Great Adventure: Tuesday: Innsbruk

On Tuesday we packed up and left Italy.  We drove a couple hours and headed to Innsbruk, Austria.  There is a Swarkovski Crystal tourist place there and we stopped there to see what there was to see.  It was.... odd.  It was interesting.  They had this big mound, and the museum was built under it.  That was interesting.  The museum was mostly just weird.  I thought it would be more about crystals and the mining of them and how they cut them, but it was not.  They had some interesting things on display, but mostly funky stuff.  There was a really bizarre mechanical theater, and a really neat round sparkly room.   The best part was the end, where they had a great display of a bunch of different things that had been created and used crystals.  Stuff like fancy sparkly shoes someone wore to the Emmys or a sparkly tiara worn in an opera.  That was cool.  Then you walked into the shop. Oh my!  So many pretties!  I did buy some earrings and I love them.

Next we drove to the center of Innsbruk and we had every intention of going to the Old Town section.  We did make it there, but Carnival was in full swing there.  It may not have been Carnival, but there were a ton of people, most were in costume, and there were at least 2 different stages blasting loud music.  Needless to day, our photo ops were not to come to fruition.  Sigh.  No worries, we enjoyed the visit!

Unfortunately, with all the crowd and commotion, we got turned around sand completely lost.  At least in Venice we had a map and an idea.  In Innsbruk.... well, we had neither!  I didn't mind the wandering.  It was a lovely (but COLD!) and it was fun for me to look at everything.  We eventually made our way back to the car and all was well.  And we headed on into Germany, to the Edelweiss Lodge.

This is the sort of thing you can purchase on a mountaintop McDonalds in Germany!

Lovely scenery on the way to Innsbruk.

The welcome sign to the Crystal Palace Museum.

The Crystal Palace museum was inside that mound behind me. Pretty cool!  You walked around to the door and it was all under there.

This was a giant dome room, with crystals all around.  It was pretty, and if you stood in the center, the acoustics were fascinating.  it was an interesting room, but it certainly did not photograph well.

Sadly, this crystal tree behind me did not photograph well either.  It was amazing and beautiful, but you can't tell from this.

Aparently black lights don't photograph well either.  This was a gorgeous crystal gown that sparkled.

What the heck?!!  This room was weird modern art.  Actually, most of the museum was.  Some of it was a little hokey and this was just plain bizarre.  the face here says it all.

Finally!  my favorite part!  The bejeweled couch and gorgeous shopping opportunities!

A better shot of the bejeweled couch!  I'm loving it!

A lovely crystal display in the shopping area.  I want a dress as sparkly as that!

Even the bathroom was fancy.

Beautiful view in Austria!

Innsbruk- So pretty!

We came to see this area.  I have no clue what it is!

But I was here, in this very important tourist spot.  Do you like my hat?  It was cold out there.

The architecture alone makes me want to move to Europe!  Why can't be have such pretty buildings?

The place was crowded with people. 

Not as many costumes and definitely not the detailed elaborate kind we saw in Venice.  Still a lot of fun to see.

 I never got tired of the buildings. Check out the paintings on that green one!

During our escape from the packed crowds, we managed to get lost.  Who cares?!!  We were in Austria and it was gorgeous!!

Yep, I was just happy to be seeing beautiful sights and enjoying the scenery.  And we did eventually find the car!  It was a good way to break up the drive and we had a good day as we journeyed to Germany.