...my true love gave to me, twelve bummers bumming
We woke up this morning to see this funny white stuff falling from the sky...SNOW! The flakes were big and lovely but unfortunately didn't last very long. I could have slept til noon, but Guy was hungry and was prompting me to get up and get ready. Breakfast is included here and even tho I didn't think I could possibly eat any more food for the rest of my entire life, we made it to the breakfast spread before they shut it down. And glad we did! Quite the lovely spread. Hot foods as well as pastries, breads, cereals, etc. Plenty to eat. We sat down in the restaurant and enjoyed a leisure breakfast as we had no set plans for the day.
The twelve bummers bumming is this: bummers that it is the last day in Innsbruck. I'm so glad we came here. Like I said, we've been here before, but never with snow in the mountains. Simply breathtaking. And the bumming part is that is what we'll be doing today. Just bumming around town. Sounds pretty nice, eh? It was. We started out and the snow was still falling, but quickly tapered off. That's ok. We hit the markets again and got a better look at things since there were less people during the day. They sure don't have the same vibe as they do at night. Completely different experience. We also went back to the train store. Guy is eyeballing a limited edition Italian engine he can't get from home, even online without outrageous shipping charges. So we went back there for him to ponder. And ponder he did. Lucky for us, he is not a spontaneous shopper like I am, as we'd be broke if he were. He knows he is going to get it but needed to think about it just a bit longer. I don't understand it, but appreciate it.
We bummed around town and decided to take a walk by the funicular because we were contemplating taking a ride up the mountain. There is a market up there, but it is only open on the weekends. So we opted to pass on the ride up and walked to another market on the other side of the river. We couldn't find it so we asked a local where it was. He was REALLY nice and eager to help. His English was excellent and he pointed us down the street. We were close, but just needed a bit of help. As we came upon this market, we could see that it was closed. When we got there, it only had about 5 little shops, but cute in its own right. We could see where they have a fire pit and food. Not big enough that we felt like we needed to walk back over tonight, but it was fun to see. We did see a cool log cut out to make a large candle holder. Will have to put my cousin on that one. Tom, consider yourself commissioned! :)
So let's talk lunch. It was amazing. I told Guy this evening, as we were reminiscing about lunch, that I was going to go back and propose the to pretzel guy and marry him and his cheese machine. It was that good. So what he did (with gloves on and took the gloves off to take your money) was he cut a regular size pretzel in half and put the insides down on the griddle. Then he took out a few pieces of thinly sliced speck (ham/bacon) and got it to sizzling as well. Then comes the cheese. This gorgeous half circle of cheese sits under this flaming cooker until the top is brown and bubbly. When the time is right, he puts half the pretzel down on the plate, tops it with ham, and then takes a knife to the top melty part of the big cheese wheel and slides it over the top of your ham. He then tops it off with the other side of the pretzel. Now tell me, your mouth is watering right now, isn't it?? I videoed it and immediately put it on Instagram. The best part was in the video he says "I think you are going to love it". He was right. My life is complete. If I ever have a "Ground Hog Day" experience and I wake up every morning to relive the same day over and over...this would be in my top 10 days to relive.
So what do you do after such a feast?? Go back to the hotel for a nap (aka pretzel coma). I had to text my sister to have her watch the video as I knew she would be awake. And then I saw Cara had "liked" it and so I knew she was awake and I had to chat with her about it. All while under the nap covers. Cara was just getting ready to go to work and my day was already half over. I think she may have left for work hungry. :) So after the nap we got back up to head back to the train store (for the third time). The time had come to spend the Euros and enjoy our last visit to the Innsbruck markets. It's night now, so they are back to their magical selves. The smell in the air is wonderful. But while Guy was in the train store, I went to the mall we discovered today, just off one of the markets. I know my way around the town here pretty well because each street has different overhead Christmas lights (quite extravagant,too!). Some are snowflakes, mountain scenes, chandeliers, angels, etc., but I knew I wanted the street with the red bulbs. It took me right to the mall. Who needs GPS here? Just follow the lights.
When Guy met up with me we headed for the market by the river for two last items I was contemplating (see I guess I have SOME restraint) and talked about dinner. It is about 6pm and we are not even hungry yet. But feeling tired and knowing we had experienced Innsbruck markets to their fullest, we headed back to the room to rest and blog and think about dinner. It is nearly 8pm now. Still not starving but I think Guy would like some schnitzel tonight. So I'm off to get ready and will report in on dinner soon.
Back from dinner and we ate at the hotel's restaurant Europa Stuberl. It was quite expensive and I felt underdressed when we walked in. Kinda weird because this is the same place (seating area) that we ate breakfast in. Then when the sun goes down *shazam* fancy restaurant. Since I wasn't that hungry, my only options were soup and a few Austrian dishes. I wasn't ready to pay $40 for some dish, no matter how fabulous, when I wasn't even hungry. There was one main guy who took your order and three others who delivered the food. The main guy seemed a bit "stern" as he was nice but to the point. I ordered what Guy ordered last night. Safe and simple traditional Austrian dish. Potatoes with meat. Meat being probably speck and sirloin. However, mine had a lot more meat than Guy's last night. His was mostly potatoes. But it was good solid comfort food and was the lowest priced menu item. So all is good because I only ate half. Guy was needing a last hit of schnitzel and from the two bites I had, it was tender and delicious. He is even beginning to get a taste for cranberry sauce. They are big on serving it here. Like ketchup almost. :) But I need to back up to the beginning. After we ordered, they brought out bread and three different kinds of butter/spread. The little gal that explained it to us was speaking in German, so we had no idea what it was. It was all very tasty tho and the bread was four different kinds of breads in one loaf. I took a picture of it. Pretty cool. Then comes out some kind of little chef's surprise mini appetizers. Again she explained them all in German and we had no idea what we were eating, but again very tasty. Later, of course, she said something to us in perfect English. Where was that a few minutes ago? After our entrees were cleared away they asked if we wanted dessert. That was a no, but always tempting. So as we are sitting there I see the main guy going to the tables that were finished with this gigantic box with a glass lid. It is filled with chocolates that are filled with run, champagne, coconut, nougat, etc. So I told Guy not to ask for the check because I wasn't leaving until I got a look into that box! Plus I've had so many "pretty woman" moments here that I'm starting to get a complex. And if he brought the check before bringing over that box, I'm going to cry. So we waited and waited and waited. No box. Then here he comes, "Coffee". no thanks. "Chocolates?" Yes please! So he didn't just bring it to the table and surprise us with it like the other tables, but at least I got to look into the grand wooden box. The chocolates were all arranged beautifully and there were about 10 different kinds. I took the nougat and coconut. Guy took just one. Dark chocolate. They all had a soft/runny center and were divine. Thankfully he brought the box. Now I can leave Innsbruck with perfect memories.
So just one last story before I get to bed. Many times on this trip I had wished that when on vacation God would let us take a vacation from having to go to the bathroom. Sometimes it is hard to find a place to go! You hate to drink too much water at any given time because you never know where you'll find a potty. So on the Christmas market map it actually had WC (water closet) on the map so you knew where bathrooms are. So today we came across a WC sign and we both thought we'd take advantage. Well I've been in bathrooms before where you had to pay someone a Euro to go inside (and you often need your own TP) but this bathroom you had to buy a TICKET from a guy behind a window and then scan it at the turn-style to let you in. Of course I documented this with a photo! But still, for the guy who works the WC window, what do you say when someone asks you "What do you do for a living?" Ha Ha. Hey, nothing bad on the guy...someone has to do it. Innsbruck is making a killing off people having to pee. Just sayin.
It certainly has been a lovely time here. I hate to say goodbye tomorrow, but at some point we have to head home. So tomorrow we train back to Munich, unload at the hotel, probably train into town and see Tollwood's Christmas market again and then go back to the Sheraton at the airport. We already know what we are going to eat at the market tomorrow night. Funny. :)
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