A Look at Innsbruck's Old Town

Innsbruck is only a small town and there is not a real lot to do there, but it has so much character that you don't really need anything to do because you just want to look at the place. The Old Town is particularly nice and is where we chose to stay. I'm so glad we did because everything was so close, and because the girls got sick with colds the day before we left we took things slow and went back to our room quite a bit. This is the front of our hotel - it's been open since 1590 and has a very popular restaurant. We were really happy with our accommodation and the staff were friendly and helpful.

Our hotel was in a 'pedestrian only zone' which was nice, it was also part of Fairytale Lane. So there was always something for the kids to spot! This little train was right opposite our hotel and got played on quite a bit!

Here are some photos of the Old Town which we took over the 4 days we were here, we walked up these charming lanes quite a few times and it seemed each time we would see something new. The Christmas decorations added even more splendour!

The Old Town is full of sturdy medieval houses, many painted in pastel colours which look really elegant. This is where the Old Town hold their Christmas Markets - right under the Golden Roof! The Golden Roof is in the heart of the Old Town and is Innsbruck's greatest tourist attraction - not sure why really? I mean it was kinda interesting but it didn't really fascinate me that much! It was built in the 15th century as the residence of the Tirolean sovereigns (Tirol is a state/region). The Golden Roof is actually the roof of a 3 story balcony capped with 2,738 gold plated copper tiles! It was constructed for Emperor Maximilian I to serve as a royal box where he could sit in luxury and enjoy tournaments in the square below! I mean, I guess that is pretty impressive but I actually liked the elegant buildings surrounding the Golden Roof more!

{Old Town at night}

{More of Fairytale Lane}

The markets - looking a lot busier now! They didn't open until 11am each day, but stayed open until about 8pm. I loved Innsbruck and I loved the Christmas atmosphere that the markets created - but I was actually a bit disappointed in the quality of the markets here and everything seemed so so expensive because of the exchange rate for euro/pound at the moment. There were a few nice things there, but I saw so many better things in London, Bath and in Zurich (which now I wished I had a better look at!) It was still fun to have a look - and probably worked out better than me wanting to buy everything!!

This is one of the buildings next to the Golden Roof - they looked amazing and each one had so much detail - not sure how old this one was or what it was used for but we found that a lot of these buildings were once royalty residences - which kinda seemed odd because you are walking right past them everyday!! How things change huh! Can't believe how well looked after some of these buildings are though.

{Close up of the Golden Roof}

{Advent calendar in Fairytale Lane!}

{Cafe Moustache!}

{Leilani laughing at Emily because she wouldn't take her lollipop out of her mouth!}

The Old Town with the snowy mountains behind. We couldn't always see this view - on our first day the mountains were covered with cloud - on this day they were partly covered. We then had 2 clear days where we could see pretty much all of the Alps surrounding us!

The girls were so good as we wandered around the Old Town. They both had quite bad coughs and the cold air didn't help much. We were glad we had 4 days here so that we could just do a few things a day and not have to rush around trying to fit everything into one day. It was quite relaxing really. We didn't take the prams so Lani had to walk most of the time and we had a backpack for Emily - which turned out to be pretty good. They are good kids and didn't complain much. The highlight for them most days was getting a Hello Kitty egg (like a Kinder Suprise) and collecting the little Hello Kitty inside. They played with them constantly back in the hotel room - hiding them, talking to them and talking about them!

We didn't do as much as we probably would have liked in Innsbruck - mainly because the girls were unwell and we didn't want them to get worse, but we didn't care and we did enough, we saw most things we wanted to. We are so glad that we have the girls with us on these holidays. They always make us laugh and make things fun and they remind us what life is really all about.

Next chapter - The Snow!

The Journey to Innsbruck

Thursday morning we got a train from our hotel into Zurich's central train station. There were some Christmas markets happening here but it was so freezing cold we didn't have much of a look. We had a couple of hours to spare before our next train left but felt it wasn't really long enough to go and actually do anything, so we just grabbed lunch, had a quick look around and then found somewhere warm to wait! It was a bit of a waste of time in a way but I guess that's what happens when you have to catch trains and planes and stuff.

{Zurich Central Station Christmas Markets}

{Massive Christmas tree decorated by Swarovski! If you click on one of the photos - hopefully you can see the real crystal star ornaments - each worth over 50 quid! Now THAT's how to decorate a tree!!! }

{I would have been more than happy with any one of the gifts under this tree!}

{A go on the merry go round helped fill in some time! Lani chose the BMX bike to ride this time and looked so proud of herself pedalling away!}

{Em driving a truck!}

{These kids have sure learnt how to keep themselves entertained! Emily can be a bit of a crack-up at times!}

Em fell asleep on Mick's back in the toddler pack about 10 minutes before our train came, which was great because I doubt she would have gone to sleep once we were on the train. We booked our train online about 2 months ago and we ended up getting first class tickets because they weren't a lot more than the standard class. It was great and we felt like royalty! Well it wasn't that special but it was so nice to have our own little cabin thing and the seats laid down flat so it was perfect for Em to continue her sleep! (She slept for a couple of hours!) We had actually forgotten that it was like a 5 hour train trip! (Which I think is why we went for the first class seats in the end!) So it was a long journey but worth it because we saw some terrific scenery. Here we are in our own little cabin!

Some of the many different views we saw out the window - most are in Switzerland but we weren't really sure when we crossed the border into Austria.

Short Stop in Zurich

Laura and Kobe left on Saturday 5th and Elle left on Sunday 6th December so we had a couple of days to rest, clean-up and pack before we headed across the channel on Wednesday 9th December! We were all very excited about our trip away for 5 nights, even though we had lots of travelling to do! We took the train from Taunton to Gatwick, which took 3 hours with a change at Reading.

Lani entertained herself on Daddy's iPhone while Emily was busy looking out the window (or was it at her own reflection!?)

We had a couple of hours to wait at Gatwick Airport which turned out to be great because we booked into one of the airport lounges, which we get a few free visits at through our bank. No photos cause we were busy eating and drinking and surfing the net while the kids played in the cubby house! It was so relaxing compared to sitting out on a random seat in the airport and we felt really lucky. Our flight to Zurich, Switzerland was an hour and a half and the kids were excited to be on a plane again! (Hard to believe that with all the travel we have done this year - this was our first time back on a place since arriving!) Emily was very funny on this whole trip and said 'I want to go home' at least 10 times a day! I'm not sure that she really did want to go home - I think she just decided to keep saying it..... which did get a little annoying!

It was quite exciting arriving into Zurich, and I finally got a Swiss stamp in my passport so I was over the moon!! Everything, as you would expect, was so classy at Zurich Airport and so 21st century. Behind us is where the super fast train pulls in that takes you to baggage collection (like in Denver for those that have been there) BUT it had this super cool advertising thing - there were like a 1000 TV screens that ran along the train tunnel - all playing the same thing - so it was like this giant TV screen that went on for ages - that you could watch at super speed! Kinda hard to explain but it was so cool!

The escalators were even awesome - they would slow right down when no one was on them (saving power I guess) and as soon as you stepped on they would speed right up. Everything was clean and it just felt so cool and sophisticated! (I fitted right in!)

We got a shuttle from the airport to our hotel, it was about 8pm or something and we stayed in just a standard airport hotel - but it was seriously the best CHECK-IN I have ever experienced. The receptionist was so friendly and helpful. She gave us some Swiss chocolate and some Swiss apples - which were GOOD! She just made us feel so comfortable - even though we didn't really know any Swiss-German!

This was our room, it was huge and had 4 single beds... quite unusual but great as it meant the girls didn't have to share - which often produces kicking and blanket stealing!

Em enjoying her "chocolat"! I just love the way most of Europe pronounces Chocolat! It sounds so cool!

Lani doing the normal thing - seeing what small places she can fit in!