June 23 – 24

We set out the next day to see as much as we could within walking distance of the pensione, easy to do given our central location.  First up though was to head a block towards the train station to stop in at the MPREIS on the corner.  An Austrian food retail company with branches in the five federal states of Tyrol, Salzburg, Carinthia , Vorarlberg and Upper Austria, the roots of this Tyrolean family business go back to 1920 .

Our location was a combination market and café (Thai 2 Go) and we would take advantage of both elements, enjoying a coffee and pastry now and returning later to pick up supplies for dinner in our room.  We looked forward to sampling some of the more savory items in the display case later that day but for now, exited onto Salurner Strasse and made our way a few blocks to the intersection with Maria-Theresien Strasse, with its commanding Triumphpforte dominating the skyline. 

This triumphal arch was built in 1765 on the wedding of Archduke Leopold, the second son of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis Stephen of Lorraine, to the Spanish princess, Maria Luisa, in 1765.  Because Leopold’s father, Francis Stephen, died unexpectedly shortly after the wedding, a memorial motif was worked into the Triumphal Arch when he died.  Its south side portrays motifs of the wedding of the young couple; its north side commemorates the death of the emperor.

We turned right and headed towards the center of that part of town on what soon became a main shopping corridor, particularly for the types of shops we frequent such as Patagonia, Black Diamond, and Intersport, a large European sporting goods outlet.  We are suckers for stores like these and so spent considerable (some might call it wasting) time in each and would eventually purchase a small daypack from the Black Diamond outlet. 

We continued walking up Maria Theresien for a few blocks until we came to a pedestrian only section and paused there, where I soaked up the sun and watched those around me while Joanna hit a nearby shop.  Later, we pressed on for many blocks until we reached the end of the street, stopping in front of Golden Roof, considered the city’s most famous symbol.  Completed in 1500, the roof was decorated with 2,657 fire-gilded copper tiles for Emperor Maximilian I to mark his wedding to Bianca Maria Sforza.  The emperor and his wife used the balcony to observe festivals, tournaments, and other events that took place in the square below.

We decided not to take a tour of the museum, and instead headed up a series of narrow streets until we reached the edge of the old town at Franziskanerplatz and to our delight, found Restaurant Stiftskeller, which featured Augustiner, our favorite beer from Munich.  Stiftskeller roughly translates to abbey cellar, but we chose to sit underneath the outdoor tent for our mid-day beer and snack. 

We ordered a round of beers and each sip brought back a memory of being in Munich, along with a small order of wurst and a pretzel.  The place was crowded with lots of folks eating, drinking, and definitely enjoying themselves.  It was tempting to have another beer and continue sitting there, but the rest of the afternoon called and so we finished up and departed, settling out tab of 18.6-Euros ($19.68).

Our destination was the Innsbrucker Nordkettenbahnen, a gondola lift from the city to the Nordkette, the southernmost mountain chain of the Karwendel which lies at the heart of the ski area of the same name.  It runs in two sections from the Innsbruck quarter of Hungerburg via Seegrube Station to the top station, Hafelekar (7,444 feet above sea level).  To get to the station we passed through an open plaza adjacent to the Hofburg Innsbruck (the old Imperial Palace) and home to the Landestheater, the city’s performing arts venue.  We noticed that folks were setting up for an event, likely a 5K walk or run. 

We arrived at the station and paid our admission, 20.70-Euros, for a ride to the lower station at Seegrube as we’d decided not to go to the top.  As would be anticipated, it is a steep but memorable climb and when we arrived, we ventured out to catch the outstanding view of the valley below.  Innsbruck reminded me a bit of Bilbao, a moderately sized city surrounding by towering peaks.  Indeed, the town is perhaps best known for hosting the 1964 and 1972 Winter Olympics and one can still see ski runs that might have been used for those events. 

Before taking the car down to ground level, we contemplated getting a snack, but decided against it as we witnessed a couple preparing to ride their bikes up to the summit, an arduous task but likely manageable as they had mountain bikes with super low gearing.  With rain imminent, we boarded for the descent which offered a much more exciting view as we managed to position ourselves in the lead car and could fully comprehend just how steep the grade was. 

As we began to walk back to the pensione, we paused briefly at Dom zu St. Jakob, also known as the Cathedral of St. James (German: Dom zu St. Jakob), an eighteenth-century Baroque cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese.  Based on designs by the architect Johann Jakob Herkomer, the cathedral was built between 1717 and 1724 on the site of a twelfth-century Romanesque church and with its lavish Baroque interior, executed in part by the Asam brothers, St. James is considered among the most important Baroque buildings in the Tyrol.  Unfortunately, it was closed for restoration, so we were not able to enter for a viewing. 

We began to work our back along the route that brought us here, stopping back at the Black Diamond shop to pick up that small daypack for me, and the Tirol shop for a pair of cute little shoes for Gemma.  Before that, sensing the need for that snack forgone at Seegrube, we stopped at a café near the Golden Roof for a couple of coffees and an apple strudel. 

Suitably fortified, we stopped in at the MPREIS to hit the aisles for food for a picnic in the room and what would be a quiet evening, catching up on correspondence, reading and preparing for what we thought would be an uneventful trip to Munich the next day.  Our brief stop in Innsbruck had been refreshing, recalling our stay here in 1984 with Francois and Heike.  I’m not sure we will ever make it back her but am very glad we could this time around. 

Links

MPREIS: https://www.mpreis.at/

Triumphpforte: https://www.innsbruck.info/sehenswuerdigkeiten/sightseeing/historische-bauten/detail/infrastruktur/triumphpforte-innsbruck.html

Golden Roof: https://www.innsbruck.gv.at/freizeit/kultur/museen-stadtarchiv/museum-goldenes-dachl

Restaurant Stiftskeller: https://www.stiftskeller.eu/

Innsbrucker Nordkettenbahnen: https://nordkette.com/en/home.html

Dom zu St. Jakob: https://www.dibk.at/Media/Pfarren/Innsbruck-St.-Jakob-Dompfarre-Propstei-SR-Dreiheiligen-St.-Jakob?%2FMedia%2FPfarren%2FInnsbruck-St.-Jakob-Dompfarre-Propstei