West to Innsbruck!

I'm so glad I managed to find a way to visit to Innsbruck this past weekend. I had been planning on going with some friends, but things came up and they decided they wouldn't be able to make it. I'm a lot more independent after living in Vienna for over three months now, but I still didn't really fancy the idea of traveling alone, exploring alone, and especially staying in a hostel alone in the west of Austria. It would have been fine, just not a whole lot of fun for me. I like being able to share my experiences with people in the moment! So when Lizzie, Amy, and Christianne said they were planning to go to Innsbruck for the weekend, I had found my new travel companions!

It was a four and a half hour train ride on Saturday morning from Vienna, west to Innsbruck. I had packed incredibly light, with everything I needed for two days in my small backpack. I think I'm becoming a pro at light packing now! We slept almost the whole way to Innsbruck, and woke up in time to see the gorgeous Austrian Alps rise up around us and see the snow lightly falling onto our windows. Soon, we were at the station, surrounded by immense, snow-capped mountains, with tiny flakes swirling around us in the sunlight. It felt like a TV moment: four city girls escape to the small mountainous town. Except Innsbruck isn't that small; it's one of Austria's main cities! However, it's tiny compared to places in the USA, so we'll just stick with my description.

Our first stop was getting wifi and some quick food, so we could get to the hostel. Soon enough, we leapt onto a tram in the right direction, completely forgetting our monthly Viennese transit passes wouldn't work here. Luckily we got off at Sillpark, the next stop, before we could get checked for having no tickets. Right in front of our eyes, was Primark. We thought, what the heck, and decided to just go in now so we wouldn't have to come back at a later time (because we obviously were going in). I'm really good at managing Primark and not succumbing to the absurdly low prices on low quality goods that absolutely no one needs (most times). I left with just a necessity: winter tights. Vienna is getting colder, and Innsbruck was about 10 degrees F chillier! Lucky I had worn three pairs of socks under my waterproof Hunter boots, including ski socks. It still astounds me that we unanimously agreed that, yep, Primark, good way to start our weekend in Innsbruck. #noshame?

Austria's first Primark store

Once we had finished up and deposited our stuff in the sketchy luggage locker room at our Jugendherberg (youth hostel), we set out for the Altstadt. It was nestled between the mountains (like everything else here), next to a beautiful river. And Innsbruck in December means Christmas Markets galore! The entire Maria-Theresia street, the main road of Innsbruck, was swallowed up by an amazing market! The products were a lot nicer than some of the Viennese ones, but it was very diverse. I tell you honestly that we spent the rest of the afternoon (like 3 hours) wandering around the market (which wasn't even very big), looking at products, streets, and architecture, trying new things, and taking photos. Lizzie tried some Hot Sangria and Christianne and Amy tried different types of Punsch. I'm just ecstatic that my sister let me borrow her awesome camera to try and capture the beauty of this little city!

Maria-Theresia street

Lizzie, Amy, Christianne, and I

Christmas market stalls

Amy and me in our matching coats!

Tribute to Nelson Mandela along the riverfront

We stopped for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It's surprisingly difficult to find good Mexican food in Austria, but this place was pretty great. My chicken-veggie quesadillas were delicious. It was nice to warm up in the restaurant overlooking the river and consuming yummy, spicy food we'd all been craving for a long time. There aren't Chipotles in Austria...

We could tell our hostel was the cheapest one in the area. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't impressive. The rooms of six were about half the size of a single dorm at Emory, with three bunk beds tucked in there. I was separated from the other three, since I booked after them, and later than they did, and when I walked into the room, the lights were off (it was 20:30) and someone was snoring on top of the only free bunk. I had to navigate through the room, make my bed with the basically cardboard linens provided, and lock my stuff away in a locker, though mine happened to be broken. Luckily, the other girls were just next door. I had assumed we were just going to have an early night since the temperatures were really dropping outside, but at 21:15, we set out for the town again. Time to bar hop!

We made some slightly tipsy friends on the bus, who seemed to be thrilled that we were from America. Two of the boys our age were asking us about where we lived. One of them thought Georgia was in the center of America...and then he proudly stated that he was studying geography. They pointed us towards the Bar 360 we had intended to go to, and went off to a pub across the road. They were interesting. The bar we went to was not. Since we'd all packed so lightly, we weren't ready for an evening of being all dolled up. This bar was tiny and swanky. We looked through the glass doors and windows at the posh people inside, and decided to quickly turn around and go into the Irish Pub across the road. We quickly found out where our bus friends had gotten to...

It was a fun night, hanging out in the Irish pub. We met two blokes, in their late twenties, who spoke really great English. They talked to us for about an hour and a half and were very nice. The one I was talking to looked surprisingly like Ryan Cabrera. Can I say that was my celeb spotting on this trip?

The next morning, we packed everything away (thank god we were leaving that hostel...) and I ate the hostel's bland breakfast before we headed out to get wifi and plan our day. We were not about to pay for 24-hour wifi at the hostel. When we finally figured out our day, we got onto a bus to the Altstadt...only to be caught by ticket inspectors, so we quickly hopped off at the next stop before they could fine us. It wasn't a long walk anyway. We meandered through the Christmas market again (it was so pretty in the sunlight!) and came across a small petting zoo, which we will call the Alpen Zoo. The actual Alpen Zoo in Innsbruck is high in the mountains, where we went next.

The Austrian version of Nyhavn 

We bought tickets and took a bus to Hungerberg, which is the top of one of the mountains surrounding Innsbruck. We tried to go higher, but realized it was a ski area, and we'd have to buy an expensive, all day lift ticket to get there. No thanks. Our view was just fine where we were!

On top (sort of) of the Innsbruck mountains!

The last few hours we had in Innsbruck we spent eating and touring parts of the old town. We made our way through the completely packed Christmas market and saw the golden roofed building and museum before going to the famous Stiftskeller for lunch. I got a Frittatensuppe and was the most happy child. I love that Frittatensuppe (its a beef broth with thin, flat pancake strips and chives!).

Our final stop was the Hofkirche, in the middle of town. It was built in 1553 by Emperor Ferdinand I as a memorial to his late grandfather, Emperor Maximilian I. It was quite an impressive resting place! They even had an interactive show to teach us about Max's accomplishments. 

Kirche courtyard

Max's memorial is in the middle and his ancestors stand around him

We were on our way back to Vienna by 16:09, after I got separated and lost from the others in the Christmas market for 30 minutes. I felt like I was 5 again, with thousands of people scurrying around me as I tried to stay in one place and look out for Lizzie, Christianne, or Amy. None of them brought their cellphones, so it was literally like we were back in the day, with no way of communication. Not very pleasant, but we eventually reunited without much emotion, and continued on back to our respective houses in Vienna. It turned out that Innsbruck was a beautiful weekend getaway for us four city girls! I'm so glad I had the opportunity to see more of Austria.