Innsbruck; Sunday, 08 January, 2017

I looked out of the window to find that there had been quite a bit of snow fall overnight, and it was still coming down quite heavily. After breakfast, I wandered out of the hotel down to the Marktplatz in quite heavy snow to pick up the bus to the Alpenzoo up in the hills above the city.

Given the weather conditions the zoo was quiet with only a couple of other visitors, but it did make it quite nice for exploring, and with several of the animals enjoying the conditions (most of their specimens are native to Alpine conditions so to them the weather was perfect) great for getting photos.

I had a long wander around the zoo, stopping in beautifully well heated café for my own feeding time, before catching the bus back down into town and visiting some of the sites in the Old town.

First up was the Museum of the Golden Roof – a museum dedicated to the Hapsburg family and their rise to prominence in Tyrol before heading around the corner to visit the impressive, and in places slightly over the top Cathedral.

From the cathedral, I wandered over to the Hofburg, the Imperial palace, and had a long visit to the various state rooms that were open. Which was good timing as the palace was due to close for several weeks for refurbishment that evening.

After taking in the palace I walked over to the neighbouring Horkirche, which was built to house the tomb of Maximillian I, the emperor who secured the Hapsburgs power in Tyrol, but who is buried near to Vienna so the tomb itself is empty despite its guard of bigger than life size black marble statues.

As I came out of the Hofkirche I was in time to pick up the penultimate sightseeing tour of the day, so I did that and caught it back round to the hotel again. By now the light snow was picking up again and with the wind increasing I decided rather than venturing out again I’d have dinner in the hotel before turning in for the night.