Today was a laid back day-a day to recover from jet lag and to stay dry, since we Californians are not used to rain. After the rains let up, we walked the city, getting out of the “old town” tourist area. I love to wander through parts of a city where the locals live and work. We passed through the university area, residential streets and schoolyards. The city is tidy and well kept with bicycle trails that meander throughout the city and along the river. Although not as numerous as in Denmark, bikes are a visible mode of transportation and car traffic is light for a city. We marvel at the old architecture and the religious paintings on church and building walls.
Innsbruck, the capital of Tyrol, the western state (province) of Austria, occupies 40 sq mi, slightly larger than SF’s 49 sq mi. but a population of 132,000 compared to 1m in SF. It lies along the River Inn and is bordered by the North Tyrol Limestone Alps, the Nordkette and the Stubai Alps to the south. It is a winter wonderland, known for its skiing. It’s not a cultural arts mecca; I tried hard to search for art exhibits, concerts and performances and came up empty handed. The food of Tyrol consists mainly of pork loin, boiled beef, spinach and cheese dumplings, spaetzle, sauerkraut and of course wienerschnitzel. We very much enjoyed the wienerschnitzel and German potato salad but not fond of the pretzel bread dumpling, dense as a baseball; pretzel bread is better as a bread roll!
Some city scenes along our walk.
Sunny days are hard to come by. The average rainfall for Sept is 3”, half of the amount in other months. But the mountain sides are lush and green. We should be thankful there are parts of the world that still get measurable amounts of precipitation!