Saturday afternoon, 5.15 p.m. in Innsbruck.
Brenden is chattering away in Tyrol-esque German on the phone. I’m just up a from a bit of lie-down.
I had the unexpected but welcome experience this morning of bursting into tears at the first sight of the mountains.
Let me explain. While were in the mountains yesterday, I did not see the range surrounding Innsbruck because of low cloud cover. Brenden lives in old city center, just a quick walk from the river. We came out of his front door this morning, and I saw the mountains in the distance down the street. I pulled up short and just stared. He said “Oh, keep walking. You’ve not really seen them yet.”
So we started down the cobblestones toward the church and the theater. He stepped back as I rounded the corner. There in front of me was this range of mountains, jagged, giant, defying description. The blue sky was blotted out until I looked up and up and up. I’ve not ever seen such stern beauty, such awe-filling brute splendor. I had two reactions. My heart skipped a beat – I swear it did. And I suddenly had tears rolling out of my eyes. Even now, as I write about it, I’m still awed.
How does one top that? One shops. We bought pipes and food and drink. Brenden is making rabbit with a raspberry reduction sauce tomorrow. That’s AFTER we take the train up the mountain a ways.
The goulash at our late lunch was quite fine. Pictures to follow.
