Innsbruck

We hit Innsbruck early, got to make the most of the Inns Card (see previous post). All we knew about Innsbruck before arriving was the Winter Olympics having been staged here a couple of times. So we hopped on the Sightseer bus and checked out what there was in town.
Our first stop, the local Schloss (that’s a palace we think). Ferdinand II in the 16th century was great collector of stuff, had a few battles and marriages and clearly liked jousting tournaments. Thus he has a palace with a fantastic collection ranging from stuffed sharks, knives from Java, red corral sculptures and various wooden and ivory carved things (skeletons, treasure chests etc.). And then there is the armour, room after room of armour from the 15th and 16th century. One could actually spend days looking at each curiosity, just a stroll through the collection really did not do it justice.
From there we wandered through the alpine zoo with deer, beavers, moose, vultures, eagles and various other little critters.
And so to another highlight, the ski jump, bloody terrifying – a straight shute down 90 metres and up into the air they fly for 100 or so metres… unreal. We managed to get to the incredible restaurant (designed by an Iraqi) at the top and have a beer while looking down the jump and across to the mountains on the other side of the Inns valley.
Now we are back in the warmth (was a bit nippy today) of the joint to watch the second half of The Sound of Music. Funny little side note, watching Captain von Trapp, the jacket he wears, the green collar on a grey woollen jacket, they really wear them here!, no bull.
Part two of Innsbruck, we had to make the most of our 48 hour Inns Card, and it really was worth it.
Innsbruck is home to Swarovski Crystal and boy do they make a song and dance about it. Imagine a hobbit’s house (Lord of the Rings in the Waikato) except over the door there is a huger face with crystal eyes and a mouth with a waterfall tongue draining into pond of water spouts. You go in through the door and it is like stepping into a tardis. What looked like a small hobbit hill is actually a dwarf mine with caverns (well rooms actually) showing all kinds of art using light, sounds, pictures and movement. You move from one room to another and just gaze in awe, this is a Kristallwelten, Crystal World. Really very cool, hard to beat it on the cool scale. Included in the art is Andy Wharhol and Salvador Dahli.
After this experience we went up in a cable car to the top of the main Olympic ski mountain and took in the breathtaking views of the Alps around and the valley of the Inns. In summer there is still a bit of snow around on this mountain, and the highest mountains have quite a lot of snow at the top. Without their snow you see the colours in the rock, shades of grey with sharp contours and strips.