April 18-22, 2019
Day 1 ** Day 2 ** Day 3 ** Day 4
Thursday
Easter happens every year, but I still manage to be surprised when I see those spring holidays show up on the work calendar. Dan and I discussed what we should do over the five days we had off over Easter and a number of ideas were brought to light, and then for various reasons, discarded. For no real reason, we finally ended up with the decision to ride the motorcycles to Innsbruck and see what this little Austrian town had to offer.
We made this decision about a week before we were to depart, so I quickly found someone to cat sit for us, made hotel reservations and started to make some plans. We left just after noon on Thursday, heading east on the motorway to make some time. I was concerned about holiday traffic and had planned to stay north, thereby avoiding the chaos of Zürich and its roadways. Unfortunately, while we avoided the traffic, we found instead construction. Any time that we might have saved was easily lost in the slow, frustrating crawl through narrowed lanes. We eventually joined the motorway to cross into Austria and I was surprised at how well the traffic was moving – until we got to our exit. My GPS notified me that my exit was coming up in 750 meters – but traffic was already backed up on the shoulder! Obviously we missed that exit – and the next one as well. Finally we took an exit and slogged our way off the ramp and onto the side road that took us into Austria.
A beautiful spring day
The trees still have a ways to go before the hills are green
Following the Rhine
The weather was fantastic, with partly cloudy skies and dry roads. I had really wanted to explore the Austrian mountains, but it was too early in the season and too late in the day. We went directly to Innsbruck and found our hotel, the Nala Individual Hotel.
Welcome to Austria
Taking a break (that’s snow in the background)
A fifteen kilometer tunnel!
The Nala Hotel was a comfortable place, with each room individually designed and decorated. Our room was on the north side, on the top floor, and with a great view. The furnishings were modern, clean and comfortable; we settled in for the next three nights. Our arrival at our hotel went well and we soon had parked the bikes, shed our gear and went out for our first impression of Innsbruck.
Sunset colors
Landhausplatz, designed to be used as a skate park and a place to hang out
Found dinner at the Theresienbräu
Our first impressions of Innsbruck were good: we really enjoyed the architecture, the variety of shops, the winding streets of the old town, and the towering mountains that framed the town to the north and south. We stopped at Theresienbräu for dinner. It was good
It would be great to experience the city in the bright daylight of morning. For now, it was time to go back to our hotel room.