innsbruck

We were all due a reconnect with nature after city-hopping and Innsbruck, nestled in an Austrian valley in the Alps, offered us that change of pace. We arrived the day classes began in this college town, so things had significantly quieted down.

On our first morning, we set out for a hike along the Natterer See route with a friend we met the night before at the hostel. Iasmina was a solo traveler from Romania who’d studied all over—Sweden, the Netherlands, and even Alabama. This was uncovered during the 3-hour hike, which was really a 3-hour long conversation; we’d only pause to remark about the beauty of the Nordkette mountains and the serenity of the cows in the meadows we passed by.

Our time in between plans revolved largely around the hostel kitchen. The kitchen was where we first met Iasmina, enviously eyeing her warm bowl of couscous and chickpeas that she’d cooked herself. By the second night, we were all cooking dinner together, pooling our leftover groceries and personal supplementals to create slightly varying bowls of couscous.

Cooking is generally the cheapest way to eat well while backpacking. However, the real costs are time and food waste from unused groceries. Grocery stores don’t sell salt by the pinch—you can’t avoid purchasing a full-size shaker even if a pinch is all you need. But the arrangement worked in Innsbruck: our stay was a little longer than typical, our schedules weren’t as packed, and the kitchen had good amenities. Though more tedious than ordering at a restaurant, there was joy in how communal being in the kitchen was.

swarovski kristallwelten

The Swarovski Crystal World was one of the most absurd museums I’ve experienced, largely on principle. Corporations create museums all the time to promote their brand image and products, but this one almost used how eccentric it was to try to hide that. We were initially drawn to visit because of intriguing pictures of a giant face on the side of a hill with a waterfall mouth, which was supposedly the entrance of the museum. Seeing it in person, I couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous and oddly majestic it was.

Aside from the entrance, the exhibits all had a clearer tie to Swarovski crystals. In fact, it was the only thing that linked them all together. Some exhibits I truly enjoyed and found interesting—others seemed surface-level, only included because they possessed a shock factor. Each room also had a distinct scent, which I thought was a fascinating layer to add to the experience of each exhibit. The illusional charm of the museum was up once we reached the gift shop, which solely sold jewelry and crystal sculptures, nothing cheaper than €65.

I probably could have believed that the mountains we gazed up at every day were simply plastered on a massive billboard. Until we took the cable cars. All of a sudden, we were gazing down from the mountains at the town that had served us well the past few days. It looked much larger than it felt.

more photos!

Currently in: Nice, France! Stay tuned for Italy posts.

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