We just wrapped up our 4th and final week of our 2019 R&R trip in a place that was about as opposite as you could get from Minnesota and Florida – Innsbruck, Austria! We found a lovely apartment with mountain views via AirBnB and reveled in the cool weather and stunning vistas. Here’s a look at the view from our place.
We try and see both sets of parents when we take our summer trip. Sometimes we go to them and other times they meet us somewhere. This time around Nick’s parents (Robert & Joyce) agreed to join us for the week in Innsbruck. During their foreign service careers, they had spent a total of 9 years in Austria (Vienna) and Germany (Bonn) and I so enjoyed hearing their stories and watching them delight in old favorites (like a grocery store or food product).
Coming off of Disney World, we were looking for a more relaxed schedule for this segment of the trip. We stayed in a little mountain town called Seefeld that was 30 minutes outside of Innsbruck. We had a car, so each day we’d have 1 or 2 places that we would explore. We ended up getting a 3 day Innsbruck Card, which turned out to be a fantastic deal. It was 59 euros for an adult and 29 euros for a child and gave us access to 30 attractions and public transport. Well worth the money. There was also a 24 and 28 hour pass available for those who weren’t in town as long.
Downtown Innsbruck was as quaint and charming as I’d hoped. Nick and I enjoyed a lovely date night (thanks Grandma & Grandpa!) strolling hand in hand around the plaza and winding lanes. Overall, we found the Austrians to be very hospitable and helpful. English was less prevalent then expected but Nick thankfully remembered a decent amount of German from his childhood and was able to assist.
The Innsbruck Card gave us access to 5 or 6 different ski lifts, so we spent a fair amount of time riding in funiculars or gondolas and chilling at the top of mountains enjoying coffee,
hiking,
and scoping out sky-high playgrounds!
Another favorite was going up to the top of the Bergisel Ski Jump (site of the 1964 and 1976 Olympics) and watching a skier do practice runs on astroturf (sorry, I wasn’t able to get any good pics). Take a look at this slope… no thank you!
My favorite place of all though was Swarovski Crystal World. I loved it for so many reasons – like this “Giant’s Head†entrance that led us into 15 different artist exhibits featuring crystal.
And Nia would tell you her favorites were a tie between this funky carousel
and the 4-story-high indoor play place with views in every direction.
I almost forgot to mention the most randomly cool part though – the outdoor circus! I’m not sure what the circus has to do with crystal but it was really freakin’ cool. This incredible tightrope walker had no net under him!
But I can’t discount the contortionist either though, as her performance was really spectacular too.
The restaurant, Daniels, at Crystal World was also excellent and reasonably priced. If you visit, definitely plan to enjoy a meal from there!
And so concludes my recaps of our 2019 R&R. Thanks for journeying with us. If you’d like to see all the high-resolution photos from Innsbruck you can CLICK HERE. I am looking forward to settling back into Mumbai and getting Nia off to school this week!
