Thursday, 16 June 2016
As I sit at the table in the very lovely room in Pension Stoi tapping out another late-night blog post it is raining heavily outside but the thunder and lightning has moved on. The weather has been kinder to us than expected, however, and finding the day bright and clear this morning we decided to do our planned cable car trip this morning after calling at the tourist information office to buy our Innsbruck Cards.The most convenient cable car goes from just outside the centre of the historic area on the town - a genuine 10 minute walk from the information centre. We began with a ride on the very stylish and clever funicular from the Innsbruck station, Congress (560 m), through two little stops at L�wenhaus and Alpenzoo before terminating at Hungerburg. The little carriages joined together were great fun though we appreciated them more on the return journey when we had more room than on the upward journey when we were packing in like sardines. At each station automatic are lowered and steps drop into place before the doors open and people are allowed to leave or enter the carriages. It all works very efficiently with the outgoing passengers disembarked to one side while the boarding passengers are then allowed in from the other. (And this was true for the two cable cars, as well.)
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| Showing us squashed in - more people joined us before we left! |
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| On the funicular looking over the roof of the car below us |
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| Interesting roof at Hungerburg |
We left Beth behind in Hungerburg and transferred to the first stage of the two-stage Nordkettenbahnen. Again we were packed into the boxy cable car like sardines - or worse - and we could not imagine how they possibly fitted the allowable maximum of 95 passengers. It would also have helped if there were more poles and hanging loops for people to hold onto as I certainly couldn't reach anything. (When we returned Beth informed us that the next car to go up was not nearly as full so perhaps it's just a matter of waiting for the best moment.)
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| More sardines! |
After a few quick photos we were off again, up the smaller cable car to the top station, Hafelekar (2,256 m, 7,400 ft). A lady from Vienna who was walking down from there (!) was quite concerned about my feet in sandals, but I had no plans to stay long enough to get cold feet and the rest of me was warm enough in my raincoat. (Every item on a trip away has to justify itself an the coat has been a success despite its reluctance to compact down to next-to-nothing.) As soon as the photos were taken and the view admired we went back inside and waited for the next downward car. Thankfully all the downward transport was less crowded than the upward trips had been which made it easier to appreciate them.
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| View over Innsbruck |
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| Gary finds a tricky vantage point for his photos |
After picking up Beth at Hungerburg we headed back into Innsbruck to get some lunch - stopping again within sight of 'The Golden Roof' at a small shop specialising in strudel. Gary had nut strudel with ice cream and Marianne and Beth had savoury strudels.
At lunch Marianne did an eye-crossing amount of study of the two guide booklets and deciphered where and when we could catch the hop-on hop-off bus for another sort of overview of Innsbruck. She was spot on with the calculations and we boarded the bus in Maria-Theresien-Stra�e and donned headphones that had the commentary in six languages. I'm sure the tour was very interesting but from my perspective it would have been improved if the man in the headphones hadn't kept talking and interrupting my sleep! Marianne seemed to be suffering the same problem.
We split up after the bus deposited us back where we started - Beth and Marianne to visit the Golden Roof Museum and Gary and I to head home for a proper afternoon nap! The day had got very hot and so Gary stopped off at the little grocery shop to buy himself a beer (which he observes is cheaper than buying water).
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| Gary's much appreciated beer |
The highlight of going out for dinner tonight was Marianne's first cup of tea for the day. Poor Marianne is suffering from (a) the rooms having no tea and coffee making facilities, and (b) the lack of tea as an option at most places we stop for meals. I think by this time she's almost prepared to overlook the strange / weak tea that is served when she can get it. Certainly she looked very pleased to get a cup of tea after our meal this evening.
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| Tea at last! |
I hope to catch up with the missing posts in the next few days.
Reading: The School at the Chalet by Elinor Brent-Dyer (Jane)
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