Initial Adventures into Austria

On Friday morning, Chet and I hopped on a plane and headed for our long anticipated trip to Europe. Not only was it a celebration of finishing grad school and my exam, it is our way of getting in a few more adventures prior to starting a new job and, some day down the road, starting a family. The flight left Seattle at 8:30am and arrived in Munich at 8:30am. The time different made us basically lose a day! We have been doing okay at adjusting to the difference in time zone, though we just are not moving as quickly as we usually do. I suppose that it doesn't help that both of us were short on sleep from lots of work and studying prior to leaving so we are also catching up on sleep in addition to the jet lag.

For our trip into Austria, we decided to rent a car. After arriving, we picked up a cute little Mercedes-Benz A class that appears brand new but is pretty gutless. Chet has been doing a marvelous job driving through the narrow streets and windy alpine roads. People here definitely drive fast and have no problem passing if you are going anywhere near the speed limit. We have managed to not get too lost either... though we do have a fair bit of the trip left so we'll see if that continues. The road signs are different and we are constantly looking at the guidebook to make sure we are following the directions correctly.

On our way to Austria, we stopped in a small town called Andechs to visit the monastery there. We had heard they have hearty food and good beer. It was quite a popular place on a Saturday afternoon... lots of families, groups of couples and all were chatting, eating and drinking.

Here is a picture of the monastery church. Very, very ornate inside. Many of the churches we have seen are quite Baroque appearing with tons of paintings, gilded decorations and lots of detail work.

This a picture of the town of Andechs from the monastery, which is up on the hill. I just adore the cute houses which are mostly white with red roofs. The streets are narrow and often with stonework and green rolling hills extended wherever you look.

Okay... so our first ordering experience in German was a bit interesting. There was a long line behind us and we weren't sure if we should try to order in horrible German or see if the servers spoke English. Chet wanted to try a certain piece of meat (a pork knuckle) and I was under the impression that we would just get a chunk of it. Nope! We got the hug pork knuckle you see under the pretzel and then, because we were flustered, we accepted potato salad and a pretzel! Needless to say, we had a ton of food and didn't need to eat much the rest of the day. I was somewhat in shock that I was eating a pork knuckle. Chet was in meat heaven. It was quite the way to start the trip!

We made our way through southern Germany and across the border. We had to buy a Vingette, which is basically a sticker for the car to show you paid for using the roads. The road through the northern Alps was beautiful, though by this time we were both exhausted! The most amazing part starting our way down into the valley where Innsbruck is... all of a sudden, you are going down a steep, winding road with the whole valley laid out below. Pretty impressive! Unfortunately, we did not get pictures. We just made it to our hotel, which is in one of the small towns up the valley from Innsbruck (with a strong farming background... we had to wait for sheep being herded down the main road), and then we crashed for a much needed nap. The small studio apartment we have has a balcony (with birds constantly chirping outside), a small kitchenette, couch and other normal amenities. It wouldn't work very well without a car but it is a great, relaxing place to have to explore the area.

Today, Sunday, we explored Innsbruck. A few things we have learned are that "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" is one of our favorite phrases, there are no grocery stores open anywhere in this area on a Sunday, and this area is absolutely beautiful! We are certainly enjoying our adventure.

We ate breakfast at the above cafe in the middle of the old town area of Innsbruck. Thank goodness for the nice waitress who explained the menu to us. They had lovely bread, marmalade, Nutella and coffee.

We walked up to the ski jump used for the Olympics when they were in Innsbruck in the 60s and 70s. Though we didn't take the funicular to the top of the ski jump, we did enjoy the view of the city. We hope to take a gondola ride up the mountains at our back later in the week and do some hiking.

Another view of Innsbruck... thinking pastel painted old buildings surrounded by beautiful mountains.

A few things I've noted about the people here so far... most people are moderate in size, not like the many overweight Americans. Everywhere we looked there were people nordic walking, biking, running or just out with their kids for a stroll around town. Also, speaking of kids, children are the same everywhere with their amazing curiosity and adorable high voices. Small children riding very small bicycles around the city streets pretty much made my day. Lastly, the pace of life is a bit slower. Very few stores (and virtually no grocery stores) are open on Sunday and there wasn't a sense of rushing.

Anyways, on to Salzburg tomorrow for more exploring. We now have access to the internet while we are at this hotel so we should be able to continue to write updates about our trip.

Much love, Brianne