We are on our way to Austria, Innsbrook to be exact. We went through mountain pass heading  towards Liechtenstein. We went through a pass near the top of Innsbrook pass in the Swiss Alps where we stopped for lunch.

Again our tour guide Laszlo recommended a couple of small shops for lunch. They seemed to fill up quickly as we weren’t the only bus to stop here. Teresa and I looked around and saw another small restaurant and decided since it look like some of the locals were going and that we would try that one. We got inside and the menu is written in Italian and German. I could have had a soup minestrone or anything else, it was easy to find. My wife, being a vegetarian however, was a little leery of the soup, so we asked if it contained a beef or chicken stock. The waitress gave us a puzzled look, then went back to the kitchen to ask. We heard pots crashing and clanging and a woman’s voice over the kitchen din exclaimed something in Italian about “how chicken was NOT in Minestrone! If it had meat it would be Italian wedding soup”. Lesson learned.  That was good to know and Teresa had the soup. When we got back to the bus it seems, we had the best meal of it all as our companions were talking about hot dogs and chips. 

At the other end of the pass, we came to a fork in the road. Along one was the entrance to the worlds longest mountain tunnel at 17 miles. We turned away from that and headed towards Liechtenstein.

Liechtenstein is a principality of only 16 square miles. We stopped and shopped. We bought some Swiss chocolates and we were a few marcs short. The tour company had offered us a “travel wallet” with currencies of all the countries we were visiting and they had different packages depending on what you thought you would spend. It was not at a bad exchange rate and the Euro was not widely accepted, so we bought one for us. Still, we did not have enough. The shop owner surprised us and offered for us to pay in US dollars. We did and expected the change to be in Swiss marcs,  but got US dollars instead (and his exchange rate wasn’t that bad either).

I should note here that this was before digital camera’s were common and those available were not cheap. Teresa and I both shot film. We had two lead lined bags for our film to protect the from x-rays and such. Chad had a digital camera, and at one point, his card/disk got corrupted and he lost some of his shots. We labeled all our rolls and when we got back to the US, we had the film developed. The shop which did one hour processing, told me they could not do an hour with the volume (38 rolls) that I had brought in. I told them not to worry, to take their time and be careful. Well, their machine failed and it ruined one of the rolls and part of the next before they caught it. So, we have few pictures of this time (Lucerne to Austria) in our tour, just memories.

In Innsbruck we took a walking tour. We saw the Saint James Church built in a Baroque style and it had a marvelous organ inside. It was blue and gold and it was stirring.  At the end of the tour, we ended up in a Swarovski Crystal store. Nice stuff, but pricey. We still ended up buying  a couple of trinkets.

We went into the town center with Chad and Chris, looking for postcards and Christmas stores. Our wives caught us gawking at a couple of young girls and decided to tease us. Teresa even got “smooched“ by Chris. We had found earlier Heidi cutout and wig set up for pictures. The stand was too short for Teresa so Chris helped her up, lifting her by her butt.

After dinner we opted out of the excursion and went out for a walk and a beer. We started out with Bob and Carol but they were retired early. The younger crowd Chris and Chad Roman and Jennifer and the Aussies joined us, it was a good night.