I’ll admit it. Before planning this trip, I could NOT have told you where Innsbruck was. I might have guessed it was coldish (they DID host the winter Olympics twice), but I might have popped the pin in at Switzerland, Sweden or The Netherlands.

Wrong. It’s in Austria. And now that I’ve visited I feel like a complete eedjit for not knowing more about it. It’s a pretty big place with sprawling suburbs, but the altstadt (old town) is beautiful (and crowded…with Italians of course STILL on their holidays), with precious buildings and delicious smells. HELLO Apple Strudel and Sacher Torte!

My ideal holiday day is wandering back streets of an old town, without a map, exploring the shops and trying to piece the alleys together in my head. We did that today, and also got to enjoy some Tyrolean fare – venison stew with spatzel (an egg type noodle) which made for a delicious change from any sort of sausage!

You can tell we’re getting closer to Italy. Of course there are still loads of Italian tourists around, but the people in the shops use a mix of German and Italian. “Hallo”, “Danke” and then “Ciao”. There are less people in traditional Trachten, or traditional dress. I already miss the leather shorts and busty dresses! The girls and I tried some of the gear on, and were glad when we realised we’d all look like we were off to a beer-fest at home, saving us a few 100 euro. Looks great on those who know how to wear it well. We looked like we’d just walked out of a fancy dress shop.

One thing I won’t miss is the Crocs and socks combo. For some bizarre reason, in Germany and Austria, they still haven’t figured out that Crocs are some of the ugliest items to grace a foot since plastic Jelly sandals. Hopefully once we cross that Italiano border, that’s where it ends.

We’re staying in a youth hostel which is only open for 2 months a year. The bunk-bed rooms usually serve as dorms for the adjoining apprentice school (like a TAFE), and during the summer months, while they’re all on holiday, cheap-arse families like ours get to stay for two nights, with a buffett breakfat, for 140 euros, all up! Half the price of the Wyoming caravan park, and without the fear of death!

Not bad! It’s a la-dee-dah castle for the next week, so we can cope with the bunks for now!