Innsbruck in the rain & detour to Hall in Tirol

Saturday, August 29, 2020

It has been pouring since last night and the mountains are completely covered in dense clouds. While the weather in Berlin is beautiful, I am here, sitting in the rain and feeling a bit lost about what to do.

Unfortunately, the apartment lacks a cozy sofa. The existing fold-out couch in the living room is hard as a board, there is no reading lamp, and there are no armrests that would be suitable for resting my head. So, I start the day with a hearty breakfast and head to Innsbruck around 11 AM, which is only about 20 minutes away.

The thermometer shows a temperature of 13.5 °C... I park in the parking garage near the old town and start walking. Unfortunately, it's raining constantly and at some point, I have to put away my glasses, put on the rain cover for my backpack, and it's really not fun. The Maria-Theresien-Strasse is the pedestrian zone, but even here, there are practically only stores that can be found everywhere. Quite boring.

The old town itself is almost entirely under construction, the paths are torn up, and there are barriers everywhere. Additionally, some stores are already closing for lunch.

The Golden Roof, the landmark of Innsbruck, can also only be seen behind a construction fence.

I walk to St. Jacob's Cathedral, which has a magnificent interior. My conviction is 'one church a day is enough', so I don't visit any more churches.

Innsbruck also has a Hofburg, a former imperial palace, but everything seems closed. So, I go back to Maria-Theresien-Strasse, pass the Anna's Column, and go to the Kaufhaus Tirol. But it's just another shopping center with stores like H&M, Saturn, etc. 🙄 The old signs of stores are quite nice photo motives though.

On the other hand, these Svarowski baubles are terrible. Batman made of Svarowski crystals for more than 8,000 euros!

I walk through the store once, then look for a shop with supposedly great coffee. It closes right in front of me because it's already 2 PM. Anyway, it seems to have more tea than coffee. I leave Innsbruck in drizzling rain and think it's too early to return to Ausserkreith, so I head to Hall in Tirol, which is only about 20 minutes east of Innsbruck.

Hall is actually a brine city, with salt deposits, and there is an old mint in the town and a coin museum in Burg Hasegg.

The first thaler was minted here in 1486. The coins were produced here with a coin minting machine that could produce 4,000 coins per day. The machine was powered by a water mill, a replica of which can be seen outside the castle walls.

The museum will be closing soon, so it's not worth it anymore. So, I walk around the town a bit. Here too, on Saturday afternoon, practically all the stores are closed. A kind of flea market/craft market brings some life to the streets and the main square. Unfortunately, all the seats in the only café on the square are taken, at least the ones that are under the umbrellas, which are serving as rain umbrellas today. Quite cute, this Hall in Tirol, but also quite dead.

It's half past three when I leave again. In a moment of inspiration due to the rain subsiding a bit, I head towards Achensee, only to turn around after 15 km and give up in continuous heavy rain.

While a thunderstorm 🌩 rages, I reach my apartment.

The clouds are so thick that I can hardly see the meadow in front of the house.

So, coffee, cookies, and a vegetable stew are quickly prepared.

The living room only has a 6-bulb ceiling lamp under which one could easily perform heart surgery.

Yesterday, I only had a small candle 🕯 on the dining table, which practically left me sitting in the dark. Today, I rearrange a bedside lamp and create some indirect lighting under a chair... I wonder if I should turn on the heating. Outside, there is a gray wall in front of the house.