Tirol

Friday afternoon with another 3 day weekend ahead of us found us back in the car and on another adventure.  This time, we were heading to the Tirol region of Austria to meet up with our dear friends whom we met while living in Prague and who are being repatriated in just a few months.  We wanted one last hurrah, and the Innsbruck area was just the place to do it since none of us had ever been.

One quick family selfie (MadHatter insisted - it is a tradition after all) and we were off.  And then we were not off.  We hit traffic.  Of course, we did - this was the weather...

And, of course, it was!  Mother Nature was laughing at us because we had rented an Airbnb that had a grill and a huge backyard and the view.  We had thoughts of sitting outside, sipping drinks, while the kids played and the barbecue heated up.  What we had was 15 cm of snow and more falling.  The first night saw us making pizza and playing board games...

Amazingly, when we woke, we woke to this...

 The Sunshine and blue skies and the temperature slowly creeping up into the 60's.  An incredible turnaround from the night before.  

 A great lunch at the local hipster joint - the Burrito Kartell

Followed by a dessert of candy that Mr. J had picked up with the kids on the way.

Tummies full, we were ready to see a few sights, one of which was the spectacular views that surrounded us.

These guys stopped to pose for me a few times...

And then were off again...

We sauntered through the Old Town checking out the series of small pedestrian squares, surrounded by medieval houses and stopped to admire the Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof) which is arguably the city's most famous spot (and most photographed).  The roof is constructed from 2,738 fire-gilded copper tiles and was built in 1500 as a viewing balcony for Emporer Maximilian and his new wife to watch their wedding festivities on the streets below.

We admired the Rococo facade of the Helblinghaus (above) and then tried to catch a tour of the Hofburg Palace but were a bit late as it was closing within the hour.  I snapped a few pictures of the dome and exterior, and we were on our way...

We were going to try to tour St. Jakobs Cathedral, but our luck was not changing for the better and service was just starting when we got there.   We walked around the outside admiring its stature and the beautiful flowers in the garden around it...

We decided an hour was a bit too long to wait, so we did a little souvenier shopping instead.  Each of us got a small trinket, though Mr. J took the cake and purchased a pair of Lederhosen!  At this point, we were thirsty, in more ways than one, so we walked back to the main drag and took the elevator high up to the 360° bar.  True to its name, the bar hosts a truly impressive all around view of the mountains and city of Innsbruck (and beyond).  We stopped to admire and have a drink but didn't stay long because with 4 kids and a small space you can imagine how relaxing it was.

We couldn't help but giggle when we passed this street...

 The view from the other side gave us a preview of where we would be having lunch in two days, though we did not know it then.  (It's the Bergisel ski jump)

 It was time to call it a day and go in search of some dinner.  We found a great restaurant online and walked over to get a table thinking that even though we didn't have a reservation, it was still super early, and we could get in and out before the rush started.  Once again, our timing was off, and the place was fully booked.  Back to Igls we went and had an excellent meal at the local pizza place.

Wiped out, it was straight to bed for all of us - and that meant fulfilling the promise that the girls could all sleep together -

 It didn't last long though as they were not so comfortable this way and so ended up in 3 separate beds for the night.  Which probably resulted in better sleep and happier children the next morning.  Which was necessary because we were heading out for a day of fun designed for the kids.