2019 - Day 16: A day trip to Innsbruck

The summation of today is a busy day in Innsbruck.

We had an early start today, leaving our B&B before breakfast was served, so to catch the 0826 train from Mittenwald to Innsbruck.  With a journey of almost one hour and only one train every two hours, to make the most of our time in Innsbruck we decided it was worth the effort to get out and on the rails early!  Our walk to the station has the added excitement of passing all the runners taking part in the Zugspitz Ultratrail Basetrail XL, a grueling 39km mountain run with over 2,000m of altitude gain along the way.

The view from the train passing through the Alps is rather impressive.

Having arrived at Innsbruck Hbf station.

The journey to Innsbruck is rather scenic.  The train soon crosses the German / Austria border and heads up into the Alps, winding its up and around mountains, through endless tunnels and across many bridges, before you glimpse Innsbruck airport and a few minutes latter arrive at the central Innsbruck Hbf station.  Having done our homework our first stop (after a cafe for breakfast) was to the Information Centre at the station to purchase our 24hr Innsbruck cards.  These cards provide access to all the public transport in and around Innsbruck, together with entrance to many of the key attractions and if you want to go to the top of Nordkette you get your money back almost immediately.

Heading up Nordkette, on the first of the two cable cars.

The view from the top, looking down over Innsbruck.

Forrest was grumpy since he couldn't get a position at the front of the gondola then his legs were cold.  A pair of trousers quickly fixed the problem.

The city of Innsbruck is surrounded by mountains, one of the largest being the aforementioned Nordkette.  By taking a combination of funicular and two cable cars we made it almost up to the summit with spectacular views of the city to the south and the Karwendel Nature Park to the north.  There is still a little bit of snow and a few avid skiers and boarders were up looking for the last few runs of the season.  It was very windy and the first time we have really noticed the thinness of the atmosphere at the top of a mountain so after a few photos we headed back down.

A family portrait with the Karwendel Nature Park in the background.

Cub enjoying the scenery.

It's the middle of June and still snow!

The cable car heading down wasn't so busy, so we got a place at the front of the gondola!

The girls enjoying the ride towards the bottom station.

Towards the bottom of the Nordkette is the Alpenzoo which is home to animals which are or have been typical of the alps.  Our original plan was to spend about an hour here before heading in to explore a bit of the city, however, the kids loved it so much we ended up being there for about three hours.

At the Alpenzoo, watching the terrapins.

We always say Paloma looks like she's been raised by wolves... now she finally gets to meet one!

Making use of the big zoom lens with a sleeping lynx.

Up close with the bear.

The main attractions were the wild cats, wolves and brown bears and whilst most of the animals seemed well catered for and the kids loved seeing them up close we felt a bit sorry for the bear who seemed agitated and pacing and this was even before we saw a group of young kids throwing what looked like empty nut shells at him.  It wasn't just the big animals that held the kids attention though, they also loved the aquarium area with really great displays showing terrapins, fish and amphibians with some tanks having magnifying lenses so they could see even the smallest of water creatures in more detail and the reptile area where we played hunt the snake in numerous terrariums.

Then just as we thought we had finished and could finally go for our now (very) delayed lunch the kids spotted the play park just before the exit and off they went.  It was great with slides and climbing frames for all ages but it also had a mock bear cave which the kids could crawl and climb though.  So when we eventually rounded them up for departure they were filthy (even by our kids standards) requiring a baby wipe wash which I don't think even touched the surface grime!

Muck!

With both adults now starving we decided to check out a kid friendly pub, Löwenhaus, serving traditional Austrian food close to the funicular station of the same name.  The food was quick and excellent and the kids didn't even have time to check out the play area before we headed off to see if we could fit in a treat that we had planned on our original timetable.

Forrest dropping the bomb!

Now both our kids are hot chocolate mad and when researching Innsbruck a cafe had come up that most reviews said served the "best hot chocolate ever"! So we decided we needed to check this claim out.  It also meant that we got to see a tiny bit of old town Innsbruck but did mean that we would probably miss our planned train home.  Cafe Munding lived up to its reputation and whilst maybe not "the best" it was definitely a very very good hot chocolate with the added fun of adding your own chocolate ball to your glass of hot milk to make the drink.

Almost the end of a great day in Innsbruck, waiting for our connection at Seefeld in Tirol station.

Deutsche Bahn (DB) and Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB) both run across the border.  DB provided our last train of the day.

A quick tram ride back to the station and we caught the non-direct train back with a change over in Seefeld in Tirol.

We had a few specks of rain today and with thunder storms predicted for the morning we are weather watching to see if we need to change our plans for tomorrow...

Blogged by Amber and Matt.