Day 20 - TT European Whirl (day 3) - Innsbruck

We started today with another 6am wake up call!  Then a mad dash to get ourselves dressed and nags (*ooops bags) packed and outside bedroom doors by 6:30 to head down for breakfast.

 

At 7:20 we were on the bus and off for another destination. 

About 1 hour out of Mannheim we were stopped by the polizei (police) for a routine check and our driver Jorgi passed everything with flying colours.



 

 

We booked and paid for our optional extras as explained yesterday by Sigi - All up for the four of us it cost an extra $1855.00 Euro as we wanted to do all the extras in Italy.

We stopped for a brief comfort stop at 10:45 and were making good time on our way to Austria when all of a sudden the traffic stopped.  Luckily for Tasha it was our turn on the backseat and so she spent the time stopped making friends with other motorists and after seeing the drivers names in the front windows of the trucks she set to writing notes for them and holding them up at the back window.......  She now has a new best friend..... a truck driver called Robert!

 

 We finally got moving again and we passed the cause of the hold up - a horrible car accident.  Cars completely mangled.
We travelled into the area of Bavaria - lots of spruce trees reminiscent of the Black Forests of Germany.
We finally made it into Munich for a late lunch.  I have always loved pictures of the glockenspiel and the marienplatz in Munich but pictures really do not do it justice!  Unfortunately we missed the glockenspiel playing but just standing in that square was wonderful.

 We headed over to the grill - specialatzen (not sure about spelling) for a traditional german sausage forr lunch.  However sauerkraut was not on the menu - not good on a bus full of people!

 

We got back on the bus and headed off again - into the gorgeous Austrian Alps.  And yes of course I spent the afternoon singing the Sound of Music soundtrack in my head!  Beautiful scenery - and even some fresh snow in the distance!

 

 Our motel in Innsbruck has gorgeous views of the alps from our rooms.

At 6:30 we went into the town of Innsbruck - I completely fell in love with old Innsbruck. It was so gorgeous.  We wandered the old shops - had some strudel (of course).  I wish we had more than one night here as I could have spent so long just wandering around.

 We did some souvenir shopping - Tasha found herself a wolf beanie with attached mittens which she has now worn EVERYWHERE.  Oh.... and we had gelato!   And what gelato it was.  Lovely flavours but even the presentation for a simple cone of gelato was spectacular.

 Then on to the first of our optional extras..... a tyrolean evening.  What fun it was!  There was traditional dances, yodelling, alpine horns, cowbells and lots and lots of laughs!

The highlight of the evening was the finale where they called out different nationalities and if there was anyone in the audience from that country you had to stand up and they sang a song from that country.  It was amazing to see how many countries were represented in that hall - by the end they had about 23 flags hanging at the front of the podium!

Tally for today:

Steps:  6495  - again a low step day!
Time on bus:  8 1/2 hours
Internet access:  none again today - Tasha having serious withdrawals!

Tomorrow we head to Venice..... I have dreamt of seeing Venice since I was a little girl.  I never thought it would happen!