INNSBRUCK

Did some more walking throughout the city today.   Mostly through the tourist area of Old Town.  We took a tour of the palace.   We had audio players which was very helpful to really get a lot of information on the details.  It certainly was the height of opulence!  The amount of money that must have spent like water running down a river.  The pictures of the inside of the palace are from the internet as I was not allowed to take photographs inside the palace.  

THIS IS AN OLD PHOTO I FOUND ON THE INTERNET.  YOU WILL FIND A SIMILAR PHOTO IN MY PICTURES.  JUST A LITTLE DIFFERENT NOW!

SITTING ROOM ALL DONE IN PINK DAMASK SILK

GIANTS HALL - ORIGINALLY NAMED FOR FRESCOs PAINTED ON THE CEILING DEPICTING HERCULES.  EMPRESS MARIA THERESA CHANGED THE DECOR TO REFLECT HER STRONG SENSE OF FAMILY;  PORTRAITS OF HER 16 CHILDREN AS WELL AS SOME GRANDCHILDREN;  18,000 SHEETS OF GOLD LEAF AND 4,000 SQUARE FEET OF FRESCOs..IN ONE ROOM!   

After the tour we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then just spent another hour or so roaming the streets and watching people and doing some souvenir shopping.  Innsbruck is a really nice little city.  You really just need a day to tour the city itself and if the plan is to stay more than one full day then hiking in the mountains or even some biking would be a great activity here.  It's a very active city any time of year.

MORE PAINTED ARTWORK ON THEIR BUILDINGS

THIS BUILDING WAS ORIGINALLY BUILT IN 1500s BUT THEN THE ORNATE FACADE WAS ADDED IN MID-1700s

THE PALACE

HERE IS THE SAME VIEW FROM THAT 1860s PHOTO ABOVE

SEE THE LITTLE WHITE DOT ON THE MOUNTAIN?  THAT'S A LODGE & CAFE FOR HIKERS.

THIS IS THE UNIQUE ENTRANCE FOR THE FUNICULAR RAILWAY THAT THEY USE TO GO PARTWAY UP THE MOUNTAIN.  THEN YOU TAKE A CABLE CAR THE REST OF THE WAY.

RAIL FOR THE FUNICULAR UP THE MOUNTAIN

I had previously made a reservation at a nice quiet restaurant for Randy & I to go to but when I called to confirm the reservation they said there was no reservation because they are closed for dinner on Saturday nights!   Strange!  So the kids still just wanted to stay in the room and have pizza so Randy & I still had a date night but just another restaurant.  


Below are pictures I took of these really neat signs that many of the stores and restaurants have hanging above their doors.  I really liked them so I took a bunch of pictures.  I probably could have taken about 20 more - there were so many all over "old town".

YOU GOT TO TAKE THE NEW WITH THE OLD! 

Tomorrow we drive to Salzburg.  I hear it's beautiful.