To Innsbruck

Our train to Innsbruck doesn’t leave until 09:30, so we can take our time getting up. We enjoy breakfast in the hotel’s elegant dining room. We get on the train and change seats to one of the cars that has huge windows. We are going through the Alps today and I don’t want to miss any sights. Unfortunately, the route from Vienna to Innsbruck takes you through a wide valley, so you don’t get to see many mountains close up. But it is still nice countryside. Besides, we do end up seeing the Alps tomorrow.

Innsbruck

The hotel is a longer walk from the train station than I thought. After getting directions from a lady in the travel store, we arrive at the Hotel Weisses Kreutz. Reading the information card in the room, we feel priveleged to stay here. Check this out:

1465

Established.

1769

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart stayed at the “Weisses Kreuz.”

1809

After the first battle on the Berg Isel (2. June) and the victory over the French and Bavarian troops, Andreas Hofer the local hero, commander of the Tyrolean peasant revolt against Napoleon, took up quarters here. For a whole year it was the centre of activities for the Tyrolean civilguard.

1904

Riots broke out between Italian and German nationalistic students. Cesare Battisti, the famous leader of the Italian-speaking Austrians, held his meetings here. During these times the house was partly devastated by German nationalists.

1926

The outer facade was decorated by the well-known fresco painter Rudolf Stolz, from Bozen.

1945

After the fall of the Nazi regime in May, Major Eliott commander of the American troops, made his temporary headquarters at the “Weisses Kreuz”.

Cool, huh?

We wander around in the chilly night air looking for a place to eat. We find an outdoor beer garden area by the river, but it is too cold for that. We end up eating back at the first yuppie place we saw tonight, a few doors down from our hotel. They seat us in the back, where the waitress gives us what seems like special service—treating us tourists with care. She gives us time to look at the menu, is happy to answer our questions, and checks on us a few times. We haven’t experienced that since the first hotel in London. ’Twas nice.