Sheila and I woke up before our roomies. We had breakfast at the hostel. For a youth hostel, the average age appeared to be far above the college crowd. There was a family there with kids and the two of us, and a few scattered individuals. After eating, we went back to our rooms to strip our beds and put our sheets in the laundry hamper before checking out.
The hostel was near the Renon cable car that took us up the nearby mountain. As we rode up, we could see the famous rock formations in this part of the Dolomite mountains. At a distance, they look like inverted waffle ice cream cones rising from the ground. If it had been a cartoon it could have been a stop on a Candyland game board. Actually, they are the product of the erosion of glacial moraines. At the top of the mountain, we could have taken another train to a nearby mountain town and hiked in the snow, but we were short on time. Instead, we walked around near the cable car stop. We spotted a group of older tourists (yes – older than 50!) and followed them a while thinking they might know a short cut to see the rock formations up close. Instead they stopped for the longest time in front of this rather nondescript house and we got tired of waiting and headed back. We read later that the house was where Sigmund Freud and his wife stayed on their silver wedding anniversary. Sheila still thinks riding up the side of a mountain and walking twenty minutes to stand for long periods of time looking at a house where Freud once vacationed merits psychoanalysis.
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| The Renon Cable Car in Bolzano, Italy |
The hostel was near the Renon cable car that took us up the nearby mountain. As we rode up, we could see the famous rock formations in this part of the Dolomite mountains. At a distance, they look like inverted waffle ice cream cones rising from the ground. If it had been a cartoon it could have been a stop on a Candyland game board. Actually, they are the product of the erosion of glacial moraines. At the top of the mountain, we could have taken another train to a nearby mountain town and hiked in the snow, but we were short on time. Instead, we walked around near the cable car stop. We spotted a group of older tourists (yes – older than 50!) and followed them a while thinking they might know a short cut to see the rock formations up close. Instead they stopped for the longest time in front of this rather nondescript house and we got tired of waiting and headed back. We read later that the house was where Sigmund Freud and his wife stayed on their silver wedding anniversary. Sheila still thinks riding up the side of a mountain and walking twenty minutes to stand for long periods of time looking at a house where Freud once vacationed merits psychoanalysis.
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| View from the little town above Bolzano, Italy |
Back down the mountain, we walked across town to the South Tyrol Archaeological Museum featuring “Otzi,” the more than 5,000 year old man found in almost perfectly preserved condition in a glacier. The mummy was in such great shape that you could see no bones, but rather fingers and toes, etc. – too bizarre. The tools found with him caused scientists to move the start of the copper age in the Alps back another 1000 years. We didn’t have a lot of time to spend in the museum, but it was definitely worth a longer visit. Sheila was fascinated by the computerized table that displays ex-rays and other medical imagery of Otzi, but alas we didn’t have time to wait our turn to play with it.
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| Bolzano, Italy |
After the museum, we walked along the river and then back to the train station and caught a 12:30 p.m. train to Innsbruck. Once again, the mountain views along the train ride were stunning. There were many quaint little towns with churches along the way. Connie sat with her nose practically pressed against the train window the entire trip.
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| Bolzano, Italy |
We arrived in Innsbruck at about 2:30 and walked to old town. Innsbruck was beautiful. At every angle, you could see the snow covered Alps rising up behind the buildings. It was like stepping into a screen saver. This was also a shopping Mecca. We enjoyed going in and out of all the little shops and taking photos of all the old buildings and the square, including the “Golden Roof” built in 1500.
We enjoyed soup and bread at a little restaurant in old town. Yes, Sheila had goulash soup again. Once the shops began to close, we headed back to the station and grabbed the train back to Munich. In Munich we grabbed Pringles and cheese at the grocery store in the station to eat as a snack in our room back at Hotel Monaco.
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| Innsbruck, Austria |
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| Innsbruck, Austria |
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