Our last day in Salzburg and one day before our long trek home. So, how do we spend it? We get on a train and head to Innsbruck! The sun was nowhere to be seen again, so we bundled up and walked to Starbucks for some muesli and American style coffee. In my normal life, I never drink caffeine, but love coffee, so always do decaf. However, when traveling internationally, decaf doesn't exist except in the form of Nescafe instant, which is disgusting…so I drink the real stuff.   I take advantage when I see a Starbucks, as I know I can get a decent decaf.

Our Starbucks barista spoke perfect English and gave us guidance on what bus to take to the train station. We walked out, the bus arrived and we quickly were on our way to the train station where we picked up tickets, found our seats and settled in for the 1 hour 45 minute ride to Innsbruck.   On the way we passed pristine villages of Tyrolean style homes, green pastures surrounded by the beautiful Alps.

After arriving, I found the Tourist info booth, where the helpful guy gave all the info needed to make the most of our 4 hours. We walked down the main street, which was decorated for Christmas and had some beautiful old buildings with paintings and fancy trim work. After a few blocks, we were in the Old Town which had even cooler buildings and what else? The Christmas Market!!

Our goal was to go into the Alps and past Old Town we found the futuristic looking Nordkette station, where we purchased tickets for the three trams that would take us there.   If there were snow, we would be competing for trams with the skiers, but with warm weather, only the very tops of the mountains were white. While there was no skiing, there were plenty of hikers and people taking their mountain bikes to take advantage of the trails.

The first section was a tram, then we transferred twice to gondolas. The views were spectacular and as we were ascending the sun decided to appear, which made the scenery even better.   We arrived at the very top, with a 360 degree view of the incredible Alps at an altitude of 7000 feet. It was extremely windy and cold, but we braved it enough to snag some pictures. We took the gondola back down to the next stop, which was still at a very high altitude. The restaurant was open, so we found a quiet table, with a great view and enjoyed some soup and bruschetta.

It was hard to leave the beautiful mountain views, but it was time to go back down to town and get our train back to Salzburg. The train was full of weekend travelers and soon we were back in our hotel starting to pack for our trip home tomorrow.

Paige and Chris were cooking a traditional Thanksgiving cranberry dish, so instead of going out, we went to visit and see her dorm room. We took the bus and then walked the few blocks to her building, where they were just finished with the cooking.   We visited for a while, before saying our goodbyes and finding the bus for the ride back to the hotel.    

We wandered through Salzburg for the last time, enjoying the sights and sounds of Christmas, while surrounded by glowing churches, shining castles and hulking mountains.   The Christmas Market was full of people enjoying the food, gluvein and music, and everywhere you looked it was reveling in the season. The Austrians know how to do Christmas right and this was the perfect way to get into the Christmas mood.

Tomorrow we leave on a 7am flight from Salzburg to Frankfurt, then on to Newark, and finally our last leg to Seattle for a total of 22 hours. We do have first class from Frankfurt to Newark, so that will help! Thanks so much for joining us on our latest adventure. We send our best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and an even better 2017.