Onto austria, namely Innsbruck!

Swiss Alps continue to follow, surround and intrigue me. Interlarken first and now Innsbruck and all the 4 hour train trip here! Not hard to see why looking at the maps at our 300 year old accommodation; hotel Gasthof Engl; our great dividing range is not a patch on these fellas!

Innsbruck has thrown everything it's got at Manda and I, hot sunny weather for a day, freezing cloudy weather the next (later clearing cloud revealed crisp new snow) and today rain and very low cloud (altitude here a mere 500m, hills within kooee 2500m+++).

vıew over Innsbruck frım Skı Jump

Did the equivalent of a Maori hungi experience here in Innsbruck less the food (as we are getting tight). The otherwise helpful man at the info centre told us the venue was walking distance from our accommodation, and I guess it was; considering this, Our next destination Salzburg could well be within walking distance! It took an hour to get there! Lucky I moved Manda out the door early!

Tradıtıonal tırol evenıng

The delightfully traditional Tirol highland folk did a bit of yodeling, dancing/jigging, played their local instruments and fed us up one free beer so we were suitably impressed. Nearly as impressive was the beer carrying waitress-30 pints on a tray above the shoulder no worries! Wow!

More of a concern was the so called Swarovski Crystal tour. Put simply we were fleeced. I've been on the lookout for people looking to scam us since the day we arrived but this time we were caught! The tour man in a bus picked us and some lovely Indian smelling folk up and took us 35 min out of Innsbruck and dropped us off at this elaborate joint bearing all the normal, and then some, features of a tourist destination. Once inside we learned that the bus wouldn't take us home for 2 hours! There was no informative talk on their crystal, no free sample (which we were promised) and a really overpriced showroom and cafe! What there was was unimaginable, indescribable and completely insane! The nest description I can give is to compare it to some kind of Willy Wanka experiment gone terribly wrong. I'd have sooner given my 20€ to the statue impressionist outside the information centre. Nonetheless another tick in a box on our checklist! Incase you're now wondering the bus did eventually come and get us and take us back to Innsbruck and no, nothing was purchased after we complete the 10 minute tour. You have now been warned!
Off to Salzburg today, still havent seen Lord of the Rings or the movie that was made there but assume I will before the tour....