Leaving Salzburg, we took an afternoon train to Innsbruck, the main base of the Austrian Alps. Innsbruck is famous for having hosted the Winter Olympic Games at some point and almost everyone speaks English, probably a result of the Olympics invading the town. The hostel we stayed at was the most basic we’ve been to and looked exactly like a large weathered and dirty dorm. It was on the outside of town and we were glad to check out the next day. Upon arriving in Innsbruck, we both knew nothing about the town and ran into a few fellow backpackers right outside our hostel. Conveniently, they were headed to Salzburg, so we swapped a few can’t-miss items and headed to town via bus. To be blunt, Innsbruck was slightly boring and we found ourselves doing a circuit of the same streets. We turned in early, knowing we would have a full day of hiking and would then have a long night train ahead of us.

The next day, we awoke to thunder storms and rain. No hiking for us. Remember who is here with me… Jason discovered that a zoo existed in Innsbruck, and so we stuck our bags in a locker at the train station and headed to the zoo. The zoo is supposedly the highest zoo in Europe and after the climb to get there, I believe it. Those bears and snakes have an incredible view. I won’t bore you with the details. It was a zoo. By the time we were finished dodging kids and looking at helpless caged animals, the sun had come out and we decided to walk a few of the trails and enjoy the weather. Streams, little bridges that crossed ravines, and occasional rain showers created a fantastic mild hiking experience in the Austrian Alps.

Dinner that night was simple. Innsbruck is in southwest Austria, right near the border to Italy, which means the food is a combination of German and Italian. There was even pizza with brats on it. Of course, kebab stands were on every street corner. I should say something about kebabs here. In my European travels, I have noticed that each country has its own pronounced junk food. Germany has wieners and kebabs, Poland has perrogi and kebabs, Austria has pizza, wieners, and kebabs, France has crepes and kebabs, Switzerland has crepes and kebabs, and Greece has kebabs, and well, kebabs (it is their food after all). Notice a pattern? The entire EU has adopted kebabs as the universal snack food for Europe. I’m sure there is some town somewhere named “Kebab” where they serve nothing but kebabs. So back to Innsbruck, where Jason and I did indeed have kebabs for dinner on our last night there. And for my Swiss 2008 friends, the Austrian kebabs are the best so far.

After an early dinner, we were out of things to do. We had walked 13.2 miles that day and really weren’t leaping for joy at the prospect of an evening hike. We had 6 hours to kill until our night train at 11 PM. Jason asked the tourist office what there was to do in Innsbruck after 5. The response was: “you could go to tourist pubs. Or, you could go to student pubs…” So 7 pubs and 5.5 hours later, we found our train and headed out of Austria.

Our destination was to be Venice, but we made a slight detour…