We stayed in a small town about 10 minutes from Innsbruck called Hall in Tirol. With a population of about 12,000, it is pretty tiny. But it is very quaint and offers spectacular views of the mountains. Our hotel was a very cozy and friendly Bavarian guest house. Yes, I know Austria is not Bavarian, but many Germans say that Southern Germany is more similar to Austria than it is to the rest of Germany. From my (short) experiences in Austria, I would have to agree. Anyway, the very friendly hotel loaned us 2 sleds and gave us a great tip on where we could do some wonderful sledding nearby. So we boarded a bus and rode the 15 minutes to Rinn, another small village nearby. Apparently, Rinn offers some of the best sledding in all of Austria!
The view from the balcony of our hotel room
We hiked up the mountain while pulling our sleds. I'm not sure what the elevation was, but it took us about 90 minutes and it was a very steep incline the entire way. Literally no flat portions at all. It was quite the workout! When we reached the top, we stopped for lunch at the small "Rinner Alm," which was a small restaurant. We squeezed in to the tiny place with many Austrians and Germans, as it was very crowded. You may be asking yourself, "Where is the photo of Matt with the beer?" He did have one, but it was too embarrassing to take the picture this time so you'll have to take our word for it.
The view on our way up the mountain
After lunch, it was time to sled back down the mountain! This isn't your typical sledding where you sled straight down a hillside. It's basically a path winding all the way down the mountain. So even sledding at a pretty good speed still takes about 10-15 minutes to get back down. You sit up on the sled and use your feet to steer and control your speed. It was the most fun I have had in a very long time! We felt like kids again. Matt had a good laugh as I got passed by numerous people, including both small children and grandparents. Going fast was fun, but there were no barriers or anything to prevent you from falling right off the trail, into the mountainside full of trees and rocks. So I played it safe. The scenery flying by wasn't half bad either.
In the evening, we walked around the small village of Hall in Tirol and enjoyed a relaxing meal at an Italian restaurant.
On Sunday, we headed to Innsbruck to explore the city a bit. It was much bigger than Hall in Tirol, but still very small. As it was Sunday, most of the stores and restaurants were closed. We walked around to see some of the interesting buildings. In the afternoon, we headed back to Munich on the train.
Some photos of Innsbruck
All in all, it was a really great winter weekend away. Since I was sick and missed our other planned winter weekend to the Alps, I was really glad that we had the opportunity to go to Innsbruck. The Alps are just so breathtaking, especially covered in snow. The photos don't do it justice, but we tried... Hope everyone is staying warm, wherever you are!
Cheers,
Matt and Kristin
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