Trips

Sat., 7/25/15 – Bolzano and Innsbruck, Austria
            Our bus headed north on the autostrade passing through Bixen, the border with Austria (like going from one state to the next in the US) and the Brenner Pass.  We are now in the watershed of the Rhine River.
            Our tour guide, Christian, met us in Innsbruck and led us on our walking tour of the old town.  We walked through the Imperial Garden (Hapsburgs,) touching the Energy Stone, which was a gift to the city from the organizers of the Feng Shui Congress in 2000.  Touching the stone is to give you renewed energy.  We all needed some!
            We looked at the Imperial Palace (1400 Hapsburg) and looked at the Court Church.  The windows made the façade look like a face and blue “tears” were added to the two “eye” windows in celebration of the 500th anniversary of the death of Emperor Maximilian I.  In the church are 28 bronze statues including one of King Arthur.
            We walked into the palace courtyard that was set up for an evening concert.  The concerts happen every evening and tonight’s concert was to be a brass band from England. We went into St. Jakob (St. James) Cathedral, a Baroque church of a bishop. The inside is gaudy, beautiful, with no pillars or stained glass, but a solid silver and gold altar with a Cabrera the Elder painting of the Madonna and Child or Our Lady of Help.  The top of the vault has Maximilian III with St. George standing behind him and a dragon.  The pillars holding the canopy are bronze with grapevines, birds, and insects.  It is quite unusual.  During WW II Innsbruck was bombed 22 times and one bomb hit the cathedral because it is next to the rail yard.  Sixty percent of the city was destroyed but all has been restored.  The church treasures were moved to safety.

Road to Innsbruck	Innsbruck - Olympic ski jump
Innsbruck - Olympic ski jump	Innsbruck
Innsbruck - huge Ginko tree	Innsbruck - Energy Stone
Innsbruck - Cute sculptures	Innsbruck - Imperial Palace
Innsbruck - Imperial Palace	Innsbruck - Imperial Palace
Innsbruck - Imperial Palace	Innsbruck - Landestheater - State theater
Innsbruck	Innsbruck - posing on the pavement
Innsbruck - Cathedral of St. James	Cathedral of St. James
Cathedral of St. James - Maximilian III and St. George	Cathedral of St. James
Cathedral of St. James	Cathedral of St. James
Innsbruck	Innsbruck
Innsbruck	The houses lining the streets are narrow but long.  They have bay windows in front and courtyards in the middle to let in more light.  We went inside one that is for sale and needs extensive renovation.  It is a historical site and must be restored as it was originally.  In the courtyard is a fountain with St. Florian, the patron saint of fires.  The building was the first state school when Empress Maria Teresa made education mandatory.  It later was a Lutheran school.
Historic house for sale	Historic house for sale
Innsbruck - Spitalkirche	Innsbruck and surrounding mountains
Innsbruck - The Inn River	We had our “included” lunch at the Sacher Cafe.  We had a broth with a dumpling and a chicken salad and, of course, Sacher Torte for dessert.  We thought the cake was dry but the icing was rich dark chocolate.
	Sacher Torte
Innsbruck - Signs	Innsbruck - Signs
Innsbruck - Signs	Innsbruck - this is a Plastic tree!
We deviated along a mountain road to have a photo stop at the Europabrucke, the second highest bridge in Europe, completed in 1963.  It is 620 feet high.  The highest bridge now is in the French Pyrenees at 1125 feet.  More impressive were the bungee jumpers we watched jumping from the bridge!
Europabrucke	Europabrucke - Bungee jumpers

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