Innsbruck to Garmisch

We were happy when we awoke on Thursday (1/30) to a Bluebird Day, sunny and relatively warm, in Innsbruck. It was evident that the mountains got a lot of snow (Garmisch got 26 inches) the past 2 days, which will be good for us! Most of the snow that fell in Innsbruck had already melted.

Our hotel room was not our favorite; it was nicely updated in earth tones, but it was too small, and we had difficulty regulating the temperature in the room. The result was that neither of us slept very well. When I mentioned our difficulties to the receptionist at check-out, she said only Americans complain of such things! Brock suggests this explains the significant decline in the value of European currency.

We did find the city of Innsbruck charming. We packed up and checked out, but before we left, we took a long walk around the city and captured these images:

As you can see, it's really a stunning city, with the snow-capped mountains as a back-drop. It even has its own Arc d'Triomphe! Here is the view from one side:

And here is the view from the other side:

There were plenty of interesting statues along the way:

We made it to the City Tower, which involved climbing 133 steps up and down! Here are some views from the top of the tower:

The City Tower was constructed between 1442 and 1450. In the middle ages, the lower part of the tower served as a prison. A sentry was assigned to watch over the city night and day. His duties were to announce the hours of the day and to warn the townspeople of fire and other dangers. The last sentry, a woman, served until 1967!

In 1468 a fire and alarm system was installed to protect the people of Innsbruck. The location of danger could be identified by the number of bell strikes!

The staircase allows for separate pathways coming up and going down:

Here are a few views of the tower from outside (note the bars on the windows on the lower 2 floors):

It was time for us to leave this enchanting city! We had only an hour drive to our next destination, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. We'll be staying there for five days and nights. We are staying at the Hotel Zugspitze, where we have a spacious junior suite that we just love! Here are a few shots of the room and the view from our balcony:

We are within a short walk of a great pedestrian area of shops, lodges, and restaurants, and I have already made a German friend:

We will be a short bus ride away from good skiing at the Zugspitze ski area, so we look forward to our first ski day there tomorrow.

As a parting word, here is a shot I snapped from the hallway of the Hotel Innsbruck before I left. You may wish to zoom in to see what is written on each plate:

Our ski clothes are laid out, our legs rested, and our hearts ready to return to the mountains.

Farewell until tomorrow!