Monthly archives for December, 2013

Innsbruck, Austria – Day One, or “As a matter of fact, I think I could look good in Lederhosen”

Ok, so it may be a stretch to say that I would look good in lederhosen which is confirmed by my wife not even letting me try it (spoilsport, get back to me after a few months of exercise. Cause right now it might look like how Jim Carey did in the Grinch who Stole Christmas…. Fabulous!). Lederhosen or not, we got to spend a few days in Innsbruck and hit most of the major sites in and around the city. The first place we went of course was our hotel. Just a street over from the train station the Hotel Sailer is tucked into some other older buildings (and no, that first picture isn’t mine…cause mine sucked).

The Hotel Sailer

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The Hotel Sailer

We didn’t realize that the hotel elevator was on the outside of the building so it was a nice surprise to see the beautiful mountains rise into view from behind the buildings. We had a room on the very top floor where the roof is curved and had a pretty good view of a chuck of the city. Because of when we arrived in Innsbruck and had never been there we took a little bit of time to get our bearings and found some lunch at a Thai food place ( it is of course not the same as what you’d get at an American Thai place, thus, no Pad Thai…  good food, but I was disappointed). Our only planned entertainment for the day was dinner and a show at the “Tyrolean Evenings in Innsbruck” so we took a few hours in the afternoon to get a little more sleep missing from the train ride. “Tyrolean Evenings” was within walking distance of our hotel so we figured we’d leave an hour or so early and head that direction just in case we got lost (for “just in case” read “when“). Our cell phone plans aren’t setup to inexpensively go between countries here in Europe so they’re not quite as useful getting you around an unfamiliar city when not in the country. No problem, we have our handy dandy city map, can I borrow that for a second sweetheart…What do you mean you thought I had it? More than once in our marriage Amy and I have gone somewhere (like a store lets say), wandered around aimlessly for 5 to 10 minutes and then realized we were each “following” the other to nowhere in particular. We’re college educated folks (on the other hand I try and look at it as proof of a deep trust in one another, which will likely be quite comforting when we accidentally walk off a cliff together or something). In this particular case we did have a vague idea of what direction to head but had gotten way off course and by utilizing an rather basic map on our reservation for the evening along with landmarks and the compass on our cell phone (as well as our extensive training via “Man vs Wild” episodes) we managed to find the place and only be a few minutes late. It’s funny what differences you notice when you go between two nations so close together. In particular we were treated with what we would consider a “normal” dinner schedule that isn’t the same in Italy. It was 7-ish when we ate and the courses flowed like what we are traditionally used to (soup, salad, main course, dessert). While we were both hungry, after getting lost in the freezing weather the best thing on the menu was the hot soup. It’s easier to enjoy food when you can feel your face.

Pre-Show

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Pre-Show

This attraction is a kind of old traditional folk songs and music with some laughs mixed in (very much like the Hatfield and McCoy’s dinner theater in Gatlinburg, just without a plotline). Singing, dancing, and even yodeling took place, which apparently when done by someone who knows how to do it doesn’t sound that bad at all. Interestingly enough the guys did most of the dancing, leg/foot/and thigh slapping and general moving around while the ladies just twirled in one spot (Amy’s observation and translation “the guys were on display instead of the girls,” my observation, “This may have been where the Ricola commercials came from,” cause I’m just that deep a guy). At the end they actually sang a song from each of the countries of those in attendance (though not their national anthems). For American’s they played the first part of Yankee Doodle and then it turned into another somewhat obscure song of which I sadly didn’t know the words (I was tempted to go and tell them for the next group to play the first few chords of “Sweet Home Alabama” to get the American’s going). After going through all of the songs it kind of left everyone there in a good mood (especially a couple of large groups of Italians and Australians ) and there were hand shakes and friendly smiles all around as we left. Well done Gundolf Family, well done. Finding our way back home was a little easier, but of course, much colder (below freezing by that point). We topped off our evening with a hot coffee at the hotel. Day one, other than getting lost before dinner, was a good start to our anniversary vacation.

Planes, Trains, and A….no wait, it’s just a Train.

Now that I’m back in Italy Amy and I finally got the chance to go on a little mini-vacation outside of Italy. Europe, being a little more compact than the U.S, gives the opportunity of taking a four day weekend and enjoying a completely different country while still being back home in time to go back to work on Monday…well, one of us anyway. In this particular case we had a good excuse. Dec 20th, 2013 is Amy and my 10th wedding anniversary ( I know, I know, I look so dashingly young, could it really be 10 years?). Originally we had intended to re-visit where we spent our honeymoon but being on a different continent we decided that wasn’t going to work on our schedule. Instead, we (and by we I mean she) picked out Innsbruck, Austria (wife/editor’s note: this was actually “if Venice didn’t work out”, Options are nice :). Not that I didn’t want to go mind you, I essentially was told to look for a way to get there and a place to stay…oh, and maybe some stuff to do while we’re there. Of course, that’s fair enough, given the amount of time I have on my hands. Innsbruck, Austria it is. If you don’t know where that is, Innsbruck is a beautiful and old city located in the Tyrolean region of Austria not far from the border with Italy. It’s nestled in a valley in the Austrian, Alps. Picturesque doesn’t quite do it justice.

Traveling from where we are in Italy (because we’re in the heel of the boot) by and large means flying to Rome and then flying somewhere else. However, flying into Innsbruck in particular is a little expensive, and we learned that the train ride in from Verona, Italy is spectacular. I want to be perfectly clear here, while I may have time on my hands I apparently lack the gene that drives people to be travel agents. Trying too coordinate flights with train schedules made my eyes cross. The solution? Lets go by train the whole way. I was skeptical at first really. A short train ride to another city in Italy would be one thing, a 12ish hour train ride to Austria is something else entirely (especially being the first time we try it). The stop and go nature of it that gives me pause, imagining 12 hours of riding in stop and go traffic, but at least in this case I don’t have to get a pat down and body scan so there is an upside (not to mention getting to keep your shoes on…).

There is in fact a train station in Grottaglie, but they don’t sell tickets there anymore so we decided to start our trip in Bari (this, coincidentally, is where the nearest IKEA is located. I think Amy had an ulterior motive here). We did a little recon the weekend before (and the weekend before that at IKEA, sensing a pattern here?) so we could figure out where to park the car, how to get around the train station, and where a Burger King was (that was an accident, but it was pretty tasty). So when we got there a few hours early (there was a truckers strike going on so we left really early and they were in fact blocking traffic in Bari) we spend some time at the mall (….this is no longer a pattern, it’s diabolical) and then found our way into the city to park…and we were still an hour and a half early. So as all good Italians do we sat down in the cafe and ordered something with espresso in it. As it turns out while we sat and waited for our train we struck up a conversation with an older gentleman who knew “a little” English (“a little” can often be translated to “I can probably talk about just about everything but don’t know slang”). He was incredibly nice and asked us if we could look up the “football” (come’on man, I hail from SEC territory, you’re talking about soccer) scores for him. He was also headed in the same direction on the same train and said he would help us get started since this was our first trip. (he also said his grand kids would get a kick out of hearing he sat and talked with us…goofy Americans :) He did get us on the right train smoothly, sadly it dawned on us that he never asked for our names and we didn’t ask his. I do, however, have his picture for posterity. Thank you sir:

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In order to make this trip seem shorter we started with a sleeper car for the first leg of the trip. This in fact turned out better than the first time I used one. Back in college when Amy and I spent a couple of weeks in Russia we took one between Moscow and St Petersburg and decided to open the window for some air (this was another “we” translates to “she” moment)…which then got stuck open. You could have hung meat in that little cabin, brrr ( I did eventually manage to get it closed, but our portion of the heat that trip was gone for good). On this trip it got more chilly the further north we went but it didn’t feel like Siberia in there. Even more fortunate was the fact that you couldn’t open the window unless it was an emergency, so Amy wasn’t allowed to touch the window unless we derailed…good plan. The flip side to this was that even though it was a late night and made few stops it was only a 6-ish hour ride which meant only a few hours sleep. It is, however, better than driving the whole way.

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The non-sleeping car portion of the trip started in Bologna (I can hear you singing it already, sadly it’s not how they pronounce it here. You’d think the original owners would get it right, sheesh). This portion of the trip involved waiting for the train in 20-some-odd degree weather we weren’t quite prepared for in order for the train to “open” but other than that it went fine. The train from Verona though, was as good as advertised. As you move north things start to change. The most notable is the architecture, you are still in Italy but things start to look more “Bavarian”(think less Godfather and more Sound of Music). Along with that you start to notice the snow capped mountains. It truly is a beautiful thing to watch go by through the window. Passing out of Italy and into Austria it only gets more beautiful, with the last few miles outside of Innsbruck making the whole trip worth the half day it takes to get there.

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Next up, Innsbruck.

Shopping

I’m going to make a small confession here. With the exceptions of hardware stores and Fry’s Electronics I’m not really big on “shopping”, at least not when “shopping” translates to, “Wandering around aimlessly with no intent to really buy anything for hours at a time”.  I’m more of the hunter type. Give me a list and I will take each item, make a plan of attack as to what order to find them in and then hunt it, kill it, and drag it home with a particular focus on beating previous records on time spent in the store. So believe me when I tell you that shopping in a foreign country can sometimes be one of the most frustrating things that you can possibly do, at least if you’re like me.

Now, let me be clear. I’m not talking about browsing around in a touristy area for some vacation keepsake. Since we live here we have to go and buy food and other stuff just like if were were back home in Charleston. The difference? Nearly everything you’re used to is altered, even if it’s just a little, and it can throw you off balance. Hilariously so.

Now, there are some basics that are the same. They do have stores that are like Wal-Mart and Target (Ipercoop and Auchan) but you also have smaller individual stores where you get just dairy products, or meat, or whatever else. Since we’re used to one-stop shopping we often use the former. Even these, however, present some challenges. The first time we went shopping we went to an Auchan which is a French store that to me is a lot like Target. Interestingly enough they aren’t single stores though. Both Auchan and Ipercoop are (as far as I’ve seen anyway) always attached to other stores like a mall in the States, food court and all (you gotta have a place to get your espresso you know). When we got into the Auchan itself it dawns on us just how little Italian we knew. We could enthusiastically say “Hello!” and then stare at somebody while they talked to you as if you have any idea what they’re saying. I’ve gotten used to this “I’m a 2 year old” feeling (at this point my standard phrase is “Mi dispiace, no Italiano”, which mean’s “I’m sorry, no Italian” which I usually follow in English with “I’m an idiot”).  This doesn’t really become an issue until you go to check out, or in our case leave, but that comes later. This particular time we weren’t trying to buy anything, we were just looking around and figuring out what all they had (I found that they have Lego’s and an electronics department so there is a comfort zone in there). As we wandered around we found out that English is actually scattered around all over the place on different things like labels and such (not to mention about 85% of the music playing is American). Sadly the one place that you’re not likely to find English is on the “preparation” part of a food label. Believe me, there’s nothing like using Google Translate when cooking dinner while doing metric conversions to inspire confidence in what you’re going to eat (this is for myself only, Amy does a wonderful job).

Now, when it comes to food there is an important word to know, “Equine”. Right, wrong, or indifferent, they eat horse meat here and there is a section in the meat department labeled as such. We were pre-warned, but it still looks weird every time I see it. Every time I walk past it I want to say “Wilbur…” in my best Mr Ed voice and “count” on one foot but I’m afraid the ironic genius of the joke would be lost on everyone there. It’s a shame really.

Vegetable shopping also is a little different. Each produce is assigned a number like say, 52. You then bag up however much you would like (using the provided disposable plastic one-size-fits all gloves) and then take it to a little machine where you weigh it and tell it what number it is. The machine then spits out a little bar coded tag and you stick it on the bag, this way the check out person doesn’t have to do it. It’s not a bad idea really, except you have to line up for it, and Italian’s “queue” up for anything like 5 year olds getting cake at a birthday party. Don’t leave more than a few molecules between your and the next person or they’ll cram in there like it’s the end piece with the extra icing.

As we decided to leave we were then faced with the question of how exactly you exit this place? Our experience up until that point was that of other larger stores like Euronics (it’s like a BestBuy). Those stores have a strict entrance and exit. You go in one, you go out the other. Very simple. Auchan and Ipercoop, however, are a little different. The entire store front is open to the mall and each of the check out lines immediately exits to into the mall walkway. The entrance is a big open area usually on the right hand side of the store. As we approached a closed lane to walk out a lady working there started talking to us really fast until she saw that unmistakable “I’m really sorry but I have no idea what you’re saying” look on our faces and she let us through anyway (as a side note, the next time we went there it turned out we didn’t buy anything either and before we left Amy jokingly said, “Ok, pick out something to buy so we can leave.” )  Apparently they would prefer you leave out the same way you come into the store if you’re not buying something, who knew? If you do go out one of the little gates at a closed checkout counter it sets off an alarm like those detector things we have in the states…just FYI…oops.

Some other interesting but important tidbits. All the bathrooms are “mall” bathrooms. There is no potty in any of the stores. This can be a painful yet valuable lesson to learn firsthand, especially if you’re in the middle of shopping by yourself.

Carts are locked together in the parking lot with this little device on each handle that accepts a 50cent, 1 Euro, or 2 Euro coin that lets you “rent” it and get your money back when you get done with it. Another good idea, but one that should be remembered before you go inside and more importantly before you leave the house so you can have one of those three coins in your pocket. I have had many a cappuccino just to get some change back to get a cart (and if you’re not fast enough this can cause issues concerning that little bathroom revelation).  They do have little red baskets that you can roll around but if you have toilet paper or paper towels on your list you can forget it, it ain’t gonna fit.

Speaking of lists. I have developed a love/hate relationship with them at this point. They’re a useful guideline but what you found last time isn’t necessarily going to be there next time. It will be there again eventually but they seem to restock at random intervals that only God and the guy who does the reordering knows for sure. You can only hope that if toilet paper is on it, it’s one of the “good” days.

There are countless other things that can make you stop and go “Uh…..” but to list them all would get rid of future posts. Suffice it to say that when you’re a “hunter” shopper it’s not quite yet familiar territory and you don’t always know what’s in season. Those time records are really going to take a hit.