Day 5 : Awesome Austria

Today I went to quite a few places in Innsbruck. Austria is my favorite country in the whole world. I don’t know why, but I like Austria very much. The first place I went was to the Goldenes Dachl or “The Golden Roof” in Innsbruck’s Old Town. I decided to walk to that place as it was just 15 minutes walk from my hotel. I felt very cold that morning as I just had a pullover. So on the way I went to a Hilfiger showroom and bought a Hilfiger jacket. After visiting the Golden Roof, I went to Maria-Theresien Street to see St Anne´s Column. It was a busy Monday morning. There was lot of crowd in the street.

Then I went to Swarovski showroom at the same place and took lots of pictures. Everyone loved the crystal snake at the entrance. I have posted a picture of it. It was fascinating. The diamond dress was awesome too.

Then I went to the near by tourism office to get the directions to get to kristallwelten, a special exhibition from Swarovski. It’s located in Wattens, about 15 km from Innsbruck. I took a bus to Wattens. Oh…. The Swarovski factory and this exhibition Kristallwelten is located in such a beautiful place that it’s so tough to describe it in words. I am posting some pictures of it. The kristallwelten itself is an amazing piece of work. Right from the entrance to all the displays inside, everything is classy. I spent almost 3 hours at the exhibition and took lots of pictures. It was worth every minute.

Then it was getting dark. So I decided to hurry to get back to Innsbruck to see The Bergisel Ski Jump before it gets too dark. This was my last day of sightseeing. The next day I had plans to start early morning to drive to Munich to drop my car at the drop-off center.

By the time I got to The Bergisel Ski Jump it was little bit dark. Nevertheless I decided to get to the top of the Jump tower and check out the beauty of Innsbruck. I did go to the roof to get a panorama view of the city. It was beautiful. As it was little dark, lights were on in the city. It looked as if the city was decorated with Swarovski crystals. Haha. The tower also has a restaurant. I decided to check it out. But they were closed for food even thought it was only 1800 in the evening. So I just had vodka to warm myself. As shops too close very early there, I had nothing much to do, so I decided to get some good sleep and went to my hotel and called it a day.

My hotel at Innsbruck, Austria

Christmas tree at Innsbruck

A view from Innsbruck

A shop in Old Town

Crystal Snake at Swarovski Showroom in Old Town

Swarovski parrot in Old Town

Diamond dress - Swarowski Showroom

Inn river

Swarovski factory at Wattens

Kristallwelten - Swarovski Exhibition at wattens



















From The Bergisel Ski Jump Tower

Day 4 : Crossing 100 mph

Today my friends Rajesh, Jennifer and I went to the same Duomo Cathedral. It looked magnificent in day light. The architecture of the church was amazing. We went to the roof top of the church and took some pictures. Then we came down and went inside the church. It was not very crowded inside. But the place looks magnificent.

Then we did some shopping at La Rinascente, the most famous and exclusive store in Milan and I decided to call it a day early as I had to drive back to Innsbruck, Austria that evening.

I had some Italian cake, 'Panettone' which my friend Jennifer told is only made during Christmas time. Then I filled the gas tank with the help of my friend who knows Italian and said goodbye to them and started my journey to Innsbruck.

I always liked driving in the night, that too when I have some good music CDs, Iam all set to drive for a full night too. When I tried to enter the destination, Innsbruck hotel address into my navigation computer I did not find the country Austria. I thought that this navigation doesn’t include Austria and so I just decided to drive to Innsbruck by following signs and when I get there I decided to call the hotel and get the directions. So I started to drive through the same Italian highway to Innsbruck.

It was fun driving in the night, The good thing is as everyone is driving fast in Italy, consistently almost always above 95mph I felt pretty good to. Thank God, the traffic was free. All the slow moving vehicles, and trucks religiously stuck to the right lane and left the fast flying cars alone on the left lane.

Since I had nearly some 500 miles on my car I decided to cross the 100mph barrier. So I did :) I managed to take some pictures of the speedometer reading while driving.

After 4 hours of driving I reached Innsbruck. I stopped at a gas station to get the directions. And when I looked at my navigation monitor I saw the place Österreich. Then it stuck me suddenly that I remembered seeing this name in the list of countries in the navigation. Then I went back to the main screen and saw the list of countries and selected Österreich. Then I went to the cities list and I saw Innsbruck. So was the street name. Hah. There we go. I realized. Austria is called Österreich in Austrian/German. So with the help of navigation I again reached my hotel.

It was around 10pm when I checked in my hotel and I knew I have a long day ahead the next day. So I took a quick shower and went to bed early.

The Duomo Cathedral


One more view of the magnificient Duomo Cathedral


Roof of the Duomo Cathedral


YAY. Crossing 100 mph


Way to Innsbruck, Austria