SEEKING A WHITE CHRISTMAS - Part 1

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Grandad
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SEEKING A WHITE CHRISTMAS - Part 1

Post by Grandad »

SEEKING A WHITE CHRISTMAS - Part 1
I know I had mentioned that we intended to spend Christmas 2018 in the Austrian Tirol at Igls. We decided that it would be nice to get away from the Christmas routine for a change and enjoy the confort of a good hotel and to let others do everything for us instead of the other way around.
Our daughter, her husband and his widowed mother were happy to join us and make up a small party and I did all the arrangements through British Airways holidays. We have arranged holidays with BA in the past and everything is so straightforward from flights, transfers, hotel and airport assistance, that we would not hesitate to arrange future trips with BA.
We flew to Innsbruck on 23 December arriving at mid day. Due to the airports location between the mountains, the pilots have special training for landing at Innsbruck. I won't dwell on the details but on our first approach we were almost down when the captain put on full throttle and climbed up at a steep angle explaining shortly after that as he could not see the runway due to low cloud he had to abort the landing.
We circled for nearly an hour until a break in the clouds allowed a safe landing which received tumultuous applause and whistles from the passengers. A quick exit through the very small airport to our waiting taxi and in 15 minutes or so we were checked in to our hotel 'Sporthotel' Igls.
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I will refrain from too much dialogue but will show a selection of photos from our three days with brief caption explanations. What I will say is that it was a totally relaxing and enjoyable break relieving the ladies of all the usual stressful chores. Would we do the same again next year? Probably yes but probably somewhere warm and for a longer period.

Sunday 23 December. There was due to be a parade in the village in the evening with adults and children carrying lanterns and culminating in carol singing in the square. Sadly it rained so the event was called off.
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Monday 24 December. Christmas is a very short celebration across Europe with their main meal on Christmas Eve. The day started cloudy and dull so we decided to take the local bus into Innsbruck about 15 minutes busride. The sun did show its face later in the day.
This is the main street Maria Theresien Strassa in the old city. I remember driving along this street in 1960 long before it was pedestrionised. In a side street we found what was the home of Mozart in 1769 and we also had Kaffee und Kuchen in a Konditorei, the typical coffee shop. And this market stall caught our eye.
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The hotel dates from the mid 19th century and the wood paneling in the dining room looks original. The lounge had a lovely log fire with Christmas tree.
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No photos but this was the excellent menu that evening: (not a turkey to be seen :lol: )
Salmon marinated with beetroot, cucumber, avocado and caviar
Celery soup with truffled 'Gervais' dumpling
Lemon sorbet with prosecco
Stuffed duck breast with cranberry sauce, kohlrabi and chestnuts
Orange creme brulee with rosemary kumquats and gingerbread parfait


Tuesday 25 December Christmas Day. There was no snow at street level so we needed to take the cable car to the top of mount Patscherkofel at 7500 feet where we found plenty of snow so we DID have a White Christmas :lol: :lol:

Here is one of the senior ski runs, the majestic Tirol, the mountain top cafe, and skis outside the cafe.
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Continued in Part 2............


:gg:
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Re: SEEKING A WHITE CHRISTMAS - Part 1

Post by Mad Dilys »

How lovely to sit on the terrace with your coffee and look down on the clouds! 8)
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Re: SEEKING A WHITE CHRISTMAS - Part 1

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Wonderful so far ........ 'cept for a first aborted landing and NO turkey so far your hols sound PERFECT! ;) ;) ;)

BTW - quite love that chandelier in your hotel.
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Re: SEEKING A WHITE CHRISTMAS - Part 1

Post by Grandad »

Mad Dilys wrote:How lovely to sit on the terrace with your coffee and look down on the clouds! 8)
Spot on MD :up That is a really nice cafe and they do large mugs of delicious hot and spicy Gluwein. :lol:
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Re: SEEKING A WHITE CHRISTMAS - Part 1

Post by Kiya »

Your hotel looks lovely :) and I bet you were glad when you all finally landed :)

Wow! the snowy mountains looks beautiful, perfect place to have a coffee break.

I do love your menu for Christmas Day.... complete change from our usual turkey.

It all looks fantastic but would agree to go somewhere warmer :)

I'm off soon on the 21st :)
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