Wednesday morning brought a gorgeous, cooler day after the storms moved through the area. We planned to start as far east as we wanted to go and make our way slowly and leisurely back toward the hotel without a set plan. The only actual plan was visit the Riedel Glass Factory in Kufstein and visit Innsbruck, which was only 20-30 min from the hotel. Everything else was whatever we decided on the spur of the moment. It really was a fun day!
Riedel opens to the public at 9:00 am for tours and shopping. While you can shop online for the amazing products here, a tour is really the best. It really is one of the favorite places for me to visit. I am a scientist at heart, and this place is so cool! We came home with a new decanter and two matching wine glasses. The major production is wine glasses and decanters. The ovens run at 1200 deg F!!!! Here are a few pictures from the visit.
After shopping, we stopped in Kufstein for breakfast at the local bakery, and picked up sandwiches for a picnic in the Alps. Wine from Day 2 for the picnic was already in the cooler that traveled with us in the luggage from the states. (One of the reasons to buy new glasses). It was about 10:00 when we headed back to the west. Once again, Brother-in-law suggested a great site: Schloss Tratzberg, “because there is always a Schloss.” And, I wanted to see as many as possible!
The family actually still lives in the castle! It is located on the side of the mountain, and don’t worry, there is a train to take you to the top. It is super steep! We toured the castle with an English translator device. They also have an app for that.
Schloss Tratzburg is located near a town named Jenbach, which sounded like a perfect place with a perfect name to me! Just north of this pretty town is a lake called Eben am Achensee. Achensee is a gorgeous Alpine lake with the clearest water I have ever seen! We stopped and had our picnic on the banks of the lake.
After the picnic we went into Innsbruck, one of my favorite cities in the world. We stopped at the World Famous Golden Roof, and walked down to the waterfront for a beer. After that we stopped at a grocery store and bought a fan. If you are a southern girl like me, a fan is a life saver (well, a sleep saver) in Europe. I called her The Little Mule. She was awesome and worth every single penny.
Finally, we landed back at Seefeld for a great Italian dinner at Seefelder Stube next to a very nice couple from Florida! The Lasagna was amazing. Back at the hotel, we continued the search for the perfect Austrian day, grabbed a cold bottle of Champagne from Isler and two flutes, and jumped back in the car to find a perfect Alpine sunset. And, we found it!!!!!
Up next, Passionspeile – Day 7.
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