04-07 "Vertigo, snow and funiculars"

04-07
"Vertigo, snow and funiculars"
Location: Innsbruck, Austria.
Travel Time: Approx 2 hours from Munich.
Weather: Overcast, 17-22c

Left Munich approx 0930 Today we ventured across the border to Austria. The train ride toInnsbruck is an eye candy delight. As you pass between the Alps onboth sides you get to gaze at snow top covered peaks and small villagetowns nestled within the mountainside.

Go when the weather's good to get a good view of everything. We hadan overcast day which limited visibility, yet still provided a niceglimpse of the mountainscape.
After arriving at the Innsbruck station, (tourist office within, whosestaff were friendly and picked our accent), we grabbed a city map andheaded west about 800m, then North to reach the city square. Onceagain you're treated to a yesteryear village centre, brightly colouredbuildings. Interesting to just wander through the streets for a while.We unfortunatly ran into the worst thing you could ever find on yourholiday.... Groups of American tourists, vocally loud, slightlyignorant of the surroundings and just plain annoying (Im sure I'vestereotyped too broadly here, but these folks were definatlyannoying).
Located in the town square is the Statturn, E2.50 entry fee allows youto climb its 187 odd steps to the top for a breathtaking 360 panoramaview of the cityscape with snow capped mountainness backgroud. Wow!(Oh but then you get an American climbing up the tower soon after,reaching the top...First thing he decides to do is Yell, then wolfwhistle to his wife and daughter down the bottom to (possibly?)announce that he had reached the top!.. Yay for him! real ambientmoment that!)

From the town square we headed N, NW along the river for approx 1.5kmto the Hungerburgbahn Vernicular/Cable Car, (cost Euro 21). The ridetakes you up approx 2800m via 3 separate cable rides. Each stop isspaced well to allow you to travel to the top within 1 hour or less(each ride taking less than a few minutes). Reaching 2/3 way markthere was still snow on the ground and people skiing/snowboardingaround us. You get a magnificent view of the city from this viewpointas well as several moments of vertigo standing close to a foot highwall looking almost 1500m straight down a snow covered slope! (Unfortunatly we had a bit of cloud cover which limited visibility).Heading further up the cliff to the final of 3 stops we were greatedwith even more specatular views of the mountain and lower township. Views from here were simplying amazing.

Finishing up, we had about an hour to burn, which was spent wanderingthe touristy shops back in the square, before catching the 18.30 trainback to Munich