After a good night’s sleep, the last day of our trip arrived. We took the bus from Almi’s having been given a lovely send off by the family who own it. This is definitely somewhere we’d come back to… we were so well looked after and the food was delicious.
We caught the bus to Steinach, then the train to Innsbruck, before checking into Hotel Zach. Once settled into our spacious room, we took our avalanche kit back to Die Boerse, the hire shop, then had a wander round the shops… mainly kit shops, which seemed to have so much more choice than in the UK. I treated myself to a merino jumper, and John had an ear brassiere (brazear), as a headband or ear warmer had become known on the trip!
By then it was lunchtime. I’d spotted a lovely looking cafe last time we were in Innsbruck so we decided to try it. It turned out to be a wonderful quirky Italian deli and restaurant with food everywhere, and beautifully decorated for Christmas. We were greeted with bruschetta, invited to sit down and handed glasses of red wine. We had no idea what the owner, Antonio was saying, but worked out that he was suggesting some platters.
We agreed and, shortly, 3 plates full of bruschetta, Parma ham, cheeses and vegetables arrived. They were absolutely delicious and this was possibly the meal we enjoyed most during our trip… an unexpected surprise, if rather more expensive than we’d planned for lunch!
Back at the hotel, we had an afternoon nap, then pulled on our hats and coats to visit the Christmas markets around Innsbruck. The atmosphere was much more festive than our last visit, with twinkling lights, music, and tempting smells surrounding us. We browsed the stalls and bought some Christmas presents and, of course, it would have been rude not to sample the gluhwein!
The evening ended with a meal with the snowshoeing group. It was a noisy evening with lots of banter and laughter. I’m looking forward to getting home, but also sad the trip is over. I hope we can keep in touch with the friends we’ve made, and maybe see them in future.
The next morning, we took a taxi to the airport with Lesley and Colin. Security was a nightmare and it was an hour before we reached our gate. Then our plane to Frankfurt was delayed by about half an hour. I much prefer travelling in Molly Moho!
Thankfully, the transfer was more straight forward in Frankfurt than it had been in Vienna, despite the delay. We had time to grab some lunch and pick up some duty free before boarding our flight to Manchester.
Back in the UK, we had a 15 minute wait for the shuttle bus to the car park, then it turned out our car was by the last bus stop. Thankfully, it started first time and there were no hold ups on the journey home.
We’ve now unpacked, done the washing and settled back in. The final preparations are underway for Christmas, then we can relax. After the festivities, we’ll be looking forward to our next adventure in Rome.
Ramblings 
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