A friend and I took a trip to Innsbruck a few days ago. We had a day off and decided to get out of town and see something. Innsbruck, Austria is about an hour and a half away by train. The train goes straight into the alps and plops you down in an awesome town. I didn't really know what to expect from the city. I knew that Swarovski Crystal was headquartered there but that wasn't very interesting to me. I checked out a few books on the area from the library and we read them on the train (when we could peel our eyes away from the amazing views out the train window... seriously, it was INSANELY beautiful!). I figured out that there was an "Innsbruck Card" available for 30 euro that gives you unlimited access to their train and bus system as well as admission to all museums and touristy sites in town. This ended up being the key to a very successful trip to Innsbruck.
Since we had the card, we took the cable car up to the summit of Nordkette mountain, we saw The Hofburg (the Emperial Palace), the Golden Roof (which didn't seem too impressive but they see it as the key tourist attraction in their city?) and a few other sites in our 8 or so hours in town. Here's some photographic evidence of our awesome day:
Better late than never - Here are some pictures and such from the Ski Jump competition I went to on New Years Day. It was so much fun and definitely a new experience! They jump from such great heights - it's really remarkable! At one point, when the competition was put on hold for about an hour due to wind, everyone started dancing. It was group dance songs (think German style Macarena, chicken dance...). At one point I was in a conga line with more than 20,000 people. It was pretty entertaining!
I'm always hoping for an awesome New Year celebration. However, usually the evening comes up short. Tonight, however, exceeded my expectations! I anticipated being bored by the festivities but, the Germans really know how to throw a party! I'm generally annoyed by DJ's of all forms and performers who attempt to interact with the crowd (Shhh... just sing, that's what we paid for. You're not-so-witty comments are just that, not so witty!) However, the Germans had a lot of entertainment! They had a band, a DJ, a light show and a fireworks display but the most important factor is that they kept you on your toes. It's totally acceptable here to shoot fireworks at people. Not just your friends but anyone. So, if you're walking down the street toward the main event/party and an 8 year old shoots a bottle rocket at you... that's totally normal. All night I was very aware of my surroundings because people were shooting things at me and I was scared! A. I didn't want to loose an eye. B. I don't want a hole burned in any of my clothing, C. I was really hoping these kids had some sort of supervision! It didn't seem like they did though! I wonder how many injuries there were last night?
Above is a video I recorded for your viewing pleasure! Happy New Year!! Please enjoy a German New Year vicariously through my iPhone camera!
