Robert La Bua Visits Innsbruck, Where the Thighs of Ballet Dancers and Ski Instructors Are Equally Hard…To Tell Apart
As WA settles in for another summer, skiers, snowboarders, and hot chocolate drinkers turn their attention to other parts of the planet. The Austrian Alps offer some of the best winter-sport conditions in the world, set in some of Earth’s most dramatic scenery. Add fine cuisine, stylish locals, surprising nightlife, an imperial palace, and a few other attractions to keep non-skiers busy for a week and you have all the elements necessary for an exotic getaway to the snow. If you’re lucky, one of the many impossibly attractive ski instructors will be eager to give you private lessons negotiating bumps and curves in just the right place—Innsbruck.
Austria is often filed away in traveller’s minds as a place for a waltz, a schnitzel, and a nap at the opera—all of which are satisfying in their own ways—but these stereotypical activities conveniently omit consideration of the country’s other attractions, foremost among them a well-educated, cultured population and a lively gay scene that includes a host of gay festivals and events throughout the year. Although Vienna, Linz, Salzburg, and Graz have all come into their own with smart new attractions to complement the well-known ones for which they are most famous, it is Innsbruck that offers an extra-special kick of fulfillment for travellers smart enough to stop and smell the delicious coffee for more than a day or two. Perhaps it is the city’s proximity to Italy (only a few hours’ drive away) that enlivens it with a noticeably joyful spirit. Or maybe the locals simply know just how good they have it.
Remember mad cow disease? Never came to Innsbruck. That was thanks to a radical experiment by Tyrolean farmers who actually let their animals eat grass rather than pellets manufactured from other animals. That’s the way things are done in this beautiful part of Austria where a high quality of life is a reality, not a daydream, reflected in every aspect of living in Innsbruck. Even the tap water is mineral water, naturally devoid of the toxins and other residual scourges of urban existence we have been trained to accept as the normal byproducts of modern life. In Innsbruck, whose glorious mountains act as natural water filters in addition to stunning backdrops to tourist photographs, food is grown locally the old-fashioned way but is certainly presented in innovative style; Innsbruck’s clean little secret is that it is one of Europe’s culinary centres, with talented chefs who rejoice in the fresh ingredients creating a wide variety of dishes, from hardy, traditional Tyrolean fare to experimental modern cuisine reflecting Innsbruck’s cosmopolitanism at the crossroads of four countries.
Innsbruck residents are as cultured as they are athletic, and with an abundance of concerts, dance performances, museum exhibitions, and operatic theatrics, sophistigayted visitors will not lack for anything to do no matter what time of year they come. The city’s Imperial Palace, the only one in Austria outside Vienna, has just undergone a major renovation and is well worth a visit. Right across the street from the palace is the Landestheater, where sighs for thighs are audible as ballet dancers display their asse(t)s for general appreciation as they take flight across a stage that has seen many a diva in its time.
Speaking of taking flight, Innsbruck offers the chance to see fearless ski jumpers launch their legs into the air along with the rest of their bodies from the top of the very chic Bergisel ski stadium tower, designed by none other than Zaha Hadid, the world’s most celebrated female architect. Ms Hadid also designed the well-rounded stations of the Nordland Cable Railway, which brings visitors to the top of the Nordkette, Innsbruck’s highest peak at 2,334 metres, a peak that offers skiers one of the longest and hardest trails in Europe and everybody else one of the continent’s most beautiful scenic overlooks.
Looming in the outer Innsbruck district of Wattens is the face of a green giant spouting a waterfall from his mouth as his eyes change colour. Though the first glimpse of Swarovski Kristallwelten—known in English as Swarovski Crystal Worlds—is impressive, its interior is much more so. This is not a walk through a crystal workshop with happy little factory workers spinning glass into a goldmine. What Swarovski has created is an art installation unique in the world, and it is well worth a visit. Swarovski Crystal Worlds is one of Austria’s biggest tourist attractions; part funhouse, part museum, and very much a sensory experience, with intentional variations in aromas and temperatures for each display adding to the visual and aural stimulation, it is a presentation of light and colour as seen nowhere else. From Brian Eno to Alexander McQueen, all fourteen of the artists contributing to the installation have created memorable experiences in the appropriately named Chambers of Wonder. In addition to free entry to Swarovski Crystal Worlds, an Innsbruck Card also provides a free ride from Innsbruck city centre to Swarovski Crystal World on the company’s private shuttle bus as a bonus to the general provision of unlimited access to Innsbruck’s entire transport network, which includes buses that go into the charming little mountain villages around the city proper on the valley floor.
Gay life in Austria is as exuberant as it is prolific, and even a small city like Innsbruck has its gay watering holes. With a high number of laidback university students, talented creative people, and genetically gifted athletic types living in Innsbruck, there are several places for Schwulen and Lesben to spend a few evening hours wondering how to change their itineraries to stay longer than they had planned. Among the most popular is Dom, whose name is not slang for any particular proclivity but rather an indication of its proximity to the city’s cathedral (‘dom’ in German). M+M Bar, famous around town for its cocktails, is another place of the moment, though the rowdiest of homosexuals prefer Bacchus to pursue bacchanalian pleasures. Ladies will love the very stylish Café Anchorage, located in Innsbruck’s Frauen-Lesben Zentrum.
The Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna to Innsbruck is one of the most picturesque in the world, flying over Alpine peaks so high that year-’round snow and high desert mix in a spectacular panorama. Fly from Perth to Vienna via Bangkok with THAI and Austrian or fly with Emirates via Dubai and change planes in Vienna for the short hop to Innsbruck. The Austrian National Tourist Office and Innsbruck Tourism both offer extensive information on their websites in assisting with travel planning.
MORE INFORMATION
www.austrian.com
www.emirates.com
www.austria.info
www.innsbruck.info
http://kristallwelten.swarovski.com
www.frauenlesbenzentrum.at/index.html
www.domcafe.at
www.mm-bar.at
www.bacchus-tirol.at
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