Week 61-62: Another Christmas and a New Year
Most of you reading this will notice we did not post last Sunday. Week 61 was spent celebrating our second Christmas in Austria! We decided not to post anything because we did not do much. The weather was either too foggy or the events we were going to go to were canceled. However, I’ll quickly recap week 61 now.
On Christmas morning, we went to Hallstatt. This is now officially our Christmas tradition and it was our sixth time here! We snapped a few pictures but did not film anything to create our weekly videos with. This town is pretty small, so anything I would have filmed is stuff I have already shared before.
Eric and I in Hallstatt.
Me looking back from Postcard Point.
We recently rewatched our Week 9: Christmas in Hallstatt video and noticed it has over 1.7K views now! We make these videos for us to remember our time here and share with friends and family, but I love seeing the views go up because it means other people enjoy watching them too.
Hallstatt from Postcard Point.
On Christmas Eve, we tuned in on YouTube Live to watch locals gather around Oberndorf to sing Silent Night, along with a few other new and unknown songs. We would have attended this in person, but it was raining all day and seemed a bit miserable. If you feel inclined to rewatch, click here and fast forward to the 49:20 mark.
Daisy was tired from Facetiming all the family.
Week 62: New Years Eve in Innsbruck
This week we took a trip to Innsbruck–the capital of Austria’s western state of Tyrol and we created two videos to make up for the missing one last week.
On December 30, we drove to Innsbruck about 3.5 hours away. Before checking into our hotel, we stopped at The Aqua Dome. I have been wanting to come here for several months now and we finally decided to go.
The Aqua Dome is a 4-star resort hotel & spa with three giant thermal pools situated in the base of the Ötztal Alps. Mountains surround you everywhere you look.
The Aqua Dome thermal pools.
What was supposed to be a relaxing visit turned into an anxiety-prone couple of hours. See, Eric hates public pools. While he was open to the idea of this outdoor thermal bath, he quickly ended up feeling like he was just sitting in a big bowl of “people soup” with a bunch of strangers.
Me looking at the thermal pools.
Had we spent the night at this resort we may have found the pools emptier at different times, but to stay around the holidays is a 3-night minimum and the price started to add up really quickly. So the 3-hour day ticket was the route we went. We still enjoyed our time here, but definitely would enjoy it more if there were fewer people.
Eric and I in our robes.
Around 3 pm, we left The Aqua Dome and headed back into Innsbruck. We stayed at the Goldener Adler and had the best room view of the colorful house row.
Me looking out of our window.
Located In the middle of Innsbruck's historic old town, this “historically valuable” house was built in 1390 and is one of the oldest hotels in Europe.
When we arrived at the hotel there was a street band playing, which made for a fun show to watch from the comfort of our hotel room.
Our view
After researching about the hotel, I learned it was the first hotel travelers reached after crossing the river and entering the city walls. Since 1390, kings and emperors, diplomats, scientists, poets, and composers were greeted at the hotel. There are four marble plaques outside the main entrance listing all the names of famous guests who stayed here, such as Mozart in 1773. Flash forward to the twentieth century and you would have run into Maria von Trapp in 1958 and Astronaut John Glenn in 1969!
The row of colorful houses along the Inn River.
Sunset begins around 4 pm here, so as soon as we got inside, we went right back out to take advantage of the fading daylight.
After walking down the main road, we took a few turns and decided to head up to the Nordkette to see Innsbruck at night. The Nordkette is part of Austria’s largest nature park and can be reached directly from Innsbruck city center in just a few minutes.
After spending €10/person and an 8-minute ride on The Hungerburg Funicular, we arrived at our stop–The Hungerburg Station. One of Innsbruck’s smaller Christmas markets was still happening, so we got a couple of warm drinks and looked out at this beautiful city from the top.
For New Years, Innsbruck created a light show called “Walk Across Lights”. Lighting displays are projected on the facades of seven historic buildings, including Imperial Palace and Court Church, Golden Roof, Tirol Provincial Theater, House of Music, St. James’ Cathedral, and the famous Mariahilf Housefront at the heart of the old town district.
After admiring the lights for a few minutes, we beelined straight for a pizza place we stopped at a few months ago in weeks 50-51. My mouth is watering thinking about the first bite of this deliciousness.
Chandeliers lit the way back to the hotel.
The next morning we headed back in the direction of the Aqua Dome, but instead stopped at The Stuibenfall–Tirol's biggest waterfall at 159 meters or 521 feet tall.
Honestly, editing this video together made my hands sweat. This was our third time doing a Klettersteig. While the route was an A/B for most of the way, there were two “C’s” and they definitely make you realize you are strapped to the side of a very tall mountain.
Me on the Stuibenfall Klettersteig route.
Me on the Stuibenfall Klettersteig route.
Eric on the Stuibenfall Klettersteig route.
Almost done with the climb.
The klettersteig route takes you next to the rushing waters. Parts of the waterfall were completely frozen which made for a really cool winter climbing experience.
The Stuibenfalls topo.
After we made it to the top, we took the stairs back down.
Long suspension bridge after the climb.
After the thrilling climb, we drove back to Gmunden and arrived just a few hours before the clock struck midnight. We watched fireworks from the best spot in Austria–our rooftop!
The drive back to Gmunden.
I am kicking off 2022 with a flight back to America in a few days. This will be my first time back since we moved in October 2020 and I am so excited to see my friends and fam!!
