Our first day of travels took place in Innsbruck. It was a bit of a haul, but nice to see the countryside. These are just a few of the photos we took during our "too short" visit. You will have to continue scrolling to the bottom of the page to see where we started. Unfortunately with blogger, it loads photos and posts information in reverse order from how it is entered. Just so you know- the evening I loaded these, I was too tired to make my brain try to think backward! (As I already have to do when speaking this language we are learning!)

The Christmas Markets at night

front alter of the St. James Basilica

the organ

the pulpit

The inside of St. James Basilica was amazing! These photos do not truly capture the incredible detail and beauty of this place. The current building has been restored because of prior damage from past wars. It dates back to 1720 but some information we read said that there was mention of a church in this location in manuscripts dating as far back as the 700's.

St. James Basilica-I think it is the oldest in Innsbruck

The city of Innsbruck has many places to explore! Sadly, we only had time to see a few basilicas and visit a couple of the famed Christmas Markets. Everything was so festive! We didn't leave until after dark so we got to see the city as the millions of lights came on that night.




There were a couple of these giant figures near the Christmas Market that were kind of funny (I think they are from folk tales) Of course, I declined getting my picture taken with them.

clocktower

at the top of the clock tower we could walk around. The views overlooking the city were awesome!

This gate is really old (date??) It served as both a wedding gift and a memorial for the royal family. One side is a wedding gift to the future King for he and his bride from the Queen Mother, the other side is her memorial to her deceased husband.

detail of the King's profile

detail of the King's crown




the future Princess' crown

This was in the first Basilica we visited. (I didn't get the name) The figures are in a niche to the right of the main alter. It is really beautiful but I think it is also in honor of a deceased archbishop who is" buried" in the alter beneath the figures.

Christmas night they lit the REAL candles on the REAL fir tree! Something I had always wondered how they did" back in the day". Many families here still prefer to do it this way.

Beautiful!

Loved our place....

And the view from our room!

These are some shots from where we spent Christmas 08. Our little hotel was great and the service (and breakfast) was unbeatable! The last day of our trip we went up the mountain we saw every morning from our balcony. It was amazing!