John Edward Cooper’s Notes

DAY 2 - INNSBRUCK


Innsbruck at night

This morning we will have a guided tour of Innsbruck. We will see the Tyrolean capital with a local guide, featuring the famous Golden Roof, the magnificent baroque of St Jakob’s cathedral and the maze of medieval streets once home to the former Habsburg Empire. Today the local street musicians add to the vibrant ambience of the city.

We then have some free time to explore the city before returning to Seefeld mid-afternoon in good time for our evening meal at our hotel.

Janet wrote: “Ha! Ages before I managed any sleep, then long periods of lying awake. So frustrating! It was light by ca.5.45am and I could hear blackbirds singing away like billyo. So beautiful! I’d left the balcony door ajar as it was quite warm. In the end, I got up at ca.6.15am. I was really bleary-eyed.”
 “Quite warm”: for me it had been a choice of being too warm, for the duvet that had been provided was quite thick and heavy, or not warm enough when I cast it off. On subsequent nights I would just use the duvet cover without its contents, when I could get it, flimsy as it was and therefore unmanageable, to cover me without slipping off or bunching up. I showered, etc. after Janet vacated the bathroom.
 “It rained all night and is still raining now (7.15am)!” Janet added to her account.
 We went downstairs for breakfast at 7.30am. Breakfast items were laid out in the room adjacent to ours, where the salad buffet had been yesterday evening. I had cornflakes, which were a bit chewy and tasteless as compared with Kellogg’s. (Would it compromise profits that much for hotels to supply Kellogg’s rather than cheaper substitutes?!) Nevertheless I had them on subsequent days. I had bacon, sausages and baked beans, which were OK though I didn’t have them again. I would have bread with sliced salami or ham and with cheese. There were orange juice (which I had) and other juices, in rather heavy, unwieldy bottles in a cooler, which also held the milk that I put on my cornflakes. Coffee was provided in individual stainless-steel pots by the waiting staff. The arrangement of our table was very awkward for the people, designated “4”, “6” and “8” in the diagram below, to go to the breakfast buffet, and come back with breakfast items, and irksome for those sitting next to them who repeatedly had to move to let them pass by.


Bernie the tour manager and Mieszko the driver had a small corner table assigned to them.

On the table was the menu sheet, on which we were asked to indicate our choice for dinner.



Because I dislike like mushrooms and can tolerate fish, I opted for the “lake trout”.
 A complaint had been made to Bernie, with the suggestion that we be seated elsewhere. For there were many unoccupied tables (in the blank area below “Breakfast buffet / salad buffet (dinner)” in the diagram). But the management didn’t want to assign these to Riviera guests; so the compromise that Bernie proposed, was to split the two tables that had been pushed together to make one long table, to seat four of us at each of the two, with the remaining two being seated at the corner table that he currently occupied. I dubbed the corner table the “naughty table”.



 We returned upstairs to get ready for our outing to Innsbruck. When I tried to access the internet to look again at ways to get to Untermieming (08:31) things started to freeze up. I wanted to call up “Directions” in Google Maps, but as I say the browser just “froze” (08:36). Would anything else work? I succeeded in accessing the Wikipedia article “Seefeld in Tirol” (for all the good that would do me! 08:37), but another attempt at using Google disconcertingly just froze up (08:42). So I gave up, and shut down the computer. Back downstairs, I asked Bernie if he could look into possible travel arrangements for us. He looked at me somewhat quizzically, as if to say, “Why would anyone want to go to such an obscure location as Untermieming?!”, till I explained why we wanted to visit there.
 We boarded the coach at 9 o’clock or a minute or two before. It was raining, but this had stopped by the time we had to leave the coach for the walking tour and following that our free time. With a party of 48, that left one seat unoccupied on the coach. Janet and I sat at the rear, on the right side (as one faces forwards), so that we could spread out if we felt the need and she sit in the middle seat; but the policy was implemented, of those sitting on the right to move forward two rows the following day, and those sitting on the left to move backward two rows the following day. As we set out, Bernie started to speak on the coach’s address system. Our driver today was “Christopher”, but from tomorrow it would be “Mieszko”, who was Polish (as was the coach). Bernie himself was from the Netherlands (something which seemed obvious from his accent after he said it, though I hadn’t realised till then). Dinner this evening would be at 7pm. Tomorrow, we’d be setting out at 7.45am, so breakfast would be from 7am; and we were expecting to be back at the hotel, ca.6pm. On the subject of gratuities for guides (such as the one we’d be having today), he suggested €2.50–€3.00 per person. If anyone wanted to catch the train back from Innsbruck to Seefeld, the “S6” would leave the Hauptbahnhof at 8 minutes past the half-hour and 8 minutes past the hour. He recommended doing this, today or perhaps on the free day, because of the impressive scenery en route. Our guide today would be “Gunl” (that’s what it sounded like, anyway). He said something about Innsbruck, the capital of Tyrol and the fifth largest city in Austria with some 130,000 inhabitants. The arrangement for leaving Innsbruck today would be: return at 15:30 to the coach; or make one’s own arrangements; or meet at 15:00 in town. (The subject-matter of this account seems to chop and change, but I’ve reported according to the order in which I scribbled in my notebook.)


Saturday 1 July 2023 09:08:14
Toni Seelos Olympic ski jump, Seefeld in Tirol


Saturday 1 July 2023 09:19:44
Descending to the Inn Valley


Saturday 1 July 2023 09:24:20
Railway from Innsbruck to Seefeld and beyond, where it passes through a gallery on the mountainside

Our guide boarded the coach somewhere in Innsbruck, and first there was a tour of the city in the coach.


Saturday 1 July 2023 09:55:02
Our guide to Innsbruck introduces herself.


Map of Innsbruck, showing places seen or visited today

The photographic evidence shows us travelling in a south-westerly direction parallel to the River Inn along Herzog-Otto-Straße,—


Saturday 1 July 2023 10:01:44
The Inn, seen while heading south-westwards along Herzog-Otto-Straße, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 10:02:46
The Innbrücke, seen while heading south-westwards along Herzog-Otto-Straße, Innsbruck

—then nearly ten minutes later going eastwards along Anton-Meltzer-Straße,—


Saturday 1 July 2023 10:12:02
On Anton-Meltzer-Straße, passing Fritz-Konzert-Straße, Innsbruck; (background:) the Bergisel, with its ski jump

—to turn right along Leopoldstraße. For we passed the east end of the Wilten Basilica as we were on Leopoldstraße.


Saturday 1 July 2023 10:12:56
Wilten Basilica (Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception), Innsbruck, seen from Leopoldstraße

My 1971 holiday had evidently included a visit there (“Holiday in Austria (2): Innsbruck (other album)”), for I bought two postcards showing its nave and high altar. I didn’t take photos on that holiday; I bought postcards, but only of places I’d seen. I’d have liked to revisit the basilica, but that didn’t happen.




Wilten Basilica (Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception), Innsbruck: postcards of the interior, bought when I visited in 1971

We went up to the environs of the Bergisel and its landmark ski-jump, and also had a glimpse of the Brenner Autobahn, but the sights flashed by too fast for me to photograph them. So from Leopoldstraße we may have gone along its continuation Brennerstraße, and thence along Hohweg and/or Bergiselweg. The coach tour ended at a parking place adjacent to the south-east corner of the Hofgarten. “The rain had stopped,” Janet wrote: “the sun was out, and it was quite hot. Yes!” There were public toilets in the parking place, of which we made use, and a souvenir shop, where we bought a teddy bear whom we named Leopold. Before we paid the man, he inserted a sound box which played a short yodelling song when pressed.
 The Google Street View screen-capture image, below, shows the toilets (left) and the souvenir shop (right), and between them the entrance to the Hofgarten through which we went.


Google Street View image of the bus parking place by the Hofgarten, where we bought Leopold


Saturday 8 July 2023 09:53:10
Leopold, back at home with his new pals


Saturday 1 July 2023 10:45:30
The Hofgarten, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 10:48:56
The Hofgarten, Innsbruck

We had a visit to the former Habsburg imperial palace the Hofburg. Our progress to it along Rennweg was hindered somewhat by large areas having been fenced off for the “Innsbruckathlon”:

Are you ready for a spectacular obstacle course disguised as the world’s toughest sightseeing tour? The 10+ km long route leads past the most beautiful places in the city. Conquer at least 20 obstacles!

The same was true later outside the Golden Roof. Progress there was further hampered by the crowds of spectators that had gathered.


Saturday 1 July 2023 10:55:08
The Hofburg, Innsbruck, seen from Rennweg


Saturday 1 July 2023 10:56:00
The Hofkirche, Innsbruck, at the south end of Rennweg


Saturday 1 July 2023 10:56:16
Herrengasse, Innsbruck, at the north end of the Hofburg, seen from Rennweg


Saturday 1 July 2023 11:01:34
Tyrolean State Theatre, Innsbruck, on the opposite side of Rennweg


The Hofburg, showing its southern (left) and northern (right) entrances


Saturday 1 July 2023 11:03:56
Entering the Hofburg through its northern entrance

We entered the Hofburg through the northerly one of two entrances in its eastern façade, which brought us into the Domplatz. Then we turned left and went through an arch into the inner court of the Hofburg. (The blurb for today promised “the magnificent baroque of St. Jakob’s cathedral”, but the nearest we got to Dom zu St. Jakob was skirting around the east end of it through the Domplatz, from where its magnificence was hidden from our eyes by its immensity and sheer proximity.)


Domplatz (near the bottom) — Inner court of the Hofburg (top)


Saturday 1 July 2023 11:05:14
Entering the inner court of the Hofburg


Saturday 1 July 2023 11:05:50
Inner court of the Hofburg, looking south


Saturday 1 July 2023 11:06:28
Inner court of the Hofburg, looking back

There was a corresponding archway at the south end of the inner court, which led to a narrow street called Hofgasse. In the passage of that archway, on the left (east) side, there was an entrance leading, up a flight of stairs, to the imperial apartments, which we now visited.


Saturday 1 July 2023 11:09:30
Exit from the south end of the Hofburg into Hofgasse


Saturday 1 July 2023 11:09:30 (detail)

I was greatly pissed off by two things: that photography was not allowed in there; and that with a group size of 48 it was impossible to listen to what our guide said. Either there was too much echo in the big rooms, especially the “Giants’ Hall”, or in other rooms the spaces were too restricted to get close enough. The use of Vox receivers would have helped. On a positive note: a neat touch in the “Giants’ Hall” was the provision of floor-mounted adjustable mirrors to enable one to observe the ceiling without having to bend one’s neck straining to look upwards. Although for the most part I gave up trying to listen, I did ask whether a painting of one “Elisabeth” in the Giants’ Hall was of “Sisi”, statues of whom we’d come across in places as diverse as Hungary and Madeira. No: in this room these were portraits of Maria Theresia, ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 to 1780, and her immediate descendants, i.e. far too early to be “Sisi”.
 Of the part of the Innsbruck visit, after the coach tour, Janet wrote: “Then it was a walking tour, which included inside the Palace (I had claustrophobia!), the famous Golden Roof,… and… beautiful rococo decorated buildings with paintings, etc.” So, just as in Chatsworth House, where some of the rooms seemed dark and lowering, so here: Janet felt panic rise, and had escape to where the space seemed lighter and more airy.
 Here are a few photos of the interior of the Hofburg that I found on Wikipedia Commons (with the authors credited):


The Hofburg, Innsbruck: The Giants’ Hall
Alejandro from Mexico City, Mexico, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons


The Hofburg, Innsbruck: The Giants’ Hall
Allie Caulfield from Germany, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons


The Hofburg, Innsbruck: Dining Room
Allie Caulfield from Germany, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons


The Hofburg, Innsbruck
Allie Caulfield from Germany, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons


The Hofburg, Innsbruck
Alejandro from Mexico City, Mexico, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons


The Hofburg, Innsbruck: Lorraine Room
Allie Caulfield from Germany, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons


The Hofburg, Innsbruck: White Room
Allie Caulfield from Germany, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Emerging from the south exit of the Hofburg into Hofgasse (cf. “11:09:30”, above), we turned right and went along there. At its end, on the corner of the next street, we could see the Golden Roof. When we got there, on the opposite corner just to the left, was Helbling House.


Saturday 1 July 2023 12:11:28
Heading west along Hofgasse: (ahead:) the Golden Roof


Saturday 1 July 2023 12:14:22
The Golden Roof, Herzog-Friedrich-Straße 15, Innsbruck


The Golden Roof, Herzog-Friedrich-Straße 15, Innsbruck (1971 postcard)


Saturday 1 July 2023 12:15:10
Helbling House, Herzog-Friedrich-Straße 10, Innsbruck


Helbling House, Herzog-Friedrich-Straße 10, Innsbruck (1971 postcard)


Saturday 1 July 2023 12:16:44
Stadtturm, Herzog-Friedrich-Straße 21, Innsbruck


Stadtturm and Golden Roof, Herzog-Friedrich-Straße, Innsbruck: clipping from a 1971 holiday brochure

“It was just after 12.30pm when the tour finished and Bernie said we could go (!),” Janet wrote. “So, we set off for lunch and eventually found a café/bar first for drinks, then a restaurant to eat.” The “eventually”, in fact, applies to “a restaurant to eat”, for it was actually next door to the Golden Roof, indeed in the same building, where we had drinks.


Saturday 1 July 2023 12:33:20
Refreshments at Maria von Burgund, Herzog-Friedrich-Straße 15, Innsbruck


Bill, printed “12:52”

Then we wandered southwards along the street ahead of us, Herzog-Friedrich-Straße, turning right near its end into Schlossergasse; then coming back to Herzog-Friedrich-Straße, we continued southwards along Maria-Theresien-Straße as far as the Annasäule, before coming back again almost to the Golden Roof.


Saturday 1 July 2023 12:56:28
Heading south along Herzog-Friedrich-Straße, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 12:59:26
On Herzog-Friedrich-Straße, Innsbruck, looking back


Saturday 1 July 2023 12:59:50
Right turn near the end of Herzog-Friedrich-Straße into Schlossergasse. The other side of the arch, ahead…


Saturday 1 July 2023 13:02:08
…is out of shot to the left of this view.


Saturday 1 July 2023 13:04:02
Heading south along Maria-Theresien-Straße, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 13:07:00
Farther south along Maria-Theresien-Straße, Innsbruck, looking back; (left:) St. Anne’s Column


Wilten Basilica and Abbey : the former Innbrücke (replaced, 1983)[i]
St. Anne’s Column : Golden Roof
(1971 postcard)

[i] That’s why it looks different from the Innbrücke seen in “10:02:46”.

We plumped for a café for lunch just before the Stadtturm on Herzog­Friedrich­Straße. “[John] only had a bowl of onion soup,” Janet wrote. “I had a delicious salad with tuna, etc. Then a slice of Apfelstrudel with vanilla sauce (custard — i.e. apple pie and custard!) — when in Rome!”


Saturday 1 July 2023 13:35:18
Lunch at Kaiser Max, Herzog­Friedrich­Straße 23, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 13:43:30
Lunch at Kaiser Max, Herzog­Friedrich­Straße 23, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 14:01:28
Apfelstrudel at Kaiser Max, Herzog­Friedrich­Straße 23, Innsbruck


Bill, printed “14:19”


Saturday 1 July 2023 14:20:12
Lunch at Kaiser Max, Herzog­Friedrich­Straße 23, Innsbruck: the drinking fountain also seen in the 1971 postcard


“Then we set off for the funicular,” Janet wrote. “A lot of the streets were cordoned off for a (running) race and other ‘festivities’ so we got lost. Eventually we found our way there and went up to the ‘middle’ point. Quite some view up there. We had ice cream. Yum!”
 At the time we didn’t know what the “festivities” were; but, as I’ve already mentioned, they were a kind of obstacle race called the “Innsbruckathlon”. We returned along Hofgasse, going at its end through an arch in the domed south-east corner tower of the Hofburg, then turned left along Rennweg. Or tried to: for, because of the “Innsbruckathlon”, we had to go around indirectly, and onto the right-hand side.


Saturday 1 July 2023 14:27:20
Heading west along Hofgasse, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 14:29:58
In Rennweg, Innsbruck, opposite the Hofburg


Saturday 1 July 2023 14:30:30
Leopold Fountain, Rennweg, Innsbruck, opposite the Hofburg

If we’d stuck to Rennweg on our northward walk, especially if we’d been on the left side, we might have spotted the funicular station “Congress”; but we didn’t, we re-entered the Hofgarten and went as far as its north-west corner.


Saturday 1 July 2023 14:35:34
The Hofgarten, Innsbruck: juvenile blackbird


Saturday 1 July 2023 14:35:34 (detail)
The Hofgarten, Innsbruck: juvenile blackbird


Saturday 1 July 2023 14:39:18
The Hofgarten, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 14:45:08
Emile Béthouart Footbridge from the Innenstadt to St. Nikolaus, Innsbruck

The crows here were carrion crows not, as I’d have expected to see, hooded crows.


Saturday 1 July 2023 14:46:34
The Hofgarten, Innsbruck: carrion crow

Not finding the funicular station, we left the Hofgarten and returned along Rennweg, asking one or two people for directions. Within sight of “Congress” station, we were thwarted by “Innsbruckathlon” participants passing at a road junction, and had to wait till an event official judged that there was a sufficient gap between groups of runners to let us cross.


Saturday 1 July 2023 14:50:40
Heading south on Rennweg, Innsbruck, trying to cross Herzog-Otto-Straße to get to the Congress station of the Hungerburgbahn

So we got to the station. As Janet wrote, “we… went up to the ‘middle’ point.” The ca.2km-long funicular would take us upwards some 200m to Hungerburg; but this was only an intermediate point, for, from there, one could get a cable-car to the “Top of Innsbruck”, Halfelekar, some 1,400m above Hungerburg.


Map of the route of the Hungerburgbahn, showing places seen or visited today


Receipt, printed “14:59”




Ticket, printed “14:59”


Extracts from the “Nordkette: Top of Innsbruck” visitor information booklet


Extracts from the “Nordkette: Top of Innsbruck” visitor information booklet


Extracts from the “Nordkette: Top of Innsbruck” visitor information booklet


Extracts from the “Nordkette: Top of Innsbruck” visitor information booklet


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:01:38
Congress station of the Hungerburgbahn, Rennweg, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:08:06
Arrival of the funicular car №1 at Congress station of the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:17:42
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: Löwenhaus station


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:19:06
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: crossing the Inn


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:19:14
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: about to follow the north bank of the Inn


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:19:30
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: descending into the Weiherburg tunnel


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:20:34
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: crossing Tuffbach on the approach to Alpenzoo station


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:23:06
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: crossing a bridge just before Hungerburg station


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:23:20
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: looking back over the Inn valley


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:23:30
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: approaching Hungerburg station


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:25:58
Hungerburg, Innsbruck: Hungerburg station


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:26:36
Höhenstraße 132, Hungerburg, Innsbruck, with a viewpoint to its left (Hermann-Buhl-Platz)


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:37:18
Views from Hermann-Buhl Platz, Hungerburg, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:37:50
Views from Hermann-Buhl Platz, Hungerburg, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:38:12
Views from Hermann-Buhl Platz, Hungerburg, Innsbruck, including the Bergisel, with its ski jump


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:39:20
Views from Hermann-Buhl Platz, Hungerburg, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:40:42
Views from Hermann-Buhl Platz, Hungerburg, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:41:58
Views from Hermann-Buhl Platz, Hungerburg, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:44:50
Views from Hermann-Buhl Platz, Hungerburg, Innsbruck: the Bergisel, with its ski jump


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:44:50 (detail 1)
Views from Hermann-Buhl Platz, Hungerburg, Innsbruck: Wilten Basilica


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:44:50 (detail 2)
Views from Hermann-Buhl Platz, Hungerburg, Innsbruck: Wilten Abbey


Receipt, printed “15:47”


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:49:14
Gelati at “Das Hungerburg”, Höhenstraße 147, Hungerburg, Innsbruck

Janet had two flavours of ice cream, mango and lemon; I had just the one: pistachio.


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:56:48
Hungerburg station of the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck

In the photo below, see how the three yellow compartments in the “car” (the grey frame) stay level regardless of the gradient.


Saturday 1 July 2023 15:58:50
Funicular car №1 at Hungerburg station of the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:00:02
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: about to depart from Hungerburg station


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:01:30
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: crossing the bridge just after departure from Hungerburg station


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:01:50
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: view over the Inn valley


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:02:08
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: approaching Alpenzoo station

The passing loop for the two cars of the Hungerburgbahn was within the Weiherburg tunnel (but all attempts at photography turned out to be hopelessly motion-blurred).


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:02:40
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: approaching the Weiherburg tunnel


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:05:14
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: S-shaped cable-stayed bridge with two pylons, across the Inn


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:05:24
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: S-shaped cable-stayed bridge with two pylons, across the Inn


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:07:04
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: perhaps Schloss Büchsenhausen


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:08:02
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: tunnel between Löwenhaus and Congress stations


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:08:22
On the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck: approaching Congress station


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:09:42
Congress station of the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:11:16
Exiting Congress station of the Hungerburgbahn, Innsbruck

“Back on terra firma,” Janet recalled, “we tried to find our way to the ÖBB for a train back, via a scenic route, to Seefeld. A couple [whom I asked] pointed us in the right direction, and it was quite a ‘hoof’ there.”
 The photos below initially show us on Rennweg heading south.


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:15:14
In Rennweg, Innsbruck; (ahead:) the Hofkirche

A direct way southwards was still barred by the “Innsbruckathlon”, so we had to skirt around the different obstacles.


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:17:52
In Rennweg, Innsbruck: sporting activities

Earlier, we had come eastwards from Hofgasse through an archway in the domed south-east corner tower of the Hofburg; now we went southwards into Burggraben through an adjacent arch between the tower and the Hofkirche. (In the photo below we are in Burggraben going from the right to the left, and there are still “Innsbruckathlon” participants getting in our way.)


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:22:44
In Burggraben, Innsbruck

From the end of Burggraben, we: turned left along Museumstraße; after three blocks turned right along Meinhardstraße; turned left to the end of Brixner Straße; then turned right into Südtiroler Platz, where ahead of us we saw the Hauptbahnhof. So, as Janet wrote: “Quite a ‘hoof’ there”.


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:30:06
Heading south along Meinhardstraße, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:32:14
Heading east along Brixner Straße, Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:34:54
Heading south to Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof, Südtiroler Platz


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:36:06
Entering the ÖBB BahnhofCenter, Südtiroler Platz 5, Innsbruck

Janet wrote: “We purchased tickets, and saw four people from Hong Kong (three women and one man) we’d talked to on the coach.[ii] We tried to withdraw money from an ATM and couldn’t. We’d had problems. [John] had had difficulty accessing the internet, and our phones were playing silly beggars.[iii] We were both upset by all this — especially the ‘getting money’ bit. We couldn’t understand what was going on. I enjoyed the train journey, but couldn’t stop thinking about money and if we’d be able to get any. And would our cards work for anything?[iv] Back in Seefeld (still hot and sunny), we found a bank, and — yes! — withdrew €400. I was so relieved. I thanked God (I’d prayed on the train), and had a weep. I was tired, and the ‘do’ at the ÖBB [station] was the final straw.”

[ii] There’s more about them in “5 July 2023”.
[iii] Calls to Janet’s phone from mine failed. What’s more, when I tried to test my phone by calling home, an automated voice told me that calls to that number were barred.
[iv] If the debit cards wouldn’t work in ATMs, would they work if we needed to make payments by card?

Ticket issued at “16:38”: “Valid Saturday 1 July at 17:08 for departure within 2 hours.”


Saturday 1 July 2023 16:52:14
The 17:08 S6 train from Innsbruck


Saturday 1 July 2023 17:20:40
Views from the train: looking back at Innsbruck, including the Bergisel ski jump


Saturday 1 July 2023 17:24:44
Views from the train


Saturday 1 July 2023 17:29:46
Passing loop at Hochzirl


Saturday 1 July 2023 17:29:52
Passing loop at Hochzirl


Saturday 1 July 2023 17:31:28
“Hochzirl”


Saturday 1 July 2023 17:35:06
Views from the train


Saturday 1 July 2023 17:39:22
Views from the train


Saturday 1 July 2023 17:39:58
Views from the train


Saturday 1 July 2023 17:43:12
Views from the train


Saturday 1 July 2023 17:44:20
“Seefeld in Tirol”


Saturday 1 July 2023 17:46:08
Seefeld in Tirol Bahnhof

Back in Seefeld, as Janet wrote, we found a bank near the station: the Sparkasse, facing the station on the opposite side of Bahnhofplatz. It had an automatic door giving access to an unstaffed room with a couple of ATMs in it. And we were so relieved when it delivered the cash we requested.


Saturday 1 July 2023 17:57:54
Going west along Bahnhofstraße, Seefeld in Tirol

That wasn’t the end of our problems, though, because we didn’t know the way to the hotel. Janet wrote, “Anyway, after much wandering about, asking people to no avail, and (my suggestion!) a visit to the T[ourist] I[nformation office], we found a map and our way back to the hotel! What a palaver! It wasn’t even very far! It was ca.6.30pm by then, and after returning to our room we went for dinner.”
 We knew that the address of the hotel was “Klosterstraße 121”.



But which street was Klosterstraße? “Cloister Street”, I figured, “must be close to the church.” We wandered around, using that notion as a basis, but couldn’t see the hotel. We were in Olympiastraße at one point, asking passers by, and actually (turning right from there) in Klosterstraße, but at the opposite end from the hotel. That’s where we asked the last person, who tried to locate it on his phone. Then Janet suggested that we enquire at the Tourist Information office, which was back at the railway station. There, in a rack of leaflets, we found a map of Seefeld, so we didn’t even have to ask one of the clerks.


Detail from the map from the Tourist Information office, with our route back to the hotel (121) from the Tourist Information Office ( i ) indicated in red


Saturday 1 July 2023 18:24:48
At last! Hotel Hocheder, Klosterstraße 121, Seefeld in Tirol

It may have been this evening that Bernie handed over to me a there-and-back “Fahrplan” for our free day.





Its difference from what I’d formerly come up with, and lack of alternatives, rather surprised me.
 “…After returning to our room briefly we went for dinner. We got drinks first,” Janet wrote. As “apéritif”, the menu sheet suggested “Campari Spritz” so that’s what I had, as well as a large beer for drinking with the food. Janet certainly didn’t have “Marille Pure”, which is an apricot brandy.




Till receipt. “Marille Pure” is an apricot brandy, which Janet certainly did not have.

In general I have only the most rudimentary “food memory”: I eat to stop feeling hungry, or sometimes because it’s required of me to do so, not because I enjoy subtleties of flavour and texture. I do remember that I had the first four courses, but don’t recall at all “orange parfait/chocolate”; so either I’ve forgotten it, or more likely I left before it was handed out. Janet wrote: “I wasn’t really hungry, I was tired, and the earlier trauma [had] made me [feel] ill. Also, I wanted to wash my hair and get to bed early, as [there was going to be a] 7.45am pickup, and if I didn’t get some sleep I’d be dead on my feet tomorrow. I tried and failed to eat the starter. I had no appetite, so was back in the room by 7.45pm. I had a shower, washed my hair, sorted my bag and my bits, and was in bed at 9.20pm. (I could hear Mr. B[lackbird] singing. [It was] hot [so I had the] balcony door open.) What a day!”
 We were at the table “7”, “8”, “9”, “10” with Chris and Patsy, and conversation flowed with them; so when Janet departed I wasn’t troubled and the flow continued.



Janet wrote, “[John] [was] back in the room at ca.9.25pm. It took a while for me to ‘get off’, but I was asleep before [John] got into bed.”
 I’m writing this some weeks after the event. My notes say, “I logged on to the hotel Wi-Fi using the Samsung computer.… I researched alternatives”, i.e. alternative ways to get to and back from Untermieming on our free day. Earlier today, the browser had just frozen up; but now everything was working as I needed it to. The browser history indicates that I used “Directions” in Google Maps for “Stams to Hotel Hocheder” (21:25–21:33). Then it shows a whole new log-in. So perhaps, judging that the Asus computer was a faster machine than the Samsung, I switched to using that: “Connecting…” (21:33); “MeinWLAN” (21:33); “Socialwave Guest WiFi Hotel Hocheder (Klosterstraße 121, Seefeld in Tirol)” (21:33–21:35); “Socialwave Login” (21:35); “MeinHotspot > redirect” (21:35); then in my Gmail inbox (21:36), an e-mail titled “Almost done… (Login at 21:35)”. I used “Directions” in Google Maps for: “Hotel Hocheder to Hotel Restaurant Neuwirt, Untermieming” (21:41–22:05) for bus times; “Hotel Restaurant Neuwirt, Untermieming to Hotel Hocheder” (22:07–22:12) for bus times; and again “Stams to Hotel Hocheder” (22:14–22:16) for both train and bus times.




The “09:16” at the top of the page was added on 3 July 2023.

I transferred 97 photos from the camera’s SD card to the WD Elements HDD (22:36–22:38), and copied them from there to the Samsung’s “Pictures” (21:41).… I… shut down the computer (22:51), then finished getting ready for bed.

[Sunday 2 July 2023]