Europe 2012: Innsbruck to Vienna

We snuck out of Innsbruck at daybreak today, with the idea of making Vienna by noon. Early on the clouds hung around the base of the mountains, looking a lot like cotton candy. Or so it seemed to me. That's what happens to a man when he hasn't had his coffee!

The clouds melted and were gone we drove east, away from the mountains.

We've seen this variety of chestnut tree frequently in Germany and now in Austria. Usually the blossoms are whitish, but these were sort of magenta.

Every little town features at least one nice church building with a tall steeple.

Right about here the odometer on the Volvo turned over 3,000 miles.

Solar panels are widely used on houses, barns, and in a few cases, in large volume where hundreds are installed on the ground to harvest solar energy.

On the bank of the Danau (Danube) River at Passau we saw our second mermaid of the trip; the first was in Copenhagen.

May Pole

We took lots of shots of scenes like this one.

At one point we found ourselves re-entering Austria. We didn't even know we'd left!

One of our better pictures, we think. "The hills are alive..."

We have learned that in Germany and apparently also in Austria most trucks are not allowed on the highway on Sunday. They actually enjoy it as a paid holiday, and they take it at a rest area, as these were doing. We saw them grilling and relaxing as we drove past.


We found some more great friends at home in Vienna, Austria, and after moving into their house for a short stay we took the U-Bahn into the city for a short look-around.