check bitte!

ooh Tuesday. no, Wednesday. NO - TUESday. I don't know.
whatever day it is, it has been long.

after a croissant and a latte at a place called Hot Pasta (?) we said Auf Wiedersehen to Zurich and partook in some "loud speaking" at one another in the car while trying to follow road laws and directions from a GPS and Blackberry that refused to talk to any and all satellites in the world until... finally... we were on the highway.
destination: Innsbruck Austria.

the scenery changed immediately from clean bustling city streets to large open hills of green sprinkled with bell-wearing skinny cows. I really expected to see a blonde woman with double braids selling fresh butter on the side of the road but evidently all of them were busy - must be butter-churning season.

I took a stab at driving after we admired all the nutella at the gas station and man - 120 kph is deceivingly, very much-so... NOT FAST. and with all the fixed radar guns and cameras on the road, you do not want to push the limit (I am pretty sure I will have a few tickets in the mail when I get home).
5 (or 10) Gran Turismo-like tunnels later - at a blazing speed of 65 mph - and... destination reached.

Innsbruck is far more touristy than I would have liked - all the old couples wearing matching leiderhosen with price tags still attached and large groups of tour-attendees all wearing matching tacky neck-bandanas make me want to scurry back to my room BUT - the view of the Alps just isn't the same from there.
I am surrounded by snow-tipped lush mountains and incredibly humbled. to think - just last week there I was in my California mole-hole for 29 years completely satisfied with Yosemite - convinced I was lucky to be living so close to it. HMPH.
there's bigger beauty in the world.
and with better strudels too.

tomorrow we take a Nordkette (tram) up the mountain to Seegrube, meander around like we're on holiday and then locate a restaurant that offers a better dinner than the open-faced turkey "burger" I had tonight - complete with 2 pineapple circles and 2 cherries.
and yes - they looked just like boobs.

in other news...
...when receiving amazing strudel with powdered sugar, do not look down and breathe out in awe.
...the McDonald's here really DOES have a Hamburger Royale on the menu. it also is furnished like the nice section in Ikea (*obscure and generally vague photo included below).
...photo / adventure requests? submit them and maybe I'll make them happen. maybe.