Friday, October 01, 2010 (Part Deux)

11:30 AM

Innsbruck, Austria

Bench near the Bergisel, overlooking the city

Ah, so here is a taste of the inspired! Little Innsbruck, a small city in Austria, near the border to Germany—only a two hour train from Munich. Innsbruck is a quiet place, the only sounds are the hum of tires on pavement and the occasional church bell. No one honks, no one crosses until the green man lights up. The buildings are, for the mostpart, what I expected from Germany. Small, multi-colored, and charming. There are a few bad apples here and there, but it’s to be expected in this modern world.

I am sitting up near the Bergiesel, something, I believe, from an old Olympics that was held here, or near here. In front of me I can see at least a dozen church spires, and the orange tops of countless homes. The city is centered at the base of a mountain, the domiciles quickly becoming fewer as you get away from the city center (which looks, from here, to be only about 1-2 kilometers in diameter). So the city rushes back at the mountain and then tapers off at it’s base—you can imagine the city itself struggling to climb, reaching out house-fingers to grasp higher and higher. Some green pastures are occupied, and you can see further homes scattered into the mountain, until, to my right, what looks like a small village makes its final stand against the broad natural impediment to further expansion. This small village stops just below the cloud line, then there is a thick swatch of grey-white clouds, and finally, towering powerfully over everything else rise the mountaintops, capped pristine in snow. It’s as if they rise higher than heaven itself, the way they soar beyond the clouds—it’s almost like a surprise when you see them peeking out.

The mountains must turn up at an incredibly steep angle at that last point where the village ends. It looks less like a mountain and more like extraordinary city walls. I want to walk across town and ascend. There’s little else I can imagine at the moment but scaling its bold face. Now I think what wonderful things must await me in Switzerland!

In my wanderings here I went into a church at random. The outside was plain, and I was unsure whether to even bother. But indoors was a different story! Elaborate paintings covered the ceilings and the walls, nearly a third of everything was either clad in, or made of, gold, and the sheer variety and intricacy of the carvings was heart-wrenchingly beautiful.

Going back a little further even, the train ride was magnificent. It’s too bad that I’ve been spending so much time on night trains. The countryside truly is a wonder. Although I imagine that if I had the opportunity to see everything all day, every train ride, my urge to hop off the train into a strange small town would be uncontrollable. It’s true what I’ve been told! There are quaint little villages, almost all of them (which I passed) having castles or some Medieval thing of the sort in their area. I’ve half a mind to jump a train going back Munich-way and stop off at one of the towns just to see a ruin or two.