Wednesday July 8, 2009
Innsbruck, Austria

Left to my own devices as I was, I did the sorts of things that my spouse would not care to do – ride the strassenbahn (streetcar), walk through the Hofgarten (royal park), and head for the zoo. If the word 'productive' may applied to tourism, this was a productive day. There were severe thunderstorms at night but the day turned out to be a mix of clouds and sunshine. Humid but cool. I had a walk through the innenstadt (as opposed to the altstadt) and then found the Hofgarten and had a lovely walk there The garden has the biggest chestnut tree I have ever encountered, and I thought I had seen some biggies!

Then I took the funicular up the mountain to the Alpenzoo. The Alpenzoo is touted as being the highest zoo in the world and has animals, etc., from the Alpine areas. The catch is that one must climb half a mountain to see the whole zoo, which feels like it's built vertically! True, the views over the city are spectacular, but I really got one heck of a workout! I saw steinbock, (a version of bouquetin that Joe and I had encountered one time as we came around a ridge in the French Alps), elk, wild boar + babies, lynx + baby, wolves, a variety of mountain antelope or similar called (I think) gämmse – all incredibly interesting! One photo shows a steep mountainside with a track and a train coming down – that slope is just like the slope on which the zoo is built, which shows that the mountain creatures are right at home – but that does not necessarily hold true for the visitors! I find it very humorous that, when I’m not climbing mountains, I still seem to climb mountains!!