Innsbruck Streets - 2

Buildings, Clouds, Mountains (Innsbruck) - Austria  2019

Buildings, Bicycle (Innsbruck) - Austria  2019

A little reminiscent of the shadows and empty streets of de Chirico.

Monday Red-Billed Teal Blogging

Red-billed Teal (Zurich) - Switzerland  2019

Seen in a humid building at the Zurich Zoo. Reminds me a little of the Eastern Spot-billed duck.

Innsbruck Streets - 1

Street (Innsbruck) - Austria  2019

Hali Checking Phone (Innsbruck) - Austria  2019

As we walked around, we first came to a crowded plaza area. However, once we crossed one of the main streets and started wandering around, the crowds disappeared.

Innsbruck Food

Austrian Chili (Innsbruck) - Austria  2019

Pastry (Innsbruck) -  Austria  2019

We just had one afternoon in which to walk around. We wanted to sample some outdoor pastry options, but there was quite a lot of cigarette smoke blowing around in these venues. We ended up inside for some pre-dinner pastry. That was were we discovered that you really had to work to get the bill . . . I think the service people assume that you're going to be sitting there for a goodly amount of time.

For dinner, we went to a nice place that the lady at the hotel called "hippieish." But Mike has been around real hippies and this really didn't qualify. Good food.

Innsbruck Arrival

Walking to Hotel (Innsbruck) - Austria

Street (Innsbruck) - Austria  2019

So, we hadn't meant to visit Innsbruck.  Our original plan was to fly from Zurich to Slovenia and afterwards drive to Vienna. But the day before we were due to depart from SFO we discovered that the airline company that services the Zurich-Lubjliana route had gone bankrupt! Yikes.

Our quickly revised plan (once more with Margaret's help) was to take a train to Innsbruck, rent a car there and drive south to Slovenia.

So, here we are walking to our hotel in Innsbruck.

Train to Innsbruck

Bludenz - Switzerland  2019

Train Stops - Switzerland  2019

"Juergen Spagolla, executive chef at the famed Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont, grew up next-door to a chocolate factory in Bludenz, a small mountain town in western Austria." 

Travelling on the train from Zurich to Innsbruck we passed through a number of small mountain towns. After some after the fact research they turned out to be places that would have been worthy of an extended stay. Oh well.

Also, the train route happened to take us through Lichtenstein! So we can add that to the list of our visited places.

Lucerne Train Station

Lucerne Train Station - Switzerland  2019

Lucerne Train Station - Switzerland  2019

A transfer point on our way back to Zurich. Taken with a Canon G5XII, most likely using the flip-up LCD screen feature. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Train Leaving Lauterbrunnen

Train Leaving Lauterbrunnen - Switzerland  2019

Coffee Drinks - Switzerland  2019

So, we had gotten up at 4AM to catch this train. Not that many people around at that time in the morning.

Note the pre-bought coffee drinks . . . one big problem that we hadn't anticipated was the overall lack of morning coffee options throughout our trip. The drinks pictured were our clever workaround. No, not hot, but kind of OK.

Monday Bufflehead Blogging

Bufflehead Ducks - Marin County  2019

OK, maybe they're buffleheads. We'll say they are. (Click to enlarge.)

Taken on an extremely foggy morning at the Richmond Bridge scenic overlook

Truckee

Building, Tree (Truckee) - Sierra Nevada  2019

Windows (Truckee) - Sierra Nevada  2019

No trip to Boomtown would be complete without a short walk around Truckee. It seems as if the small dilapidated structures are slated for a development project.

I also went on a short hike along Sagehen Creek. Will post some photos at some point. Maybe.

Verdi

Road Turns Left - Nevada  2019

Full Service - Nevada  2019

The town of Verdi is located in a valley just north of the casino. The road takes a sharp left then drops down a steep decline towards the town . . . Union Pacific tracks run through there. Alas, it's too hard to tell when a train is going to come. No rail traffic when I've been there so far.

Someday I must check out those 20 beers.

Boomtown Sightems

Harley, Moon (Boomtown) - Nevada  2019

KOA (Boomtown) - Nevada  2019

The KOA seemed to me to be more of a trailer park than a campground. I saw a school bus dropping some kids off there, which seems to imply semi-permanent residency.

Boomtown Casino

Lil Red (Boomtown) - Nevada  2019

Balloon, Chairs (Boomtown) - Nevada  2019

As I might have noted before, there are no gambling machines that take actual coins. So don't give me some quarters and tell me to gamble them, 'cause I can't.

There was some odd-looking uncanny valley art on some of the machines, but I was particularly attracted to the traditional stylings of Lil' Red.

Nevada Plants

Sagebrush - Nevada  2019

Sidewalk, Plants - Nevada  2019

I always go on a walk around the area, going down towards the KOA, then looping back to the casino.

Please note that I tend to call all desert plants "sagebrush." Also, it seems that the desert plants are definitely encroaching on the sidewalk.

Boomtown!

Boomtown, Trucks - Nevada  2019

Masonite Factory - Nevada  2019

After we got back from our European trip I wanted to revisit an old familiar location: Boomtown! An easy drive going west on Highway 80, crossing California and then into Nevada. Taken in November, 2019.

So, there is definitely development going on in the area. This Masonite factory wasn't there when I first visited.

Monday Goat Blogging

Goats - Switzerland  2019

Goats and flowers! Wow!

Check out an earlier Marin County goat post.

Leaving Murren

Tree, Snow - Switzerland  2019

Gondola, 5 AM - Switzerland  2019

We got up at 4 AM in order to catch the first gondola ride down to the valley. There had been a light dusting of snow during the night.

Autumn, Alps

Autumn Leaves - Switzerland  2019

Trees, Stream - Switzerland  2019

Further on up we started seeing the start of autumn colors. Eventually we reached Murren and our hotel and started packing for our next day's departure.

Fog

Tree, Mountains - Switzerland  2019

Hali, Fog - Switzerland  2019

We hiked up and out of Gimmelwald, into the fog.

Gimmelwald Flowers

Flowers - Switzerland  2019

Flowers - Switzerland  2019

Luckily, it was overcast for some nice diffused light.