Over the mountains and through the woods....

These last two days have been full of wonderful views, roaming through the old city, and climbing up a mountain! Yesterday morning we went to the Court Church, which is where the tomb of Emperor Maximilian I was built, however he was never buried there because he died suddenly in another city.

Then we walked through the Folk Art Museum, which I found pretty boring and freaky, Ryan agrees. We weren't planning on going there, it was attached to the Court Church so we kind of just found ourselves in there. When we walked outside, we found that the weather had improved drastically and the sun was shining! We thought it was a perfect opportunity to go up the mountain because it was warm and we were wearing jeans and long sleeve shirts. We really didn't think it through because apparently the top of mountains are very cold and raining because they are in the clouds. We took threw separate cable cars that took us close to the top of a mountain. 

We realized we were really high up

As we were ascending, the weather got colder and it began to rain. Then it got so foggy we couldn't see anything outside of the cable car!

So foggy

After the last cable car, we walked the rest of the way to the peak of the mountain - we taped a little video as we walked up. It took a lot longer than we thought it would and we got tired pretty fast! Needless to say, the video is very shaky and kind of long, but you will get to see what it is like walking to the top of a mountain!

We walked up to Hafelekarspitze

At the peak of the mountain!

Who said Minnesotans are used to the cold?!

Today, we did took a sightseeing bus around the city that took us to a couple of places. Our first stop was Bergisel Skijumping Stadium, which was used in the  1953 and 1976 Winter Olympics. We were able to go to the top of the tower (50 m high) and see the great view of the city.

After, we went to a local castle, Schloss Ambras - It doesn't compare to the Neuschwanstein Castle or the Munich Residenz, but it was still fun to see some Austrian history. The castle contained a lot of pictures of the families as well as old armory. To finish off our long day, we did some last minute shopping! 

OK so some interesting things about Innsbruck, Austria:

- Breakfast consists of sausages, open face sandwiches, boiled eggs, and bread.

- All the stores here close around 6pm, and we found out that everything is closed on Sunday. A cashier in one of the souvenir stores told us that about two years ago, there was a big fight throughout the city because the town is very religious so many people thought there should be no working on Sunday. So now almost every store is closed on Sunday (although we aren't sure about restaurants, but we will find out tomorrow).

- There isn't much choices for beer, something Ryan was bummed about - but there is a schnapps store where you get free samples! See image to the left. 

- The locals are very friendly!

- Service however, sucks, as it did in Germany as well. If you go to a restaurant, you will wait about 10 min to get your order taken, they will bring your food, then when you are done eating you will wait another 10 - 15 to get your check. Tipping isn't as big here....

- The drinking age here is 18, versus Germany which is 16

Tomorrow, we check out at 11 and will leave our luggage in storage at the hotel because our train to Rome isn't until 11pm! (Because it is an overnight train) We are going to see the Swarovski Crystal World tomorrow and will roam around a local park. Possibly blog while sitting in the hotel lobby! Let us know if you have any questions about Innsbruck or Germany, we can try to answer! Thanks for reading!!