Sevelen, Switzerland to Sistrans, Austria

Day two of rain - which ended about 5 pm. It doesn't rain hard but the clouds block all the spectacular views that we're missing. The forecast has rain for the next week. Hoping it's wrong!

After blogging, repacking all of the suitcases, and getting ready for the day, we left Switzerland and headed toward Austria (which was "right there.") Everything is so close here. Our actual travel time to Innsbruck was just over two hours but with stops along the way, it always takes longer.

It rained on and off for most of the drive - until it was snowing. Due to construction on the freeway, we were rerouted on a secondary road that took us into the mountains. The switchbacks, with many huge trucks coming right at us, were anxiety producing. Oh. My. Goodness. We kept climbing in the mountains until it was just above freezing and snowing. The towns had snow everywhere - so it's still very much winter for them. At one point either a whiteout or fog was so thick we couldn't see the road. Yes, on May 11. (Happy birthday, Laura!)

People speak German in Austria, as they did in Lichtenstein and in most of Switzerland. The dialects vary and we have yet to hear what we normally think of as "German" - which has a heavy, guttural sound. 

At one point, we pulled over to have a cat nap of just 10 minutes or so. It makes all the difference! We arrived in Innsbruck (population about 132,000) about 2 and headed for the "centrum" - the oldest part of every European city. Other than landing in Geneva, this is the first time we've been in location larger than a smaller town. It was overwhelming. People, cars. Where do you go?

We found a parking garage and started to walk - with me being quite concerned we wouldn't find our way back to the car again. We're finding the language difference to be problematic. To date, our travels have pretty much had English speakers close at hand. Not this time.

Breakfast was seven or so hours ago but finding a place to eat lunch was challenging. Instead of lunch, we had apple strudel with ice cream and coffee/hot chocolate. We wandered around the beautiful city square with old, delightfully painted buildings/shops. A surprising number of people were out and about but we think many were tourists.

Finding an information center was key. We have one day in Innsbruck and wanted it to be a good one. We decided to do the hop-on-hop-off bus tour which visits 28 different stops - all between 10 am and 5 pm. There's no way we'll get off the bus at more than one or two stops so we have to choose those stops wisely. Tickets have been purchased. Tomorrow will be a full day.

About 6 we headed to the B&B which was just a few miles outside of Innsbruck but as different as day and night from it. We stopped at a grocery story (croissants and chocolate) - which we're doing every day. Today is day nine of our trip. We've eaten a meal out only six times. We usually eats out at least once a day, if not twice. The fresh bread products are amazing and so we're eating a lot of them - for breakfast and lunch. Only one place has given us breakfast. We now look for places with access to a kitchen which is a new thing on this trip.

Once we had our stuff in the room, we walked around the village. Farms were obviously here first so the houses have been built up around - and right beside - them. The grocery story is literally right across the street from a farm with a manure pile facing the store. People are milking cows in large, wooden barns right beside very modern homes. The contrast is wonderful. And the perfume of manure makes Dave's heart sing.

Unable to find a place to eat in the village, we walked back to our B&B (all up hill of course) and drove a couple of minutes down the road to the nicest restaurant with the best food we've had so far on the trip. Almost two hours later, we were back in the room and tucked in for the night.

One thing I learned today: How much I love Sistrans! I could live here. It's very quiet, small, with such interesting architecture. Farms beside homes. I'm so glad we came here.

One new thing I experienced today: The most unique entrance to a B&B ever. The key lock box was beside two large metal doors in a garage - attached to condo units. We walked through the garage full of a lot of people's stuff. Went out the back door, down several steps into a small patio area and the door to our "space."  It's the only way to get here.

Most powerful moment of the day: Again, not many "powerful moments" on this trip (yet) but something of great interest - the tunnels. Today's drive was especially "tunnel rich." We were in tunnels about 25% of the trip. One tunnel had an off ramp - in the tunnel! Some of them are very long. The longest one in Switzerland is 30 miles - which we haven't been in.

One pleasurable experience: Ordering one dessert to share and having the waiter cut the cake in half, put the pieces on their own plates, and decorate/garish them as if they were individual orders. So thoughtful.