July 12 Geneva to Innsbruck (Day 289)
Today we leave our wonderful friends in Geneva to travel east into Austria. We said goodbye to Raymonde and then Michel joined us on our early morning bus ride to the train station.
The bus stop is just opposite their house, so we didn’t have far to walk!
We had time at the train station for a coffee before we waved goodbye to Michel as the train left the station. Our route took us along the shore of Lake Geneva before it turned northeasterly towards Zurich.
The excellent Swiss vineyards along Lake Geneva!
My “window on the world” as we traverse the Swiss countryside.
Before we left Switzerland we had wonderful mountain views along Walensee also known as Lake Walen.
A beautiful park along the lake.
We crossed the tiny country of Liechtenstein and entered Austria. We traveled through valleys surrounded by mountains and dotted with small villages set in emerald green fields and meadows with darker green forests spilling down the mountain slopes.
We haven’t seen greens this vibrant since we were in New Zealand!
We reached our destination, Innsbruck, home of the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics, at a little after 4pm. It took us a little while to figure out the city public transportation, but it was necessary since our B&B is located up in the hills above town!
The view from our B&B room overlooking Innsbruck! In the distance, left of center you can see the Ski Jump!
We settled in, for only one night, with minimal unpacking, then had dinner at the Inn’s restaurant. It was still light out after dinner and we had purchased a 24 hour bus ticket, so we caught the bus downhill into town to see the sights.
The bus crossed the swollen Inn River and we disembarked at Marketplatz, a popular square alongside the river, filled with young people and tourists! The pastel painted buildings across the river compete with the mountain skyline for your eye’s attention!
We joined the throngs of tourists and wandered through the streets and squares of the old town, admiring the architecture and decoration.
The Triumphal Arch or Triumphpforte framing the mountains.
We caught the bus back up the hill at dusk and had our last view of Innsbruck before we slept!
The Ski Jump is lighted up in red on the left!
While most bus riders walked off to work, we walked to the waterfront to see this gentleman unlock the little box in the wall to push the button at 9am sharp to start the Jet d’Eau, the water jet that is the symbol of Geneva!
