Camarillo's finest, George and Laurie Contreras at Innsbruck's Aldstadt.
Spring is in the air here in Innsbruck, and along with the warmer temperatures comes some of our first visitors. We were so excited on Wednesday to welcome our good friends George and Laurie Contreras into town for two days. As most of you remember, George is the Head Coach and defensive coordinator of the Catania Elephants, the team I played for in Sicily last season. We lived with George for six months at "Malibu" (our seaside condo down in Aci Castello, Italy) and made an incredible amount of memories with him and Laurie last season. The Elephants are on their bye week over Easter, so they took their week off and headed north to explore Bavaria and Tirol, dropping in on us to see what all the fuss was about in Raider country.
I've created a monster! After 6 months of taking photos with George, my apprentice is now a photo-taking machine... capturing every moment until his 1 GB card is full!
After visiting Munich, Rothenburg, and the Romantic Road in Germany, Casa Contreras headed south, passing by Neushwanstein Castle and eventually into Innsbruck late on Wednesday. They caught the tail end of our practice, and then we headed into the city center for a late dinner. First stop - authentic Tirolean cuisine! (Not that they hadn't already had their fill of meat and potatoes!)
A traditional Tirolean meal with Goulash Soup, Kraut, and Sausage.
For their second day in Innsbruck, we wanted to give our friends a taste of some of the different aspects of Tirol. First we showed George and Laurie the Old Town, then took a trip to the top of the Alps at Axamer-Lizum, and visited the nearby town of Hall in Tirol. It was a busy but very fun day of Alpine Immersion!
George and I went the top of the tower in the old town for a panoramic 360 degree view.
Looking down on the many patios of the Old Town.
George strikes the pose in front of the Golden Roof, Innsbruck's top attraction, and the towering mountains.
Innsbruck has come alive with the warm weather, as people (mostly tourists) pack the Old Town.
For lunch we headed up to Innsbruck's signature ski resort, Axamer-Lizum. This was the site of the 1964 and 1976 Olympic Ski competition, and now has an incredible restaurant at the top (incredible for the view more than the food.) It was perfect weather with blue skies and warm sun, or as Christie likes to say, "Heaven."
It's Spring so Love is in the air...
Matt was absolutely loving the views... and fighting off the pain of not skiing!
Contentment.
Each visit to the top is incredible.
Perfect place for sun-tanning?
Mountain-top explorers.
JUMP TIME!
For our final destination, we headed to the neighboring village of Hall in Tirol. It actually has a larger Old Town than Innsbruck, and is filled with small cobblestone streets, large churches, and plenty of atmosphere. We grabbed a quick cappuccino on a patio and soaked it all in. I think overall George and Laurie were very impressed with our fine little region!
Hall in Tirol.
What says Austria more than red and white shutters!
As George and Laurie head back to Catania, I wish them and the Elephants nothing but success for the rest of the season. Thanks for visiting Casa Contreras!!!
Also, George has an incredibly thorough and witty blog about his time in Sicily - PLEASE check it out at: coachingforpizza.blogspot.com.
~ J. Twice
1 comment:
Now if you had a photo with George doing the jump with you, that would really be something.
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