Early out

Patrick had an early out day on Wednesday and since we still needed to go get Aeneas from school and had a few hours to kill, I took him to the mall for lunch. We ordered Bento Box sushi lunches and sat next to a huge window that looked up to the fog covered mountains.

Although Patrick’s school doesn’t require “house slippers”, they do require indoor soccer shoes for PE and goggles and towel for swimming. Bright orange Adidas. Check. Goggles. Check. Towel. Check.

Afterward we decided to do a little wandering on our way to Aeneas’s school and stumbled upon the Imperial Gardens. We explored the garden with it’s ducks and enormous trees. We were so taken by this huge evergreen. The first branches started at 15-20′ in the air but the ends of them swooped down to touch the ground creating a totally secluded fort underneath.

We also stumbled upon the station that takes you to the top of the mountains. WE had seen it from afar but weren’t quite sure where you catch it. Patrick and I agreed we should take Aeneas on a destination unknown up to timberline on the funicular tram and cable car to Seegrube station. The 3-D maps on the site are worth checking out for yourself. You can see them here.

The kids wanted to get their hands in the snow and I wanted to see just how high that cable car could take us. It’s really hard to imagine. The first leg from the city is a funicular train car that goes above ground, underground and over a river, begining at Congress Station (574 meters; 1883 feet). It takes you up to the Hungerburg station (860 meters; 2821 feet) which is located just above the valley floor on a shelf, and feels like the FLC mesa in Durango. Then you catch the Nordkette cable car up to Seegrube (1905 meters; 6250 feet). The last leg is by cable car up to Hafelkar (2334 meters; 7658 feet) which was completely shrouded in clouds. We didn’t make it to it this time. We were literally right at the edge of the cloud at Seegrube though. Here’s the weird part. They have full on restaurants with hot food at all of these places and those are only the ones you can see! The city was so small and we weren’t even at the top. It was crazy.

Austria, like the USA, has states. Innsbruck is located in the state of Tirol. Aeneas has already had a quiz on the states of Austria and the counties of Tirol! Cheers to starting from scratch on some things.

#everydaylife #fun #views #Innsbruck #family