Our little 2 star hotel turned out to be quite nice. Named the Goldener
Winkel, we never quite translated what it meant; golden slumbers? |
The view from our room was a spectacular view of the resort where they
held the skiing events in the '76 Olympics... |
Jane liked the flowers....
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Taking in the view over the river looking the other way from the hotel.... |
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Sometimes shopping experiences, of which there are many in Europe, are
somewhat predictable....
Other times they are rather strange.... |
 ...And
still other times you just won't believe what you find. Here, in downtown,
"oldtown" Innsbruck, we came across a store called the Drinks Company
[http://www.drinks-company.com] They seem to have brewed up perhaps 75
different aperitifs, brandies and or spirits! They were exceedingly
friendly and insisted on giving us samples of anything and everything.
After taste -testing
banana liquor, grappa, raspberry and peach schnapps we settled in on, are
you ready for this?, Absynth. Not the stuff they sell in America and most
places, but the real McCoy, the stuff with actual wormwood in it. You
know, as in "The Green Fairy" , Moulin Rouge and Van Gogh and all
those crazy artists and writers of last century.... |
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St Jacobs, converted from Gothic to Baroque between 1770 and 1724 house the tomb of Archduke Maximillan 3rd., a Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, He was way to uptight to let anyone but his closest friends call him Grand Master Maxi... |
Poignant series of paintings depicting the entire story of the crucifixion of Christ, from trial to cross.... |
Built by Friedrich the 4th in the 1420ies as the residence of Neuhuf.
Emperor Maximillan the 1st. added a loggia over an oriel window and
covered it with 2,738 fire-gilt copper tiles. Completed in 1500 and known
as the Goldenes Dachl [golden roof] |
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 The
train ride south out of Innsbruck took us first through the splendid
Brenner pass high in the Alps, then downward through the Dolomites. While
these pictures can't possibly show their real beauty and the dozen or so I
tried did an even worse job, they may give you a glimmer of how nice a
trip it's been.
The Alps were truly majestic and the dolomites were bold and raw. Valleys filled with grape and apple orchards swept up to beautiful peaks, often crowned with ancient forts and castles. Sounds great right? Well, there is another aspect of our trip and the views noted above that was rather disappointing. There was a near constant haze from shortly past the Brenner pass We are now in the flatlands south of Verona and it still hangs heavily in the air. While we didn't see the source, there is no doubt that it is pollution It's the first pollution we have seen on the trip, even Milano seemed clear skied... |
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