WWMG Innsbruck, 16 January

Today I decided to take the day off from skating, and from people in general. The Swan Whisperer wanted to go to Seefeld to skate so after breakfast he set off, and when I had finished tidyng the room I went off to catch the tram into town. Noticed that there was an MPreis supermarket by the tram stop,so determined to visit it on my way back.

However, the first port of call was a huge shopping mall called Sillpark, and I got off the tram there and had a look round. There was a C&A, which reminded me of my grandmother who was so clever at finding bargains there (and an H&M, which  my daughter is good at). Didn't see anything really worth trying on, though. Enjoyed wandering round DM as usual, although the prices seemed slightly higher than in Germany. There was a big Spar as the anchor store, but I didn't go in there.

When I had had enough I went and caught the J bus up to Nordkette.

I had no idea of taking the cable car up the mountain, and as I was very thirsty I went to the nearest cafe and had a beer as well as a plate of käsespätzle, which was delicious but far too much and I could only eat half of it.

With hindsight, I should have taken the Hungerbergbahn down to the town centre, but I had wanted to go to Igls, which the J bus would have taken me to. However, the tram that took you back to town only runs once an hour, and I would have just missed it, so in the end I got off at the Inn,

and wandered round the old town, visiting the Swarovski shops and goodly not buying anything although there was a crystal wolf that badly wanted to follow me home! 

I did buy some rather lovely shopping bags, which will be great for knitting projects.

And so back to the main road and the tram, MPreis and the hotel, and we are watching skating on the livestream. 

WWMG Innsbruck, 15 January

Not a good day, alas. When you go up to the rink, which isn't far, you have to go down into an underpass to cross the road, and the quickest way up is to go up some steps. I have been finding it necessary to stop for breath half-way up as my lungs are not brilliant at the best of times, and with the aftermath of this cold they are really bad just now. But the Swan Whisperer encouraged me to keep going, and I was badly out of breath when I reached the top. This wouldn't have mattered, but when we got to the rink, some jobsworth wouldn't let me use the lift, and by the time I got to the spectators' level, I was breathless to the point of feeling really unwell. I ended up sleeping through the free dance, and didn't want to do anything once we'd watched our friends skate except go to bed and sleep. I hope I'll be better tomorrow - I want to go round the shops!

No photos today, so here is the rink again. 

WWMG Innsbruck, 14 January

We had an early start this morning as the ice dancing was due to start at 09:00, rather than at 09:30 as it did  yesterday and will tomorrow.  We got down there in good time, and enjoyed watching the Masters' Elite and Masters Rhythm Dances.  

I'd got confused and thought it was to be Silver Ladies I, where we don't know anybody, this morning, so we went for a walk in Innsbruck,

stopping at the Stiftskeller for lunch. 

I had sausages with sauerkraut, and the Swan Whisperer went for the day's meal deal, which was meat and potatoes in some kind of sauce followed by cake with cream.  I drank Almdudler, which I hadn't tried before; it was okay, I suppose, and I had no trouble finishing my glassful, but I'm not sure I'd buy it again. 

That is not the Stiftskeller, by the way....  We did not look in the Swarovski shop - maybe I'll go back without the Swan Whisperer!

We did, however, look round the market where we had had lunch at least once last time we were here. It has, I think, been poshed up a bit, and there is certainly a wider choice of places to eat than there was then.  

After lunch I was tired, so went back to the hotel on the tram, while the Swan Whisperer went back to the rink.  I did go out again, but only to the supermarket.  I know I've missed some lovely artistic programmes, and missed cheering on my friends, but in many ways I prefer watching free to artistic.  Tomorrow sees the last of the ice dances, the free dance, and also the last of the artistic, including our Aussie friends in Bronze V, which we will definitely watch. 

WWMG Innsbruck, 13 January

This version of Blogger is very definitely not as good as its predecessor, as there is no way, as far as I can tell, to insert links.  At least photos will go in their right place. 

Last night, after I had written this, we went out to the fast food restaurant, Frankies, that the hotel receptionist recommended. It may have been fast food, but it was excellent, and we will certainly eat there again next weekend (it is closed Tuesday to Thursday).  I had a "grillteller", which was huge and I didn't eat all of it

and the Swan Whisperer had a pizza.  And so to bed, but went to sleep too early and was awake for hours in the middle of the night, which meant I had trouble waking up this morning. 

Today was the first day of figure skating at the WWMG, so we got up relatively early (not, it has to be said, quite as early as we had meant) and went down to see what the hotel breakfast was like.  This turned out to be delicious and copious, with a cooked option, including, of all things, baked beans!  

After leaving our room as we hoped the chambermaid would wish to find it, we went down to the rink - which seemed  a great deal nearer than yesterday, now that we knew where it was - and watched the various Pattern dances, from Masters down to Bronze. 

Many of which were mediocre for their standards, but the Arnolds were as brilliant as usual, and our friends and sometime competitors SK and Alicia, did a truly great Fiesta Tango that quite redeemed their egregious European waltz. 

When that was over, we got coffee from the stall - no reduction for using your own mug, but they do make it in it for you.  It was then the turn of the Bronze men to do their artistic, and we'd promised to support Jim, and also a Spanish woman we'd met in the restaurant last night. 

Once they had skated, it was lunch time, so we went to the "Sports Bar" and I had what was called Viennese goulash with bread, and the Swan Whisperer had a burger that came with chips and I think was the better option.  We washed it all down with gluwein, which was lovely. 

After this, I had watched enough skating for one day, so went back to the hotel via the supermarket, where I bought bread, cheese, hardboiled eggs, tomatoes, oranges and yoghurt for our supper, and flopped for  bit.  Then I decided I'd done my 5k steps for the day, so watched a bit of the skating on the live stream, and some YouTube videos, and knitted a bit, and then the Swan Whisperer came in, so we ate, and are trying to decide whether to go down to the bar or not.  I am inclined to say not.... 

WWMG, Innsbruck, 11-12 January 2020

The WWMG, or Winter World Masters' Games, is a winter sports competition for adults aged 30 and over. Although we no longer compete, we still enjoy watching ice skating, and many of our friends are here from all over the world.

The Alps in January in a non - winterised motor home was never going to be a plan, so we decided to go by train. The Man in Seat 61 (can't see how to  insert links for some reason; he's seat61.com) told us that the way to do it (or A way to do it) was the night sleeper from Cologne, which sounded great. And it was.

We set off at about 11:15, and the first train was the Victoria Line to St Pancras, where we had about an hour to wait - about 40 minutes before boarding - and then on to the Eurostar to Brussels. Another 90 minutes in that city gave us time to have a cup of tea and, luckily, to discover we were in the wrong part of the station - the right part had much nicer places for tea, oh well. We got to the platform just as the Thalys to Köln was pulling in, but it didn't feel rushed as so many people were getting off we had to wait several minutes to board.

The Thalys was very comfortable and I fell asleep at once and didn't really stir until we got to Köln, where a 2 hour gap gave us time to have dinner in comfort. I had a jacket potato with garlic mushrooms 

 and the Swan Whisperer had a Currywurst ("Got to have my sausage on a Saturday!") with chips.

The NightJet was on time and very comfortable - we slept surprisingly well. Very small compartments - you practically had to take it in turns to breathe, but we spent quite a lot of time in the corridor watching the Rhine go by. They gave us a goody bag with slippers and towels as well as fizzy wine, a pen, drinking water, earplugs and a couple of snacks. It was disconcerting to wake up and find we were now going in the opposite direction, but I think it may have reversed at Nürnberg, where it divided to go half to Vienna and half to Innsbruck.

Watching the sun rise over the Alps is always a huge pleasure, especially in a train with a delicious breakfast, ordered the night before.

We arrived at Innsbruck at the scheduled time of 09:15, and took a taxi to the hotel who firmly said we couldn't check in until 3 pm, so we asked if we might leave our luggage and they said of course, and showed us where to put it, and there were our Aussie friends finishing their breakfasts! I couldn't resist striking a pose and declaring, "We have arrived! Let the Games begin!"

We sat in the hotel for a bit - I dozed off - and then decided to walk up to the Olympiahalle - about 500 metres away - to see who was around. We met various friends and found out where the skating will be tomorrow; there was short track going on today.

There was a very nice cafe in the complex where we had coffee, and then headed off to walk back to the station to buy milk in the supermarket there and grab a sandwich.

We wandered around Central Innsbruck for a bit, but I was getting tired and there was a tram, so we took that back to the hotel. Which kindly allows us to check in, even though it wasn't quite 3, so we checked in, unpacked, and had a cup of tea. The Swan Whisperer has gone for a run and I am enjoying the view from my bed! 

Christmas Markets trip., 16 December 2019

Today was the last full day of our holiday, and the weather has been spectacularly vile, peeing it down most of the day. 

We left our hosts of the previous night at about 10:00, and our first port of call was an Intermarché in Guise for diesel and gas; I popped into the supermarket and spent all of €2. 10 on half a baguette and some reduced-for-quick-sale apple tarts. 

We drove on to the far side of Lille before stopping for lunch  - we had thought to stop in Landrecies, where we have parked up before, but it was too early for lunch and the Swan Whisperer had had his coffee, so we headed on.  

Got to Coquelles mid-afternoon, and I did a massive shop for last-minute Christmas goodies, and also coffee and the nice tea that I like as we are unlikely to be back  here before next May. 

After a cup of the aforementioned tea, we drove up to the new aire at Sangatte, near the cemetery there, and rather stupidly settled down for the evening - had we thought, we could have driven round Calais and seen their Christmas lights, which are always spectacular.  But we didn't, and spent the evening reading and playing games or listening to music on our various devices. 

Christmas Markets trip, 15 December

Today is the Swan Whisperer's 69th birthday, and it was pouring with rain for a lot of it.  He went for a run when he got up, and while he was doing that, I got his presents out from their hiding place and later got breakfast while he was showering and dressing. 

I was quite tired today after two fairly strenuous days in Strasbourg and Kehl, and the weather was not conducive to doing much.  The Swan Whisperer went for a walk before lunch, and then we went to use the services, forgetting that we were still attached to the electricity!  Oops!  Fortunately no harm done except it reset the circuit breaker in the aire, but we suspect that can be easily fixed.  The head came off our cable, but the SW was able to get it back on and it is working, so that's all right. 

After lunch, we set off and drove to this place not too far from Laon where we are spending the night.  It is a farm, and I expect they will want to sell us some of their produce in the morning, but that's okay!  It's a France Passion place, and they seem very nice and welcoming. 

We have just had a nice cup of tea, and it will be sausages and mash for supper as we didn't have them yesterday.