I didn't feel like I got my mountain fix in France because of Smith's teething, so I wanted to get a healthy dose here in Austria.

Tyler rode his road bike up to the event site in Mutters today so Smith and I were left to adventure on our own. I did some research and there is a gondola that you can take up the mountain. Now, I'm still not up for driving the van so I had two options: walk to the gondola, or take transit. Try as I might, I couldn't find any transit routes so walking it was. It looked like it would be a 45 minute walk so I geared up and got out there. By the time we left after the dude's nap it was almost 12 and 30+ degrees. The route looked like it would be mostly shaded on small streets, but it turned out to be very exposed on roads without real sidewalks. The shoulders were wide enough to make sure we had enough space, but it was a grindy walk and I was pretty sweaty and pooped by the time we got to the gondola.

I got us a ticket to make both stops so up we went. Smith made lots of friends on the gondola and had fun looking at everything go by. We got up to the top and instantly the temperature dropped to a comfortable level and we were looking out at the most beautiful view of the city and mountains.

Here's a little background info on the city. Innsbruck is the capital of Tyrol in western Austria and is quite close to the Italian border. The population is about 130,894 and the city is surrounded by mountains: the North Chain in the Karwendel Alps (2,334 metres) and the Patscherkofel (2,246 metres). The gondola took us up to the top of the Nordkette, the southernmost mountain chain of the Karwendel.

There wasn't too much real hiking at the top, but there were some short trails to explore that led to the most breathtaking views. We spent a good chunk of time up there and took advantage of the temperature and peace to get a good feed in; it was probably the most beautiful place I'll ever nurse!

We took the gondola down to the middle of the mountain but I was too tuckered out to go for a long hike, but we walked around a little and took mental notes because we want to go back tomorrow. Then we headed back down the mountain and discovers that there's a 'funicular' aka tram that takes you down to the city which would then be about a 10 minute walk back to our apartment - much better than the hike to the gondola! I swear I had done my research but I don't think SEO is a big thing here, so it never showed up in Google.

We got back to the apartment and had some down time before Tyler got home from the event then we all went to a local pub for dinner. It was super small and filled with what looked to be locals watching soccer and enjoying the live music. We ordered the local specialty - veal schnitzel - and it was fantastic. After going out for fancy dinners it was nice to do something quick and easy to wind down our first full day in Austria.