We got a good night sleep, and therefore started the day a little late, with breakfast happening at 8:30am.
Unlike our Vienna breakfasts, here we had eggs. The food also seemed fresher, and the weather was cooler.
Now we had two choices. Catch the bus to Innsbruck(about 5-6kms away) roam city center, and catch the bus back. Total cost would be approx 8$+ whatever local pass we take inside the city.
However, innsbruck has the concept of park and ride. You pay 8$ for parking and then this ticket also acts as a day pass for the bus ride!
So this option was chosen, and finally by 10am we were out on the open road.
The village of Sistrans is actually on a hill overlooking the city, so its cooler, and gives you views which can be called quite nice.
A picture of the car park. You can see it towards the left of the frame
Now everything was not very smooth you see. ZaNavi did not have "street" level addresses and Innsbruck, though a small city, was not that small. So we went around in circles quite a bit, parked in a few "Restricted Parkings" till locals explained to us what to look for.
Anyhow, we located Olympia world, and car was parked.
Time to catch the local bus to the city center.
This was a simple affair. We asked the first bus which came about city center, and the driver told us the bus number.
Actually, come to think of it, German or no German, its very difficult to get lost in Innsbruck or even Vienna. Locals are extremely helpful, and will often go out of the way.
Anyways, the bus dropped us to the city center, and so began our walking tour of "see whatevers free" thingy.
First thing to see was the Heroes arch. This marks the beginning of historical center of Innsbruck
This is a horse cart, which has stopped on a red light. The driver has gotten down, to pick up excreta. See, if your horse poops, you cannot just let the poop be on the road. You have to stop and pick it up.
Anyways, as we walk towards the city "center", which is very near, since innsbruck is truly tiny w.r.t Wein, the buildings start getting older. Architecture is similar to Vienna, but there are subtle differences. For example, there is use of color here, which was missing in Vienna
Another Innsbruck attraction, the Trams
The Innsbruck city has a tram museum, so if Trams are you thing do go there. They are not our thing, I am not sure whether its free or not.
A similar building in Wein would be cream colored, with a blue dome, but this city has more color
A view of the town center
The pink church of innsbruck. Its actually rated as one of the best "unknown" attractions of Innsbruck. The pink church is pink in color. What did you expect, blue colored pink church?
Though their number is smaller than what you get in Vienna, street performers can be seen in Vienna too!
However, not too many people are singing here. Mostly its the statue kind. The people above were depicting polish refugees(Or was it Hungarian ones...?).
And this is another major attraction of Innsbruck... Not the grey lady who is a girl dressed up like a statue, but the Golden roof. I did not really find it much of an attraction. Innsbruck, though colorful and quaint, feels like a village version of Vienna. There is nothing much to see in the city as such, but the views.... They are truly wonderful. As far as location is concerned, Innsbruck is an ideal place to make as a base for your excursions.
We roamed around some, looking for ice cream, and then found something else to spend money on. There is a city tower in Innsbruck, where you climb some godforsaken number of steps to get to the top. From there you see the city. But to climb up, you need to pay 3 EU!
So it was decided, I would take the cam and go up the tower, click the 360 view of the city, and then bore you guys with the view in the next post..