Welcome to Austria! Posted on July 20th, 2019 by

Today, we traveled from Pontresina to Innsbruck, Austria. This is the final city we are traveling to. Innsbruck is known for its culture and its alpine adventures so much that it has been a part of two Winter Olympic Games with its world famous ski slopes. It’s famous winter events is intriguing to our entire program as climate change threatens the time frame and the amount of snow that is produced in the area. Which in the future could possibly present a challenge for its residents and force a change or decline in its skiing prestige. 

Tourism is a large aspect of the trip, as we created and completed a glacial tourism survey while we were at Glacier Paradise back in Zermatt, Switzerland! One of the main motivations for coming to the Alps was to see a glacier and many claimed they would return to the Alps even if they were gone. However, the loss of glaciers would directly effect the climate and snow production in the Alps, forcing skiing and alpine tourists to venture elsewhere. 

When we arrived in Innsbruck we had about a 30 minute walk to our hostel.  I think many of us were worried about the upcoming hill thinking the hostel might be up there due to the track record from previous hostel stays. This was also probably one of the hottest days we’ve experienced so far on this trip and we also know it’s about to get hotter so there was a bit of a relief when we walked right up to the hostel on flat ground. We made it! We started an early morning and hopped around on trains for 5 hours and now we’re finally here. Then due to a lack of information we weren’t able to check in until 5:30. No problem! We know how to keep ourselves preoccupied. Some of us split off to go get McDonalds and shirts and some others went to find a grocery store. Some of us ended up stumbling upon a group playing all sorts of brass and stringed instruments which was phenomenal. They were promoting the New Orleans Festival in Innsbruck! 

Once we all got settled into our rooms and cleaned up, we all set out back to the same area where we found the music and had a group dinner. For some of us this was the first time having wiener schnitzel and I know that we were very pleased with the outcome. From there we got dessert and for some of us this was the first time getting apple strudel and again, we were very pleased. To wrap up our night we walked around the city to experience the night life and we ended up finding the stage for the New Orleans Festival. There was a group of 3 girls that performed country music; some originals and some that we already knew. So far Innsbruck has treated us very well. 

 

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