1983 - Snow and the QE2 - Innsbruck revisited

Monday 12 December 1983 – Innsbruck

We all had a good night’s sleep, apart from being woken in the early hours by another guest stumbling off to bed. As there was no breakfast at the hotel, we decided to eat at the railway station and catch the 08.07 train through to Innsbruck.

It was not all that far from the station, but my back has been playing up a bit and we felt we should rufen ein taxi. The first problem was there was no phone apparent in the hotel to make our call. No problem, I thought. I’ll just go down to the station and find a taxi there. No taxis at the station, but there was a phone, so I called, but no one replied. Fortunately one turned up as I wondered what more I could do.

We had a brief breakfast of coffee and cheese rolls and then I nipped off to the bank while Rab bought the tickets. The train was a little late and it was very cold waiting on the platform but we were soon on our way. Once again the scenery was beautiful with very thick snow most of the way. It was most interesting to see all the animal tracks in the snow alongside the line. I have noticed this wherever we have been and would love to know what animals make them. Some look like rabbit and some look like deer; Albin Reichmuth says there is still a deal of wildlife around, although there is no sign of life as we go by.

It was a lovely clear day and the sun was shining when we arrived at about 12.05. Matt fell into the trap of seeing the sun and having spent three hours in a warm compartment felt he wouldn’t need his warm clothes. Wrong! It is minus 2°C! (We all were caught at one time or another by the fact that although back home sunshine equalled heat, so stay in the shade, the same rule does not apply to the warmth of the sun in Northern winters.) we booked into the Weizes Kreuze again and were amazed how cheap it was – 842 schillings or about Z$39 for the three of us for bed and breakfast. Only a couple of dollars more than last night at the Bären but much better accommodation as well as the food.

We all had a shower after checking in, having missed out on a wash last night and then set off to have a look around. There is a Christmas Market in the square with lots of interesting stalls. We grabbed what the locals called a Bostoner – not sure why, since that consisted of two local sausages with onion on a roll sprinkled with curry powder! With chips it made a good lunch. We then set off up Marionstrasse to find SwissAir, a toy shop and Avis. Although diverted by a coffee shop and some excellent pastries we managed to find all three in the end. Business done, we headed back to the Old Town to wander around and re-discover the shops we had visited before.

It was strange to find the town so empty compared to our previous visit and of course it started getting dark about 16.30. We found the same bottle store with its incredible selection of liqueurs and also a toy shop which had the catalogues Matt had been hankering after. We visited the toy shop between tasting session at the bottle store which resulted in my buying a good selection of their products. Rab went off to a material shop, unwisely leaving me and Matt unguarded. So I finally got my Tyrolean hat – and very smart it looks I think.

Matt and I drifted through the square to meet up with Rab. Things were livening up with an old soak giving his version of “Silent Night”; the huge Christmas tree was all lit up; a pony carriage jingled through the streets; hot chestnuts were roasting on open fires; an itinerant artist flogging his (rather awful) works; Great Stuff!! After Rab had gone through the entire stock of the material shop (without buying anything, surprisingly enough) we set off in search of a beer or two.

Pub after pub failed to meet the strict criteria set by my two companions and finally, in desperation we went into a rather posh looking restaurant, where we were looked at askance  by the proprietor, and quenched our thirst there. Having done that we decided to eat back at the hotel and had a very good meal including a bottle of wine for about $30. Rab and I had a final turn around the square while Matt got ready for bed. The stalls had closed up and everybody had gone except for a lone busker playing Dylan  on his guitar. I wanted to give him a couple of schillings but Rab opposed this on the grounds that he should be earning a living instead of sitting on his backside on the cold pavement. No soul that Rab!