Innsbruck, Austria can be summed up in one word: Mountains. Located in the heart of a little mountain range called the Alps. (You may have heard of them.) It has sort of a Park City vibe but is a bit larger with 10, or, I don’t know, maybe 50 times the skiing available. It’s not a cheap city which is why we only spent 3 nights here. But if you’re a mountain person, I insist you visit. No really, it’s mandatory – you will be blown away. Our only regret is that we weren’t here over Christmas because I hear it’s spectacular.
The primary reason we came to Innsbruck was to visit Mike’s college friend Mark Cox. It had been 25 years since they’d seen each other but nothing has really changed – other than Mark being fluent in German, Mike is a father of 3 and both of them having amazing wives. It was great to see Mark and his wife Kathrin. They had us over for dinner our first night which gave us a chance to catch up and reminisce about old times.
The next day we took a cable car up the side of the mountain with Mark. We did a brief hike about 3/4 of the way up. It was so nice to be in the mountains. After 3 mos of travel, we’ve mostly been in cities and have had limited exposure to nature. We rested at the restaurant located on the mountainside and had a snack. As we were virtually attacked by crows interested in our fries, Jett yelled: “Use the knife! Use the knife.” Hilarious. At the top, the view was mind blowing. You could see forever no matter what direction you looked. There was a decent amount of snow for the kids to play in and it was crazy windy. But at least we had sun, which has been in high demand during most of our trip.
After the mountain, we found a cafe to relax in then did some exploring around town. It was Halloween which isn’t celebrated as heavily here. But we did find a costume shop and decided to buy some vampire teeth for each of us. Cheap costumes. Then we met Mark and Kathrin at a local restaurant serving traditional Austrian food. We enjoyed fresh bier, dumplings and everyone’s favorite, schnitzel. Good company + Good food.
Sunday we met Mark, Kathrin and their sweet dalmatian Mara at the base of the mountain on the opposite side of town. We did a nice hike up a paved road stopping once to help push a disabled man in what may be the skinniest car in the world. We stopped at a cafe and enjoyed coffee and dessert before heading back down. At the bottom, we hiked into a amazing forest with a mossy carpeted floor. While hiking Kathrin had wifi so she helped us reserve tickets for our train to Venice the following day. The trail kicked us out at a cool park where the kids had a chance to run, swing, teeter-totter etc. Those guys headed home while we played a bit.
We spent our final evening at a tiny Italian restaurant enjoying pizza, pasta, salad and wine. It was a nice teaser for the next several weeks. Later Mike and Mark grabbed a Guinness at a local Irish Pub to catch up one last time. And in the morning we caught the train to Venice. It’s a spectacular train ride south from Innsbruck through the mountains. At times I thought we were on I-70 heading through the Rockies.
Although a brief stay, it was incredibly memorable and definitely a highlight thus far. On to Venice.
Stivers Tribe 