So, last night I happened to check my email and found that I got a notice of a change to my rail ticket in the morning. The original train I was booked on was cancelled and I had been rebooked on an earlier train. Of course, this made it so that I didn't sleep well due to stress. Woke up naturally shortly before my alarm at 6am. Checked my email and, sure enough, all trains between Innsbruk and Graz were cancelled. I also found out that just about the entire rail system had ground to a halt and nothing was running until Tuesday.
I scrambled and booked a ticket to Vienna for Tuesday (the original day I was supposed to go there anyway, but from Graz) and used all of my credit to book an extra 3 nights where I was staying in Innsbruk. So this means, we're going to have to skip Graz, spend extra time in Innsbruk, and pray that trains are back to get me to Vienna in time to catch my flight.
After all of this, I decided that this all happened for the best...
After getting everything settled with my hotel (I booked a slightly better room as that was all that was left on the site where I originally booked, but told them I was ok with staying where I was as I had settled in), I decided I needed more groceries. Now, this is Austria and it is Sunday. Just about every thing is closed. I found an open grocery store on Google Maps that was a 15 min walk, so I grabbed my empty backpack and set out. The sun was shining brightly, but there were still lots of low-lying clouds to the west. Remember the snow covered hill behind those brightly colored buildings.
Now, to the east and north, the skies were clearing. I was gifted with views of the Alps on my way to the grocery store, which was on the Innsbruk University campus (likely why it was open).
I got back to the hotel and the young lady at the front desk who had helped me earlier when I arranged things for my extended stay, told me she had found that there are webcams at the location of the mountain overlook where my last Christmas Market was located. I had told her earlier that I hoped that visibility would clear up today. I went up to my room, put stuff away and checked out the webcams. It was pretty much what I had seen in person, clear everywhere but the west.
Housekeeping knocked and I decided to head out to check out the mountain.
I took the funicular up to Hungerburg station and saw lots of wonderful things - charming chalets, trees covered with snow, panoramic views. Prepare to be photo-bombed!
Things started clearing up to the west as well. Brief glimpses of the mountain behind us popped through.
Two views out over Innsbruk in two different directions.
The famous Ski Jump (remember the light display in front of my hotel. There is the real thing near the center.
More Innsbruk
More moutains appearing behind us.
This is the market. Pretty small, but the local fire department sold good gluwein and I bought a handmade Christmas tree ornament from an old lady who spoke no English. We managed to muddle along with my broken German.
When it started to get dark, I rode back down and had a lovely conversation with a couple of ladies from Scotland.
On my walk back, I went through the other Christmas Markets. The clouds had cleared and the mountains to the west were visible behind our colorful riverfront buildings.
This is such a lovely view.
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