Innsbruck, Austria

We had a 4-day weekend right after Halloween, so we decided to go to Austria.  We are 4 hours from Innsbruck, and another 1:45 to Salzburg.  Ben did pretty well in the car.  He was awake more than I expected him to be, but he entertained himself with books and toys.

We were supposed to go east through Italy, then north to Innsbruck, but our car decided to send us on the scenic route through the mountains in Switzerland.  This added another half hour to our trip, but it was really pretty.  We drove through a lot of snow at the high elevations.  

Unfortunately, it delayed us just enough that we couldn’t really do anything that afternoon because all of the museums close at 5.  We were still able to walk around, get some schnitzel, and see the cute town and the outdoor sights.

 Old Town

 The Golden roof.  It was a balcony where the important people could watch everything going on in the square- festivals, executions, etc.

 

 Old Town

 

The full moon with the river and the Cathedral.

The next morning was a little rainy, but by the time we were ready to go out, it had stopped.  We went to the Dom St. Jakob, which is the Cathedral of St. James.  It was built in the early 1700's in the baroque style, meaning very fancy and ornate.

After lunch, which was a cross between Indian and Italian (there is much more variety here than in Italy), it started to clear up, and we were able to go up the mountain tram.  We went underground to board, and the track surfaced just in time to cross the river and begin our ascent.  The total journey to the top took three different lines.  The funicular brought us to the Hungerburg, at 860 meters above sea level.  Then a cable car brought us to the 1905-meter-high Seegrube, and another cable car took us all the way to the top, 2256-meter-high (7400') Hafelekar.  At the first stop, it was so sunny that it felt warmer than in town.  At the second stop, it was a little chilly.  The the final stop, it was really windy and cold.

At the first stop, overlooking Innsbruck and the Inn river.

 At the second stop.

 At the very top of the mountain.  Not the tallest mountain in the Alps, but tall enough to be freezing cold, snowy, and windy.  You know it's cold when Tim puts on his scarf.

Looking down the cable for the cable car.

When we got back down the mountain, we left for Salzburg.

Halloween

Tim went back to the US at the end of October for our friends Nathan and Stephanie’s wedding.  I didn’t get to go because we decided that it would be too hard with Ben, and a 7 hour time difference for 4 days would be crazy.  So, Tim packed all his things in a carry-on suitcase, and then placed that suitcase inside a big suitcase (I’m sure the TSA was all over that one) so he could bring back a bunch of things- like a Halloween costume for Ben.  He had a great time at the wedding.

Tim was scheduled to fly out of New Jersey at almost the exact hour that the hurricane hit, but luckily he was able to re-book a flight out of Chicago.  He made it back here with no further problems. 

Ben was at home sick on Halloween with a slight fever, but he must not have felt too bad.

 

 

 Playing with his Mega Blocks again.  He loves them!

That evening, Halloween, our doorbell rang at 8:15.  After a moment of confusion (Tim didn’t even know we had a doorbell), we realized that it was trick-or-treaters.  It was a group of three kids, about 8 years old.  They were dressed up as monsters or something.  One was in white, one in red, I think the other was in black.  I’m not sure what they were, and I have no idea what they said.  I think it might have been something like Trick or Treat, but with an accent.  I asked if they spoke any English, and they didn’t, but I heard one ask the other in Italian, if he knew how to say dolce in English.  He was looking for candy of course, which I didn’t have.  I really thought they didn’t go trick or treating here.  There was no Halloween candy at the grocery store, no special displays anywhere, apart from a few decorations in some shops around town and at Ben’s daycare.  (On a side note, they just put out Christmas candy this week, and they also do Easter candy, but even all that is still less than the standard year-round candy in the US.)  I felt horrible for not having candy, but I offered them clementines, and they seemed excited about them.  I did see the candy in their bags, and it was nothing special.  Italy does not do candy like the US does candy.  Next time we will be prepared (and then probably not get any trick-or-treaters).

So, needless to say, we did not take Ben trick-or-treating.  I thought about walking to our friends house, just to do a little something, but it was raining.  We did dress him up though, in a Tiger costume that Tim’s mom made, and Tim wore 29 years earlier, and Tim’s brother Danny wore a year or two after Tim.
 

 
 

October Fun

Laura and Jeff's last day here.  We took it easy, walked around town, got gelato, and went to the park. 

 Ben is still learning the slide.  Every time he gets to the bottom, he looks back at the top, a little confused.

 This was at the beginning of the playoffs.  They had a really good run, but didn't go as far as we had hoped. Yay Cardinals!

 Trying to have a fall photo shoot at the park.  He loves bubbles!

 He also loves eating leaves.

 More fun in the leaves.

 In Italy, there is something called an Agriturismo.  It is a farm and restaurant, and sometimes also a Bed&Breakfast.  The idea is that they grow/raise/produce what they serve in the restaurant- meat, vegetables, cheese, wine, gelato, etc.  They all have animals, but some have more than others.  This one was called Oasi, and it had quite a variety of animals, even some that were not destined for the restaurant.  Since Ben is learning animal noises (he can tell you what a cow and a duck say), we thought this would be a good time to see the animals in person.  He had a blast!  In addition to the pictures below, they also had hawks, owls, sheep, llamas, pigs, cows (mucche), very noisy bulls, mini horses, and peacocks (pavoni).

Galline

 Asini

 The baby was so soft!

 Some mean-looking struzzi

 Bisonti

 Cammello

 Tigri.  On a nice sunny afternoon, of course they were just sleeping.

 Oche.  The geese nibbled at Ben's shoe when it got too close, and he thought it was funny.  For all the animals we saw after that, he stuck a foot out toward the cage.

 See the foot?

 Emu

 Caprette

 

 Zucche

They were also into flying at this agriturismo. They had several aircraft shells from the Italian Air Force like this helicopter, and they had some actual flying mini helicopter-looking things (I think it translates to gyroplane).  Not sure if those were meant for the public, but we only watched.

 The next day we went to a different agriturismo to eat.  They had a few animals, the kind raised for the restaurant.

 Ben really liked the pigs because they were making so much noise.  We made sure to keep his feet away from these guys.  You can't really tell from the pictures, but these were not the cute little ones in storybooks.  These were gigantic, but they still had cute little curly tails.