That Innsbruck Life

Eating some schnitzel sandwiches on a sunny mountain top.

     Hello world!

     Things are just humming along here in Innsbruck, I'm glad to report. Not much remarkable has happened in the last month, because we've slipped into the rhythm of normal life. Working, grocery shopping, and hanging out in the city takes up our time, and the expenses of life and student loans take up our money. We're not on vacation anymore, that's for sure. However, don't take that as negative sentiment. We've really been enjoying getting to know Innsbruck better, making relationships here, mastering Tirolean cuisine, trying to become regulars at coffee shops, etc. While there are so many places we'd like to see in Europe while we're here, making this little corner of the continent our home feels just as valuable.

     Christi is still charming old Innsbruck gentlemen at Cafe Katzung, and I'm still training up the next generation of ski stars, who will all be known for their skills in stomping on invisible spiders and hi-fiving ghosts. We're getting more involved in our church community, and building relationships with all kinds of folks there. Skiing takes up most of our days off, and if not skiing, biking downtown for coffee is also a favourite past time.

     We have a trip back east to visit family coming up, as well as some visitors coming here, and lots more skiing ahead of us, hopefully exploring some new ski areas, so keep an eye out for an update on these things in the coming weeks.

     In the absence of much news, here are a few photos with expanded captions to fill all you out there in the cyber in on our lives.

- Harry

A little hut on the side of the ski slope. Something very different about skiing here is that you are not always skiing though the woods and wilderness, you pass private and public huts, sometimes farms, even occasionally you grit your teeth and think light thoughts while skiing over a road that crosses the slope.

Being well bundled up is essential.

Looking up to Nockspitze, which I climbed back in the fall (find a photo of the same view here). Also, a teepee.

I've started a new career.

Homemade schnitzel, alonf with napkins and candle courtesy of Molly, and Christi's favourite ivy. We've spent a lot of time getting to know how to cook Austrian and Tirolean cuisine, at the same time enabling our selves to eat quite well on a conservative budget. 

Some times you have to endure a cramped gondola ride . . .

. . . in order to get views like this. This photo was taken on the Nordkette, right above the city, which is also a world class freeride destination. Its wild enough to have a ski lift that leaves right from the city, even more so when that lift serves almost exclusively steep, serious, off-piste terrain. 

When I'm not skiing down into the valley (which is quite a trip: dodging cow pies, passing through little gates, crossing roads, all on skis), this this is my daily commute.