Goodbye to our hosts, Leins and the Gurgl Vally

Saturday, July 24, 2010 Day 24
We got up and packed preparatory to vacating the apartment. We were moving along nicely when I crossed the threshold to go down the steep, narrow stairs from our third-floor rooms to the car below. I had my small carry-on behind me and my computer in the other hand. On the stairs, I decided to switch hands so that the luggage would lead rather than follow. Somehow, between trying to switch hands with the computer and luggage and going downstairs at the same time, I lost my footing and fell about 6-8 steps. No permanent damage, but I have several bruises, and the one on my thigh is going to take a long time to heal. I sat for a moment to collect myself, and Gunter and Wanda had rushed back upstairs to help me. Fortunately all the rest of my luggage was already downstairs, and all I had to do was walk downstairs and get in the car.

We left about three minutes after ten – a very nice start! We headed to Vipiteno, Italy, the first town across the border from Austria. We got on the autobahn, paid the first toll and set off at a nice pace. As we approached Italy and the Brenner Pass, however, traffic began to be stop-and-go. We would move along and get up to 60 or 70 kph, then we would drop back down to creeping along or actually stopping. Then we would pick back up and move along around 80 or so, then drag again. We were unable to determine that the problem was anything more than the toll booths in Italy, as they were quite backed up when we finally got there. On our return to Austria, the trip took only about half as long as there were virtually no road problems. It turns out that there is always a traffic jam going south at the Brenner Pass.

I was able to locate a bank in Vipiteno and withdraw 200€ without a problem. I don’t know what happened in Jertzens. After a couple of hours in Vipiteno, we headed back to Innsbruck and located our hotel. On the way back, once we crossed into Austria, we looked up and could see snow falling on the mountaintops. Snow in July! I tried to get a picture of it but it just came out looking like clouds, and it was impossible to distinguish them from the snow on the trees and mountaintops. It was lovely!

In Innsbruck, we were very glad for Charlotte’s iPhone, because one of the main streets leading to our hotel was closed due to construction. With the narrow, winding streets, we would have taken twice as long to find our hotel had we not had it. Thanks, Charlotte! We were in two rooms in the hotel – Wanda and I were scheduled to depart on Sunday, so we were in one room. Charlotte, Jane and Mary Ellen were not to depart until Monday, so they had a 3-person room. Actually, it turned out that Wanda’s and my room was a 3-person room as well. Wanda, Jane and Charlotte went for a walk. I opted out, as I was tired out by my fall this morning and the day’s activities. I took my computer and went up to the 4th floor to keep Mary Ellen company, as she also did not want to go for a walk. They were gone about 30 minutes, and came back to report that Wanda had slipped in some mud and fallen. She did not appear to have hurt anything more than her dignity, but she had gotten rather dirty. Her backpack, which was quite muddy, apparently protected her at least somewhat from the worst of the fall. It was quite soiled, as were her pants and her shirttail. She had on her Sisters Muleshoe shirt, which we had planned to wear to the show that evening. She changed pants, rinsed out her dirty ones and brushed off her backpack a bit. She had on a jacket, but a first glance it did not appear to be dirty.

At 6:30 we set out on a 30-minute walk to dinner and a show. Dinner was a traditional Austrian wienershcnitzel, accompanied by French fries, salad, soup and apple strudel. From there we went into a small auditorium for the show. After the performance ended, we hired a taxi to take us back to the hotel, as it was raining and we were too tired to make the trek. Four of us had to squeeze into the back seat, but the trip was less than 10 minutes long.

Back at our room, I realized that Wanda’s pants had dust all over them, and we discovered that her jacket was quite muddy, but the pattern and color of the jacket completely hid the mud. The mud had dried during the evening, turned to dust and dropped all over her pants. She shook them out as best she could, as these were the pants she was going to wear on her long trip home.