Innsbruck is In

The Golden Roof, Old Town Innsbruck
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Innsbruck, for us, is a refreshing slice of heaven.  High in the Austrian Alps we beat the neverending heat wave that was sweeping the rest of Europe and enjoyed a few days taking in the fresh mountain air.

Typically a ski town most of the year Innsbruck is a small town with a lot of outdoor activities to do.  You can even ski there in the summer if the weather permits.  Innsbruck, which many people pointed out gets its name from the River Inn which runs through it and the bridge (bruck) which crosses the Inn river.

Emperor Maximilian himself stayed there.

From the Top of the Alps
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For us it was a great place to relax, enjoy some fabulous Austrian cuisune and watch some of the soccer games.

We stayed at the Golden Adler which is the oldest Inn in Innsbruck,  Emperor Maximilian himself stayed there.  The hotel felt like you were in Medevil times with stone everywhere and metal sconces, but luckily it has been updated since the days of the Emperor.  The hotel had the most fabulous restaraunt. Austrian food is very hardy, but excellent flavors.  Schinzels, dumblings, saurkraut, sauages and of course beer.

An Austrian Meal
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To work off all that hardy food Austrians stay active skiiing or in the summer as we did hiking.  There are several ski lifts that take you to the top of the mountains or you can bike up, but it is a hard hike, almost straight up a ski slope at one point.  We opted to take the ski lift up and hike down the moutain stopping at the various farm/pub stops along the way.  Beautiful views and the most fresh moutain air made for a great hike.

At night the city set up a outdoor festival for the world cup, big screen and flat screen TVs were set up outside and in beer tents along with food vendors (think Jilly's during the FBR) for a Cup long venue to watch the World Cup games.  We spent a few night having beer or Radlers (half beer, half sprite) enjoying the nice weather and late sunsets in Innbruck.