Flash-back: Christmas in Austria, Volume 1 (Innsbruck)

As the mercury edges over 90 degrees here in Sofia, I thought it would be a good time for a flash-back post, from a far, far colder time -- like Christmas in Austria. We have so many pictures and stories to tell from adventures this year that we haven't yet had a chance to write about. We wrote about our misadventures getting to Austria already, but didn't have a chance to show some good pictures of the nicer parts of that trip once we actually got there.

When we finally arrived in Innsbruck, we were cold. Really, really cold. And exhausted. Standing-outside-in-the-cold-all-night-on-a-train-platform cold and exhausted. We were thrilled to be in the storybook old town of Innsbruck, but it was still cold, and the main things to do were 1) go skiing (cold) or 2) wander around the cute outdoor Christmas market (still cold). We never motivated to go skiing, but we did wander around the markets and pick up some lovely souvenirs. We also went to the Alpine Zoo, halfway up the mountain outside of town. Oddly enough, due to the oddities of temperature inversions, it was much warmer there than in town. We also sadly never were able to connect with our friends Meghan and Justin (and cute baby Orla), who were part of the reason we had gone to Austria in the first place. Oh well...life happens. Here are some pics, in no particular order.


Swarovski Crystal has their headquarters not far from Innsbruck, and they maintain a very cool display store in the old town, complete with cellar-level crystal wonderland with lots of decorative things not for sale. There are lots and lots of really pretty, painfully expensive things there. Here is a crystal flower, that I'm pretty sure cost more than our car.

Grey morning in Innsbruck. No snow, but damp and blustery.

View overlooking the old town square from the clock tower at city hall, with Christmas Market booths below.


We like to put the FUN in "funicular." View from the funicular station near the AlpenZoo, looking over Innsbruck. You can see that there is not any snow in town. We were left dreaming of a white Christmas.
Bobcat at the AlpenZoo. Rawr.
Piglets at the Alpenzoo. Not terribly mountain-themed, but c'mon! Look at how cute those little porkers are!

Morning Alpenglow on the Alps, from the street in front of our hotel. It didn't stay that sunny, but it was nice while it lasted.
Above: The river Inn, with snow-covered peaks behind. The name "Innsbruck" means "bridge over the river Inn". So now you know.

Artisan making glass snow-flakes. She had very nice work. We bought lots.

Self-portrait while shopping at the Christmas market. Check out my new WARM multicolored hat!

Below: Gluhwein: spiced red wine, served hot from a kettle to warm you on a chilly December eve. Ambiance: excellent. Taste: unpleasant.

Below: There were giant dolls from various fairy-tales set up in the old town around the Christmas Market, which were at times both whimsical and a bit creepy. I don't know what fairy tales most of them were from, because my German wasn't good enough. Click HERE to link to part 2 of this post, about our time in Salzburg.

Koprivshtitsa

This post is a blast from the (recent) past, as I'm showing some photos from a weekend trip many of the international faculty took back in October. I've been too busy to go through the photos since then, but since I now am supposed to be grading final exams, this seems like a much more worthwhile activity!
Koprivshtitsa is one of at least a dozen or so "museum towns" spread around Bulgaria. Many of them had historical events occur there or important figures that lived there, and the buildings have been preserved as an architectural preserve of 18th and 19th century "Bulgarian National Revival" buildings. Koprivshtitsa is about 2 hours from Sofia (MAP), and we were able to enjoy some lovely fall colors on our trip (pictured below, on our hike).
There is not a lot to do in K-town except eat, drink, play cards, check out the old buildings, maybe take a hike and shoot some photos (check, check, check, check, and check). It's a cute village and makes a pleasant enough excursion.

Above: "I thought you knew where it was!" (wandering the streets, looking for our hotel)

History sidebar: Many of the most famous Bulgarian "founding father" types (think your Washingtons, Franklins, Adams, Reveres, etc) lived or spent some time in tiny Koprivshtitsa. In the mid-1800s, the population of Koprivshtitsa was roughly 12,000, at that point roughly the same size as Sofia was at the time. In April 1876, a Bulgarian uprising against the Ottoman Turks (who ruled Bulgaria for 500 years) started in Koprivshtitsa.

The painting above was a mural in a restaurant we ate at. I like the historical drama. Exhilirated rebels celebrate after shooting some Ottoman troops, a mother weeps, and the Ottomans write a sternly worded memo back to Istanbul (Click on the photo for a larger version to better appreciate the drama).

The rebellion spread across the country, but was soon completely and viciously repressed by the Turks (estimates differ wildly, but likely 30,000 or more were killed). Though the April Uprising was unsuccessful, the brutal suppression contributed to the general western European disapproval of the Ottomans, and also led indirectly to the Russians going to war with the Turks the next year, which in turn led to the creation of the current independent Bulgarian state in 1878. The beautiful Nevsky Cathedral in downtown Sofia was built by the Bulgarians to thank the Russians for "liberating" them from the Turks. Certainly the Russians had larger geopolitical goals than simply liberating the Bulgarians (this piece of land allowed Russian troops a land route to bypass the Ottoman-controlled Bosporus, and the Russians wanted "friendlies" here). Whatever the Russian motivations, Bulgarians appreciated it. I've pieced this history together from Lonely Planet Bulgaria guidebook, Wikipedia, and a variety of Balkan history books I've read. Sorry if I've incorrectly depicted any events.

Back to our weekend trip...we stayed in an old Bulgarian Revival guesthouse (it would have been part of the Ottoman Empire when it was built), hiked in the hills above town, and just wandered the pretty cobbled streets. Shannon reluctantly schooled the boys at poker, and much merriment was had.

Above: our guesthouse. Below: Shannon peering out from the guesthouse.

Below: Roma (the more PC term than "Gypsy") horse carts cruising through town. I have a goal to get a ride in one of these before I leave Bulgaria.

National Revival house prettiness, above and below.