sound view: European Vacation Part 6

After leaving the Dolomites, Eric and I headed to Innsbruck. The weather forecast was pretty gloomy again, but Innsbruck had culture (indoors) and mountains (outdoors), so we were ready for whatever came. We didn't have reservations at any of the 3 hostels in town, but felt confident we would find beds somewhere. Immediately upon leaving the train station toward one of the hostels it began to rain, but we found the road its on within 10 minutes. We searched up and down the road, but didn't find the hostel anywhere. We asked some locals and they said they only knew of another one across town. (I later found this hostel, right where we were looking, but down a little alley.) We set of cross town in search of the other 2 hostels. By this point its dark and we're thoroughly soaked, both getting a little cranky. We finally find the second hostel, but no one is working the desk, so we search for the third. We come around a corner and Eric sees a building with a huge HOSTELING INTERNATIONAL sign on it. Hurrah! It was after the official last check in time of 10pm, but we must have looked pretty sad, so they gave us beds. We definitely disturbed our Chinese roommates by coming in so late and all wet, but they paid us back overnight with a chorus of snoring.

The next day we started at the Ferdinandeum, which is part of the state museum. This was the most varied museum I've ever been to. Starting in the basement and going up, the exhibits went through every culture that has ever occupied the Inns valley. Stone, bronze, iron tools to Roman sculpture, to classic Christian art, to supermodern art, with a butterfly exhibit thrown in for good measure. The butterfly art and science stuff was very cool, but not as cool as the top floor where there was an exhibit by a local artist named Thomas Feuerstein. The exhibit was called Trickster: Politicians, Demons, Parasites. Woah...I'm going to let this do the talking.

We then went to a castle on a hill just outside of town to see how the other half lives. Decadently and narcissistic is how.

We realized something else once the clouds hanging over the mountains cleared. While it was pouring on us in the valley overnight, it was snowing in the mountains. No more going up high to climb on this trip.

Eric was leaving Innsbruck that night to continue his journey and I was going to stay, so we wandered around town taking in the sights and celebrating the end to our fellowship.

As usual for us, the conversation that night turned to what we wanted out of life. For quite a while now I had been tossing around the idea of looking for a job in Germany. I have previous experience and very good contacts at TRUMPF in Ditzingen and I liked the area near there. So I decided that the next day I would get the ball rolling and see if I could get an interview while I was in Germany. I was leaving in one week, but it was worth a shot. I spend half of the next day in an internet cafe, fixing up my german resume and writing a cover letter, emailing my contacts in the US and Germany. So I applied and waited to see what would turn up.

The next day, I rented a mountain bike from one of the shops in town, took their advise about the local trails and headed off. There was really only one way to go out of town, UP. I rode fire road for most of the way up since the singletrack trails were too steep to climb. After about 3 hours of climbing I reached the highest point you could go on a bike in the area.

Don't ever tell me cows are clean animals.

The way down was mostly singletrack, with some very steep, sketchy parts. It didn't help that I was on a rented bike with inappropriate tires, v-brakes, and a Model T front fork. I took a few small spills, much to the delight of onlooking hikers, but most of it was really fun. I stumbled across the local sport climbing area on the way down too. By the time I got into town I had had enough of riding for the day, so I brought the bike back and headed back to the hostel for a relaxing evening.

The weather forecast for the foreseeable future was looking very warm and sunny, so I got it into my head that I wanted to go to a lake where I could swim and catch some rays. After much emailing and searching around online, I found a nice hostel in Überlingen on Lake Constance (otherwise known as Bodensee). I got there on July 13 and walked the few kilometers from my hostel, along the lake, into the town center. When I got to the main square right on the lake, there were 2 huge bouldering walls set up and tons of people around. I swear I did not plan this or know anything about it...Überlingen was hosting the German bouldering championships the next day! In fact, that day (Friday) was the open competition and I could have participated had I gotten there 30 minutes earlier. I really wish I had too, but the problems they had set up looked really fun. I watched for a little while, then headed back to the hostel. That night my only roommate was a guy in the German army who was out on a bike tour for the weekend. He had a millions questions for me about US politics and we ended up talking until 1am.

I knew that the finals for the bouldering championship didn't start until later in the evening, so I went to the beach for the day. I had a new book and was eager to tear into it (Extrem Laut und Unglaublich Nah). Later, I walked into town for the bouldering comp. Needless to say, the guys and girls participating were good.