I have a love/hate relationship with January. It boarders more on the "love" side, but there is still some hate involved. I hate January because the fun and excitement of the holidays is gone, and I'm always left with a feeling of emptiness and general "meh." I hate January because it is usually cold and dark with no hope of relief for a few more months. However. I love January because you can find some incredible prices for traveling (because in the cold post-holiday winter nobody wants to travel). Popular places are also less crowded, which combined with the cheaper prices is an advantage to go out. But, something I hate about January is trying to find a place to go. Many things are closed or have ridiculous reduced winter hours. We've been busy with our travels, and I was searching for something to keep us going. After looking around, I found a bus trip to Innsbruck, Austria through the USO.
This was our first time traveling with the USO - we had to drive down to where I work as we don't have a USO at our base. Although it was an extra drive, it turned out to be a great trip. We left our house on Friday night around 11 p.m. and drove down to the area where I work. We got on our bus at 1 a.m. Yes, 1 a.m. I have learned from other trips, and I think I now have a perfect system for being able to sleep on these bus trips. I pack a travel neck pillow, ear plugs, and an eye mask. You may laugh, but this keeps me comfortable and blocks out noise and light, making it possible to get some sleep. We stopped for breakfast in the morning at a truck stop (I assure you, a European truck stop is much nicer, cleaner, and classier than the American truck stop you are envisioning). Then we made our way to our first stop, the Swarovski Crystal World.
Swarovski Crystals are made at three different spots in Austria, and the production for the company first started in Innsbruck (who knew? I didn't). Normally I wouldn't have gone to this if I were planning the trip, but the entrance to this was included in the trip price. The Crystal World is meant to be an "experience" of artistic interpretations of different crystal things - that's the best way I can explain it. It's uh... interesting.
At the end of the tour you are spit out into the massive gift shop. Josh and a friend went to get coffee, but I did some shopping. I have been to other Swarovski shops around Europe, and the prices at this shop were much cheaper than any I have seen. That being said, some things were still far outside of my price range. I did, however, find some earrings on sale which were my steal of the day. In addition to my beautiful earrings, as we left Crystal World we were treated to stunning views of the mountains of the Innsbruck area.
The bus then made its way into Innsbruck. We picked up a local tour guide two gave us a tour of the town. First we went to see the Olympic ski jump. We got close to it but didn't get close enough to walk around it. However, this area provided some great bird's eye views of the city.
Our tour then led us into the Old Town of Innsbruck. Our guide pointed out many highlights, took us inside the city cathedral, then left us on our own to sightsee. We wandered around the Old Town, which is surprisingly small.
We saw all of the "must sees" in a short amount of time and were left wondering what to do with our afternoon. It was a crystal clear day with blue skies and sunshine. It made for beautiful views of the mountains, but it was cold. We went into a brewery to warm up and have some drinks. After this it was time to return to the bus for the trip home. It was a quick trip to Innsbruck, to spend only a day - really just a few hours - in the city. But I think it was worth it. We saw everything we wanted to, and we couldn't have asked for better weather. On our way home the bus driver took us on a different route from the way he had come in the morning. We took a highway from Innsbruck to Reutte, Austria, then up to Bavaria. The sun was setting, and a good portion of our drive was in the dark... but it was breathtaking for the time I could see. We were surrounded by the snow covered Alps on all sides as the sun set against the peaks. There is no way I could have taken pictures through the bus windows, and even if I could it wouldn't have done it justice. It was a beautiful once in a lifetime sight, and I hope I can remember those images for the rest of my life.
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