My roots. This is where my parents, and their ancestors, came from and where I remember living when I was a little girl. I wanted to show Bob this country so he could finally understand my obsession with mountains. I love hearing the church bells chiming the hour, and seeing the onion shaped clock towers in either gold guilding or copper verdigris! Very picturesque and familiar.
The city has grown remarkably since I was here last, but "die alte stat" or "the old city" is just how I remembered it. And it is by far the nicest, too.
We went exploring amid the old buildings, and took our favourite - the hop on-hop off bus - to see what Innsbruk had to offer. We were staying at "Di Goldene Krone" hotel (The Golden Crown) which was at the end of the famous "Maria Theresianstrasse," the Main Street in the old town. So every morning, when we had breakfast, we could look out of the window and see this...
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| Triumphpforte, built in 1765 by Empress Maria Theresien |
It's the Triumphpforte, built in 1765 by Empress Maria Theresien at the end of the street bearing her name. The street has no through traffic, so at night it is full of cafes offering every kind of food. We ate here where you see the umbrellas. Each cafe has coloured blankets at every chair so you can drape it around you for warmth and still be outside. I did it - feels cozy!
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| Lots of cafes, we ate where you can see the umbrellas |
As well as the usual Museums, ancient architecture, and art galleries - there were the Winter olympic sporting venues - such as the huge indoor ice skating stadium (easily as big as the MCG said Bob) and the completely crazy downhill skiing venue. What were they thinking building it - and what were the competitors thinking racing on it? I don't know if you can see in the photo (below), we had to go up there on the rail you can see beside the jump, but if that's not as close to completely vertical as anyone can get, I'll eat my beanie! I watch the downhill racers, and although it looks steep - I never dreamed it was like this! Those striped pink things are spectator seats.
This is the view of it from the top.
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| View from the top |
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| Half way down in the rail car |
Another thing we both enjoyed was the Bell Museum! I have always loved bells - as those of you who have been in my kitchen can testify - I brought that great big cow bell home from Switzerland last time. Well, we found the bell museum fascinating! They have been making bells in that same building for 400 years. We were able to watch them working on a big one - it's really fascinating to think of this great skill being used today just as it was centuries ago. The only difference is the heat source - they now use gas furnaces instead of wood - but they are still using the old moulds and making the new ones in the same time honoured way. Imagine trying to get the right tone! They use tuning forks to get the right resonance, especially for those churches that have several bells, so that the tunes are perfect. Those of you who are musical will totally understand that - like tuning a piano - but for this tone deaf tourist, the mind boggles. We played with various bells in the sound room while we were there to make sure they were all properly tuned in. ;)
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| Tuning forks for the bells |
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A couple of the blokes working on a bell....
see the the old moulds on the shelves? |
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| Bob playing with his bells... |
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| So I thought I'd have a go at lifting a small one |
We also took the shuttle bus to Swarovski World - and as you can imagine, it was an exhibition of the way the crystals are formed, dug out, polished and turned into jewellery. Some of the exhibits were interactive, some fascinating, some very modern and arty - and all were spectacular in their own way.
Bob was interested in the crystals themselves, while I renewed my pact to get creative and make better use of my own collection when I saw the garments and beaded items on display.
Of course, the display ends in the gift shop -as they all do. I have to confess: I am the worst souvenir buyer in the world! Really! I like to buy mementos everywhere I go, but am not fond of the tacky mass produced tourist souvenirs that every country sells! You know what I mean, the plastic whatever's with the name of the town on it. (Though I did fancy an unusual and fabulous barrel cheese grinder in Bern, and would have loved to bring that home if it wasn't so big and weighed a tonne).
So I thought, here at Swarovski World, I could buy a few nice pieces to take home. But no. Bob was very patient while I tried really hard to find something pretty, yet simple. Most of the jewellery was too "full on" for any of my friends or family to wear, and there was nothing else on offer. So, dear friends, if you have been hoping for an interesting souvenir from my travels, I'm sorry to disappoint you. In all the countries we've been to - I haven't bought one souvenir. I am just a hopeless shopper - and Bob is no help, he just wants me to get anything as long as I hurry up about it! Sigh...maybe I'll be inspired further down the track....I hope...
While we were here, I surprised Bob by booking a night out with a family of Bavarian entertainers. It's a local traditional song and dance group consisting of 14 family members! We were picked up at our hotel, and had a great time. There was much lederhosen slapping dances, other folk dances, some unusual musical instruments, saw violins, and of course, yodelling.
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| Bavarian entertainers |
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Check out these horns...Bob says they were at least 12 foot long...
they had a great sound... The girl is playing the bells...
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| We were having such a great time...here's a selfie... |
And then...next minute...one of the younger girls came on and started to yodel. It was a traditional Austrian folk song, and she had such a clear, sweet voice when she yodelled, that suddenly, I was completely overcome, and burst into tears! Hearing yodelling like that, and understanding the meaning of the lyrics, touched me so deeply that I cried the whole song through. I don't know why, I certainly didn't expect it. Bob said he completely understood it. He said that he felt emotional whenever he hears the Maoris singing in their Pa whenever he goes home to NZ. Either we are turning into a pair of old sooks, or there is a soul connection with your roots that no distance (or years) can break. Interesting thought.
We had such a great time evening - just us, the Family Gundolf, and 200 other tourists!
Lidlolay-d-hoo?
I could go on for ever about the other interesting places we went to: the fabulous churches, etc.
but I won't. I think I will just wind up this post with an unusual exhibit at the Tyroean Folk Museum. They had so many exhibits, including reconstructed rooms from the pioneers in the 1400's. Hard to believe they could survive the harsh winters way back then. All the furniture and their houses were made and carved of thick wood. Fabulous carvings and very solid, heavy furniture.
And in every house, there was of course, the heater. The 1400's idea of today's Coonara... The fire was in the bottom and the green ceramic tiles on the outside heated up and radiated even heat throughout the day and night, saving on wood. Much more efficient than an open fireplace!
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| 1400's heater with ceramic tiles |
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Here's a fancier one from a rich family who could afford
one in every room.. also circa 1400
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But I digress. The unusual exhibit was called "Dirt" And it was about the idea of what is dirty and what is clean?
There were lots of comparison exhibits of the time such as...A "dirty" horse stall or a "clean" Doctors office..???
Not that we would want to go back to this, of course...but has the pendulum swung too far the other way? In today's society, kids are not allowed to get dirty, and we have antibacterial everything, yet more people have serious allergies, and epi-pens are the norm. This exhibition gave us something to think about.
Till next time...
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