In Austria for Carnival

Being stuck up on top of a mountain wouldn't have been a bad thing. I would have headed toward the restaurant and just camped out there until help came days later. I'm sure they had plenty of beer, sausage, and strudel to last me. Plus the view was incredible! I could have lasted the entire winter in such harsh conditions.

Anyway, back to the story: A few moments later the power turns back on. He comes back completely out of breath, picks up the phone, and begins to talk very loudly to whomever he was talking. He hangs up the phone, takes a deep breath, unlocks the gate where I was standing, and says "Ok, in you go". Yeah, I was not too excited about the trip down the mountain. If he didn't join us inside the cable car then I would have been far more worried getting inside. The trip down was fine and again the view was amazing.

I made my way to the train station with gear on my back and waited for my train. I arrived in Innsbruck, Austria in the afternoon and Sabine was nice enough to pick me up from the station. Now, I hadn't seen Sabine in about 2-years, when she parked the car she came right up to me and gave me a big hug. I thought, "Wow, my tour-guide for the next several days is a beautiful blue-eyed Austrian girl". Sabine had brought her friend along, also named, "Sabine". They gave me a tour of Innsbruck in the more touristy part of town. There is this place called, "Golden Roof" where there is a balcony where I suppose a king would talk to his subjects and at the top of this balcony is a roof made from gold.

Golden Roof

We walked around some more and then I'd say, "Hey Sabine?" and then both Sabines would look at me. "This isn't going to work" I thought to myself. They needed new names. So from then on it was "Sabine #1" and "Sabine #2" which was a ton of fun for me. I'd say, "Hey Sabine #2. How do you know Sabine #1?" It was fun! Both Sabine #1 and Sabine #2 were worried that they weren't the best tour-guides. I kept telling them not to worry. Again, I love the accent!!!! Just keep talking! I also told them that if they don't know something that they should just make it up because I wouldn't know the difference. My favorite part of the tour was the car ride up the mountain for a full view of Innsbruck.

Innsbruck

As it started to get dark we made our way back to the car and headed to Sabine #1's home where I would stay during the next week. When we arrived I was greeted with open arms from Sabine #1's parents. Her mom was a little bit worried with me coming over because she feared her English wasn't too good, but it was fine. I walked in, dropped off my stuff in the room they prepared for me, and walked back out to Sabine #1 saying, "Are you ready for dinner?" I knew that I was going to like this place.

They had prepared for me a typical Austrian dinner which was like dumplings in a soup called, "Tiroler Speckknoedel". Now, bacon is popular out here so the dumplings had bacon in it. It was tasty! Sabine #1's dad gave an Austrian beer and dinner was complete. But not yet, it was time for "Moosbeernocken" which is like blueberries in a pancake-like form. Sabine #1's dad also turned on the radio to some American music for me. They were too kind. After dinner it was time for traditional schnapps which is much stronger in Austria than it is in the U.S. They had me try a couple of different types. After, it was time for dessert and coffee. I WAS FULL! We talked for a while longer. Poor Sabine #1 had to translate for me and her parents. I felt bad. We said, "Good-bye" to Sabine #2 and then it was off to bed.

The following day I woke up and breakfast was all prepared. I looked around and saw jam, honey, butter, cheese, bread, coffee, juice........and bologna. I sat down thinking, "Ok, this is the third time I've seen bologna at breakfast". I watched as Sabine's (Sabine #1 from here on out) dad buttered his bread, put a piece of bologna on it, and ate it. I thought, "Okay, I can do this". See, it's not that I don't like bologna, I just hadn't ever thought of it as a breakfast food. I tried it.....and it works! I loved it! Simple and good.

Sabine's parents were nice enough to plan out our Sunday to show me around the area. Also, when I found out that Carnival season was approaching and events were starting to take place; I had to celebrate it! Our first stop was at a place that is very popular in Innsbruck, but I had never heard of it.

Swarovski

It's called, "Swarovski". Apparently they make glass jewelry and figurines, but the way they cut the glass makes it look like crystal.....it basically is crystal. It's truly amazing and extremely expensive. We looked around for quite a while. I found this wonderful and very expensive figurine for my mom........

Swarovski Flower

.......but Sabine's dad was in a rush to leave so I didn't have time to buy it. Sorry Mom!

Our next stop was in a town called, "Schlitters" for the Carnival (or Fasching) festivities. It was fantastic! It was a parade with various floats pulled by tractors. Now some of these floats had bars inside of them where people could get drinks, but it's generally by invitation only. Still pretty cool for a parade float. Some of the groups were very silly and modern, while others were more traditional. Sabine was very good about pointing out the more traditional parts. My favorite was "Matschger" with were these big bears tied up in chains and on the other end were these "mountain men" guys with whips. The bears would walk around the street and then find a parade watcher and pretend to devour them by giving them a big bear hug. The Mountain Man when then crack the whip on the bear's back and pull on the chain to clam the bear. It was fun!

Bear

They even had a Muppet Show float and people were dressed up as all the main characters. The cool part was that they had a big group dressed up like Fraggles from Fraggle Rock. Can you guess who was there? Yep, "Uncle Traveling Matt!" His costume was a little crude and I wasn't able to get a good photo of him, but he was there! On our way out I ran into some familiar faces:

Ghostbusters!

Ghostbusters Car

After the Carnival festivities it was time time to head to the city of "Stumm" for coffee and sachertorte, which is a very popular Austrian dessert. It was very good. Our next stop was at an Austrian outlet store so Sabine could buy a "Dirndel" which is a traditional Austrian outfit for females. They had some lederhosen for boys.

The Shop

I was going to buy one for Dash, but Jeff & Jenn would kill me. There were cute though. I was trying to explain to Sabine's dad that I still have my lederhosen from when I was a small boy that is a box someone at home. We made our way back to Sabines and it was time for dinner. Another Austrian specialty. Again with schnapps and beer. I love this place!