60 Days in Europe…#13 Innsbruck…

Sitting in a very provincial railway station (don’t worry it’s not a Paul Simon song) thought I’d get up in the hills to clear my head.I can actually hear a cow bell somewhere close but can’t see anything.Oh and there’s nobody else here except me and a potentially psychotic bovine…

Decided to ask the receptionist about a possible extension of my room for one night rather than wait till checking out tomorrow as advised,good job as she said it’s fully booked other than a bed in a dorm,and that’s certainly not happening,so I popped next door for breakfast and scanned my phone.Got a room fairly easy in an Ibis by the Hauptbahnhof.Bit more expensive than I had hoped but that’s the price for inattention…as you can guess I never did laundry but another plan has been hatched…have to check out by 11am but can’t check in to new place till 3pm so take all my bags to the laundromat and do it in between hotels.Pure genius…apart from doing the original daft thing and booking a day short!

Lunch and a pint in a nice quiet place down by the river and a drunk fella sits next to me.Very pleasant but a little annoying.Kept singing “if you leave me now” think there might have been a breakup involved…finally got a taxi and the owner came out to apologise…

Innsbruck seems to be a quite young vibrant city.Don’t know why but I was expecting it to be a bit old & crusty but far from it.Maybe it’s the mountain air.No doubt the Tyrol gets loads of skiers in the winter months and possibly a good few of the younger ones decide to set up shop here and raise families…

Saw two things today that surprised me.The first I’ve never seen before.We’ve all had that thing of needing the toilet and go into a bar to use theirs,when I do it I buy a drink cos’ I’m a bit British like that.Today a young woman walking past grabbed a waitress,put a Euro in her hand and used the facilities.A new one on me…the other was very old school.A young kid with his mom clearly wanted a pee so she took him by a tree where I was sitting (yes I deliberately looked away!) that used to be common place in the UK but an ungrounded fear of a paedophile on every corner has meant “hold it in till you get home you little bastard” Until the little bastard starts pubbing it and he can piss anywhere of course!

A little while back I developed a bit of swelling on my left ankle & foot.It wasn’t painful at all but a bit unsightly and also meant I had difficulty putting on footwear.I don’t know the medical term but I called it “Doris Foot” after seeing many little old ladies in the supermarket with clear signs of the same thing and skin bulging out of too tight shoes.After a few days of the trip my “ Doris Foot” totally disappeared and now it’s back to good old gnarly troll feet.Obviously my lifestyle had become too sedentary.Something to guard against in the future…talking of which the apple phone step reader is a judgemental little gobshite isn’t it?

Laters alligators…