To Austria and beyond...

Well not beyond. Just to Austria. With its kangaroos, billabongs, bah-bies, etc. Oh right, wrong country. Now your favourite: some education. Austria is officially neutral (and we thought the Swiss were the only ones!); it intends never to join any military alliance. Just as importantly, the German translation of Vienna is Wien. So the next time you use the word "wiener", you're just referring to a resident of Vienna.

Last weekend we went to Austria to visit some good friends we had met while living in Halifax. We spent a few days in Salzburg and Innsbruck but didn't get as far as Vienna. Getting there required an 8-hour train ride with one changeover (we travelled through Bern and Zurich but didn't get to see anything there). Fortunately, after all sorts of discounts, it cost each of us just over 60 francs each way, including reserved seats for most of the way.

We were in Salzburg first but didn't spend too much time there. We walked by Mozart's birthplace/museum but we didn't go in; we saw a statue of Mozart as well but it was too dark to photograph it by that time. We visited the Hohensalzburg castle in the evening, which was cheaper than daytime but it meant most of it was closed. It did however provide us with a great view of the city.



Salzburg has a long history of salt mining, and what better use for salt than to make salt water?? We enjoyed an evening in a very large and expensive spa resort with a zillion pools and hot tubs, both indoor and outdoor. You can certainly get your money's worth (11 euros) with the extensive selection of facilites (pools, saunas, tanning booths, lounging chairs, groovy lighting); it took a while to stop accidentally getting extremely salty water in one's mouth... yecch!!

We spent Sunday in a small town outside Salzburg. This view reminded me of the appeal of small town living. Lots of green and not much noise. And if you imagine hard enough you can hear "The hills are aliiiiive...". Some scenes from The Sound of Music were shot around Salzburg.



Next stop: Innsbruck. Our friends took us in their car from Salzburg to Innsbruck, which required cutting through Germany to save time... our first experience on Germany's autobahn system. Good thing I practised all the time in Canada. There tend to be speed limits in zones where there are on/off ramps, but for the rest it makes for a thoroughly enjoyable drive. Driving on it myself has just been added to my wishlist.

Innsbruck is in a well-populated valley that is of some importance because it is the lowest route by which the Alps can be crossed into Italy. As all European cities tend to be, Innsbruck is a beautiful old city with plenty of places to explore. Here are some random shots of buildings.



The weather was quite nice so we decided to go up this mountain (almost reminded me of Smithers):



So we went up in a nice new gondola that apparently fits 90 persons (we had 40 in there and were starting to feel like sardines):



And here's us at the top of the mountain. Note the horrid shortage of snow.



And of course one using my improving stick-out-the-arm-and-shoot-blindly technique...



Okay, enough mountains already... it's like we're from Saskatoon or something.

Near Innsbruck lies the town of Wattens. Here the crystal-producing company Swarovski has a factory and the theme park Swarovski Krystallwelten (Crystal Worlds). Outside there were plenty of things to entertain kids; we tried to be entertained by a shrubbery maze, but that is only so successful in February (no leaves) and when participants (me!) can see overtop of everything.



Inside there were many displays to dazzle the eyeballs, too worthy to photograph (okay the lighting was a little tricky). Among them was the world's largest cut crystal at 300,000 carats:



While wandering through Innsbruck, we saw many old churches (of course). One such gem was St. Jacob's Cathedral; it looked fairly plain on the outside, but was awfully detailed within:



Finally, last Tuesday was Fat Tuesday or Carnival Tuesday throughout many parts of the world; in Austria it was the latter (Faschingsdienstag). No one works past noon, after which the festivities start, including a long parade of floats with people performing skits, all of which are judged by a panel that includes the city's mayor.



And since it's legal to drink on the street, we thought we'd join the locals by having a drink. Women got their champagne in real glasses, which could be returned to vendors for a refund; either way, I pity the city's cleanup crew the following day!