2015 Trip Day 24
Happy Birthday to me!
I have had a lovely day, quite Chalet-ish as I have indulged in both cake and hot chocolate with featherbeds of whipped cream, as well as being serenaded by the other guests at the hotel this evening.
But to go back to the beginning...
This morning was gorgeous so once I was dressed I sat out on the balcony for a while and tried to work out which mountain was most likely to be the Tiernjoch. (I'm still working on it.) Breakfast was, as usual, luscious and then I caught the bus to Innsbruck. I was there by 10.30am and, after buying an Innsbruck Card (I'm still not sure if it was necessary, but I think I about broke even) I headed to the Triumphal Arch and then the Anich Strasse. That street had an antiquarian bookshop where I found a book about Innsbruck and also an old wood-cutting of Achenseehof from 1874 and a postcard of Jenbach from 1900. Lovely things!
That done, I headed for the Golden Roof and visited the museum. It's very useful if you want to know about Maximilian I but sadly not much else. Still, it was on the list so it's nice to have done so. I had lunch (nothing too exciting - I was saving up for Kaffee und Kuchen!) and then went to the Ferdinandeum Museum. There was an interesting exhibition about World War I, and also a display of musical instruments including two Stainer violins, so not a completely wasted visit but I am not much enamoured by religious art (I blame Russia in 2001 where I went from one museum of religious artifacts to another and saw enough for a whole lifetime!) so I only stayed for a short time.
My next stop was the Hofkirche and the Volkskunst Museum. I spent hours there during my 2006 visit so I wasn't expecting to spend long there. Was that ever a mistake on my part! Wow! Last time the whole display was quite provincial and unimpressive, but not now! The entrance was so different that I thought I was in the wrong place. It was only when I stepped in the Hofkircke that it all came flooding back. That, of course, is quite unchanged but beyond that everything is different.
There is a delightful display about Maximilian I (it made me regret I had spent so long at the Golden Roof museum) and then the utter reorganisation of the interior of the museum itself. I loved seeing the way all of the religion-related items were laid out and also enjoyed the different rooms. The absolute highlight, though, was being able to go out over the bridge from the second storey back into the Hofkirche and stand above everything, including Maximilian's empty tomb, to see it all from a different perspective. What a fanastic idea!
My only disappointment (and I felt this before as well) was the impossibility of taking good photos of the clothes, and there not being postcards with pictures of the different garments. I find this very disappointing so will have to look elsewhere for alternative sources of information.
So, time for Kaffee und Kuchen! I had all sorts of places in mind - but then I went past the Sacher Hotel and that was that. In I went, and got a beautiful slice of Sacher Torte with the usual featherbed of whipped cream, as there also was on my hot chocolate. Both were extremely luscious!
Originally I had planned, after the Hofkirche, to visit the Stadtsarchive, but it was already 4.30pm and I didn't want to be late getting back to the hotel. I also had one more place in mind to visit - a bookshop. Surprise! I've been holding off buying a couple of useful titles for this exact day so I took advantage of the opportunity. I also stopped by Saturn (electronics, DVDs, CDs) and got a CD from Adoro, a German singing group I adore.
At the Bahnhof I missed one train by five seconds but managed to get another 15 mins later which got me back to Jenbach for the 6pm bus and at the hotel by 6.45pm.
I came down to dinner with certain expectations. Two weeks ago another visitor had a birthday and she had a candle and a special floral display on her table. There was nothing of the kind on mine. I was extremely disappointed, I thought for a while but felt that I did want a bit of a fuss made so I asked the waiter (who I've got to know very well over the past two weeks) about the lack of candles. He asked why I should expect it and I said that I thought I was a normal thing for birthdays. For whose birthday, he wanted to know, and was shocked when I said it was mine. Apparently reception is supposed to tell the restaurant staff when there are birthdays and they didn't. So he went to get me a candle and a special dessert.
A few minutes later the light were almost all extinguished and he came out with an ice-cream sundae and an indoor firework! (This was just a bit more than I had been expecting!!!) So I got serenaded by everyone in the restaurant (they did put the lights back on!) and lots of good wishes. Attention-seeing? Just a bit - and I'm not sorry for saying anything!
Dinner over, I came up to my room and unpacked my bag of today's purchases. Just for fun (and because it had to happen sometime) I have also weighed all of the books and booklets I have bought in the past three weeks. The grand total - 15kgs. All I can say is thank goodness I'm allowed to have 30kgs when I fly home!!!
I have had a lovely day, quite Chalet-ish as I have indulged in both cake and hot chocolate with featherbeds of whipped cream, as well as being serenaded by the other guests at the hotel this evening.
But to go back to the beginning...
This morning was gorgeous so once I was dressed I sat out on the balcony for a while and tried to work out which mountain was most likely to be the Tiernjoch. (I'm still working on it.) Breakfast was, as usual, luscious and then I caught the bus to Innsbruck. I was there by 10.30am and, after buying an Innsbruck Card (I'm still not sure if it was necessary, but I think I about broke even) I headed to the Triumphal Arch and then the Anich Strasse. That street had an antiquarian bookshop where I found a book about Innsbruck and also an old wood-cutting of Achenseehof from 1874 and a postcard of Jenbach from 1900. Lovely things!
That done, I headed for the Golden Roof and visited the museum. It's very useful if you want to know about Maximilian I but sadly not much else. Still, it was on the list so it's nice to have done so. I had lunch (nothing too exciting - I was saving up for Kaffee und Kuchen!) and then went to the Ferdinandeum Museum. There was an interesting exhibition about World War I, and also a display of musical instruments including two Stainer violins, so not a completely wasted visit but I am not much enamoured by religious art (I blame Russia in 2001 where I went from one museum of religious artifacts to another and saw enough for a whole lifetime!) so I only stayed for a short time.
My next stop was the Hofkirche and the Volkskunst Museum. I spent hours there during my 2006 visit so I wasn't expecting to spend long there. Was that ever a mistake on my part! Wow! Last time the whole display was quite provincial and unimpressive, but not now! The entrance was so different that I thought I was in the wrong place. It was only when I stepped in the Hofkircke that it all came flooding back. That, of course, is quite unchanged but beyond that everything is different.
There is a delightful display about Maximilian I (it made me regret I had spent so long at the Golden Roof museum) and then the utter reorganisation of the interior of the museum itself. I loved seeing the way all of the religion-related items were laid out and also enjoyed the different rooms. The absolute highlight, though, was being able to go out over the bridge from the second storey back into the Hofkirche and stand above everything, including Maximilian's empty tomb, to see it all from a different perspective. What a fanastic idea!
My only disappointment (and I felt this before as well) was the impossibility of taking good photos of the clothes, and there not being postcards with pictures of the different garments. I find this very disappointing so will have to look elsewhere for alternative sources of information.
So, time for Kaffee und Kuchen! I had all sorts of places in mind - but then I went past the Sacher Hotel and that was that. In I went, and got a beautiful slice of Sacher Torte with the usual featherbed of whipped cream, as there also was on my hot chocolate. Both were extremely luscious!
Originally I had planned, after the Hofkirche, to visit the Stadtsarchive, but it was already 4.30pm and I didn't want to be late getting back to the hotel. I also had one more place in mind to visit - a bookshop. Surprise! I've been holding off buying a couple of useful titles for this exact day so I took advantage of the opportunity. I also stopped by Saturn (electronics, DVDs, CDs) and got a CD from Adoro, a German singing group I adore.
At the Bahnhof I missed one train by five seconds but managed to get another 15 mins later which got me back to Jenbach for the 6pm bus and at the hotel by 6.45pm.
I came down to dinner with certain expectations. Two weeks ago another visitor had a birthday and she had a candle and a special floral display on her table. There was nothing of the kind on mine. I was extremely disappointed, I thought for a while but felt that I did want a bit of a fuss made so I asked the waiter (who I've got to know very well over the past two weeks) about the lack of candles. He asked why I should expect it and I said that I thought I was a normal thing for birthdays. For whose birthday, he wanted to know, and was shocked when I said it was mine. Apparently reception is supposed to tell the restaurant staff when there are birthdays and they didn't. So he went to get me a candle and a special dessert.
A few minutes later the light were almost all extinguished and he came out with an ice-cream sundae and an indoor firework! (This was just a bit more than I had been expecting!!!) So I got serenaded by everyone in the restaurant (they did put the lights back on!) and lots of good wishes. Attention-seeing? Just a bit - and I'm not sorry for saying anything!
Dinner over, I came up to my room and unpacked my bag of today's purchases. Just for fun (and because it had to happen sometime) I have also weighed all of the books and booklets I have bought in the past three weeks. The grand total - 15kgs. All I can say is thank goodness I'm allowed to have 30kgs when I fly home!!!