Day 9 – Salzburg to Innsbruck

We had an early morning departure from the Salzburg train station. It was a bit chaotic as we got ready to board the train, but we managed to get ourselves settled among the folks trying to catch a ride without a train ticket and some lovely older folks who needed a little help with their luggage. Kendra and I had a lovely conversation with an OB-GYN from Philly who was one of the pioneers of IVF. She and her husband were traveling to Zurich on the next leg of their two-week vacation. We chatted with her about our own experiences with IVF, life, and the current state of our country. Just some light subjects. 😉

Though our train was slightly delayed, we arrived in Innsbruck around noon and headed to the hotel. After checking in, our first stop was the Court Church. Before we entered the church proper, we experienced an interactive multi-media exhibit about the life of Emperor Maximilian I. He spent a lot of time designing his tomb in Court Church, only to not be buried there, but instead in Wiener Neustadt. There are some famous folks buried in the church, including Archduke Ferdinand II and his wife Philippine Welser, who are buried just above the main floor in the Silver Chapel.

By then, everyone was hungry, so we stopped at  for lunch at Cafe Maria Von Burgund. In typical European fashion, the time from sitting, to ordering, to eating, to getting the check, took about two hours. In the meantime, we struck up a conversation with the mom and daughter at the table next to us – lovely folks from the Netherlands. Addie and the daughter (who was 14) spent a ton of time comparing school in their respective countries.

After lunch, we climbed the steps of the 450 year old City Tower for some awesome views of Innsbruck below, including the Goldenes Dachl, a carved stone balcony with frescoes, relief sculptures, and a fancy roof covered in copper tiles that Maximilian I had built in 1500 to honor his marriage to Bianca Maria Sforza.

Once we got back to the street-level, I took the twins for ice-cream and back to the hotel, while Kendra and Addie spent time shopping on Maria-Theresien-Strasse. Dinner was a quick meal of Nutella sandwiches and fruit at the hotel. We are tucked in for an early night in preparation for our hike tomorrow!