ENCHANTING EUROPE - ALLURING AUSTRIA

Alluring Austria

Day 10 (Continued)

Wonderful Wattens

The drive from Vaduz to Wattens, Austria which was just an hour, was picturesque, with a splattering of snow here and there on mountain tops. 

We headed for Swarowski Crystal World and Museum. 

We had a group photo taken in front of the famous Swarowski landmark. 

First we went around the Museum - dazzling crystals in huge shapes and sizes..... 

.... Wonders of the world in crystals - Empire State,  the Taj, the Pyramids of Egypt .... They just wowed us. 

Then there were glittering crowns and ... 

... other incredible ladies' accessories. 

After that I decided to lighten our purse by splurging a little - on Swarovski crystal sets. Ladies were having a great time, can't say the same about the men folk.

Inviting Innsbruck

We left for Innsbruck at 6.15 and reached there at 6.45. 

We undertook a walk around the city. There were vendors on the streets selling all sorts of stuff and roadside eateries as in our Indian cities. There were a few who were waving sunglasses as we passed them. We just shook our heads and walked past. Some of our friends coming behind us accepted them and flaunted them to us - adding that was free! We lost no time making a roundabout turn and walking back to the 'goggle-dispensers'. They handed one to each of us with a smile as we thanked them. They were plastic framed ones similar to the 3 D glasses - sort of. All of us were wearing them. 

One of our youngsters wanted us to give a special '007' pose for a picture and we obliged. 

                                     
The famous spots were the Golden Roof and Maria Theresien Strasse and of course the Inns River. 

This is yet another quaint little city famous for winter sports. The chalets here are in demand for tourists in summer and for skaters in winter. 

We were being put up in a chalet in Innsbruck. It was on a hill-top. Our big bus could not go right up. So we had to get into a smaller bus with our small bags which took us up to the hotel while our bus was parked down. 

We checked into our rooms and as we stepped into our balcony, we found our friends at theirs - rather it was one long balcony shared by all those in the adjacent rooms. Another interesting feature was the sensor-lighting in the corridors - they would be on as we walked to our rooms and off once we entered them - good energy-saving method. 

The garden next to the dining hall had tasteful countryside stuff ....

... and the view beyond was captivating.

The dining hall had a nice ambience but ..... 

.... the soft-chocolates and stiff naans were a disappointment.

The next morning we came down for breakfast with our bags ...

... and left the hotel at 7.30 am in the small bus, drove down to our bus and bid goodbye to Austria with a feeling that we didn't have enough of the exotic country. Our next destination was Italy.