Exploring Austria

Monday, July 19, 2010 Day 19
First things first – Happy Birthday, Christa!

We are staying just outside Imsk, which is a small town about an hour from Innsbruck. I hadn’t thought about what Innsbruck means, but we drove along a river called the Inn, and Charlotte pointed out that Innsbruck means Inn brook. We got up this morning in time to have the guesthouse breakfast at 8:00. There was an abundance of ham, prosciutto, cheese, more cheese, paté, four or five different kinds of bread, cereals, fruit, yogurt, coffee, tea, and juice. Really good breakfast, but too much food at too high a price for us to eat that every morning.

Charlotte had been sick in Vienna and was still not feeling on the road to recovery. After breakfast, she consulted with Gunther, our host, regarding the location of medical attention, and we left for the nearby village of Jerzens to locate the doctor. The village is quite small – the central commercial district is about two blocks long. We located the doctor without difficulty and left Charlotte there. I forgot to bring water and needed some, so we went to the grocery store where I got 6 bottles for 1€ – a pretty good rate even if I didn’t feel that I needed all six bottles. We had a list, but chose not to buy groceries yet because we needed some perishables and were not prepared yet to go back to the guesthouse. We hiked around the village a bit then sat down near a fountain to talk and enjoy the scenery. Charlotte called to say that she would probably be another hour, so we opted to drive up to the ski lift area which was five kilometers away. It took some time – with all the hairpin turns it was probably 10-15 minutes away. At the ski area we checked out the ski lift essentials and sat in the sun for a while to warm ourselves. It was brisk, and in the shade rather cool, and the sunlight was quite welcome. We were preparing to leave the area when Charlotte called to say that she was through at the doctor’s and ready to be picked up. We collected her and she, Jane and I went to the grocery store with our list and bought some of the cooking essentials such as butter, milk, bread, paper towels, some chicken, coffee, tea, salad makings and a few other things. We returned to the apartment for a lunch of salad, bread, mangoes and cantaloupe. Delicious!

In the afternoon we played a round of Creights, then went for a hike up the side of the mountain from our apartment. We had Charlotte’s wonderful pesto with chicken and pasta for supper – yum! She made it in Vienna and brought it along for us to enjoy on the trip. Thanks, Charlotte! We ended the evening with more talking, card-playing and a (relatively) early bedtime, as our plans for tomorrow call for us to get up and get moving.