of the black line on the map). Very fun and such a breathtaking view from the peak.
Here's the view of the city of Innsbruck when we were about halfway to the top.
The city of Innsbruck from the top - it was seriously like the view from an airplane!
Once we got off the gondola, we hiked up a bit further, being very careful to obey the signs - it seemed like it would be far too easy to fall all the way down! There were skiers and snowboarders a-plenty, and other crazy tourists as well.
Here I am at the top of the gondola ride. It was very cold, and the snow was deep.
And here's Mark! We had to keep our backpacks with us all day that day, as we had nowhere handy to check them.
Once we got back down the mountain, we looked back to see where we had been. If you look carefully, you can see the building that serves as the end point at the top of the gondola ride. It's along the ridge line just right of the center of the picture. Hooray - we are alpine climbers!
Here is our hotel in Hall, the Gartenhotel Maria Theresia. It was lovely, and we were treated like Tyrolean gentry. They even had a small zoo in the back gardens, complete with monkeys, parrots, goats, and ponies.
Of all the things I expected to see in Austria, a monkey wasn't on the list...
Another funny thing about this place was that across the street from the hotel, there were chickens. Their "coop" was a converted travel trailer, and sure enough, in the evening, all the chickens went dutifully into the trailer to roost, or whatever chickens do at night.
Monday morning, we thought it would be fun to go up into the Alps themselves. We took a tram from the base (near the river in the map above), and the tram took us up a short way. From there, we took a gondola all the way to the top (upper end of the black line on the map). Very fun and such a breathtaking view from the peak.
Here's the view of the city of Innsbruck when we were about halfway to the top.
The city of Innsbruck from the top - it was seriously like the view from an airplane!
Once we got off the gondola, we hiked up a bit further, being very careful to obey the signs - it seemed like it would be far too easy to fall all the way down! There were skiers and snowboarders a-plenty, and other crazy tourists as well.
Here I am at the top of the gondola ride. It was very cold, and the snow was deep.
And here's Mark! We had to keep our backpacks with us all day that day, as we had nowhere handy to check them.
Once we got back down the mountain, we looked back to see where we had been. If you look carefully, you can see the building that serves as the end point at the top of the gondola ride. It's along the ridge line just right of the center of the picture. Hooray - we are alpine climbers!
3 comments:
I can't believe you guys went up in the Alps! I am so jealous. Those are awesome pictures! Dad - are you gonna get a trailer for some chickens soon?
You resemble Aflie from A Christmas Story in your snow get up. I'm jealous of your trip!
Looks fabulous...
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