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katherine_b at 09:35pm on 06/05/2006
katherine_b at 09:35pm on 06/05/2006Friday 5th March 2006, 8.20pm
Okay, so there’s always one bad day in a trip and today was definitely it. As a result of the following, I am now a lot broker and will have to revisit places that I don’t really want to go back to particularly. However, as a good writer should, I will start at the beginning…
I had very definite plans today. Based on the information in both the Achensee handbooks and also my Lonely Planet Austria guide, I decided to visit the Salt-Mine museum in Hall first, then go to the Stubai glacier and finally the Swarovsky Crystal Worlds. In order to get to Hall for the 10am tour, I left the hotel in Pertisau on the 8.05am bus, thus missing breakfast (which begins at 8am). All went well, I got the bus and the train that left soon after and was in Hall by 9.30am. I found the Information Centre and went in – to be told that the times of the tours had changed since the book was published (in 2005!) and there was now a city tour at 10.30am and then the mine tour at 11.45am.
This threw out my plans for the day considerably and I was pretty darned ticked off, I have to admit, but I decided to make the most of it, so I wandered around Hall Altstadt for a bit, had tea and then went back to the Tourist office where the tour was announced as beginning. I still had some spare time, so I went looking at the various brochures in the Office and found one that gave the times for the bus that ran between Innsbruck and Swarovski, which I planned to catch. Rather crappily (I thought) it only ran every two hours (it takes only 30 mins from Innsbruck to Swarovski), so the first bus I could catch after the 30 min. mine tour would be 1pm, and only then if all my connections went properly, as the train trip from Hall to Innsbruck is at least 20 mins. I could then only catch the 3.30pm bus from Swarovski back to Innsbruck and would have almost no time for the glacier.
So, rather ticked off I waited outside the office for the start of the city tour. And waited and waited. 10.30am came and went and I was getting pretty annoyed. By 10.40am, I was sick of waiting and realised that, if I hurried, I could get the 11am bus for Swarovski. I hailed a taxi and asked for the station, at which point he offered to take me to Innsbruck station for 17 Euros. As this would mean I’d be sure to get the 11am bus (which was a bit iffy if I trusted to the trains), I agreed and got to Innsbruck with five minutes to spare. I got the bus to Swarovski and saw the crystals, but that took me a grand total of 30 mins, so I still had two hours until the bus would turn up again at Swarovski to take me back to Innsbruck at 1.30pm. I could have walked back, but I’d paid for a there-and-back ticket for 15 Euro and I really didn’t want to waste that money.
In the end, I got back to Innsbruck at 2pm and went to find out about Stubai. The woman in the Info office told me that yes, I could catch the 2.05pm bus, but that I was too late to catch the cable car up the glacier itself. That left me in a tough spot with not much time to decide what to do. I could go to Stubai, I could spend a bit of time in Innsbruck, but I planned to devote an entire day to that city next week, so I wasn’t keen on that idea, or I could go back to Pertisau early. In the end, I definitely made the wrong choice. (I blame the fact that I’d had no breakfast and, now, would have no lunch either.) I went to Stubai. The bus took 1.5 hours each way, so it was 3.30pm by the time I arrived and, as the woman in Innbruck had said, I couldn’t go to the glacier or I would miss the last cable car (and thus also the bus) back. In the end, I bought a few postcards, admired the snowy scenery and the skiers (in May!) and then caught the next bus back.
Except the bus didn’t go all the way back. It stopped at Fulpmes and I had to get out and wait for the next one. Fulpmes is nice, but now I was thinking about the buses from Jenbach to Pertisau and wondering about the likelihood of missing the last one. I finally got in to Innsbruck at 5.15pm and raced for a train that left for Jenbach at 5.20. That would get me in to Jenbach at 5.50pm and the second-last bus left at 5.52pm. The train was packed – and five minutes late, so I missed the bus. By two bloody minutes!!!
So, having had no brekky, no lunch, needing a bathroom rather urgently (the loo on the train was blocked and I didn’t have a 50 cent piece to use the one at Jenbach), I decided to get a taxi. My second for the day. Still, according to the Achensee handbook, it’s only 20 Euro and that’s not so bad. Er, wrong. It’s now 26 (and that only after some debate with the driver). We literally followed the bus almost all the way back to Pertisau where, of course, I hadn’t ordered my dinner at breakfast, as I wasn’t there (see yesterday’s entry for details) and I wondered if I’d get anything at all. Fortunately the hotel staff were nicer than just about everyone else today, so I got a lovely meal and feel a lot better.
However, the upshot of today’s debacles is that I have to go back to Hall as I really want to see the salt museum. I’m even thinking about it tomorrow so that it’s out of the way. I suppose we’ll know tomorrow if that’s what happens… ;-)
Okay, so there’s always one bad day in a trip and today was definitely it. As a result of the following, I am now a lot broker and will have to revisit places that I don’t really want to go back to particularly. However, as a good writer should, I will start at the beginning…
I had very definite plans today. Based on the information in both the Achensee handbooks and also my Lonely Planet Austria guide, I decided to visit the Salt-Mine museum in Hall first, then go to the Stubai glacier and finally the Swarovsky Crystal Worlds. In order to get to Hall for the 10am tour, I left the hotel in Pertisau on the 8.05am bus, thus missing breakfast (which begins at 8am). All went well, I got the bus and the train that left soon after and was in Hall by 9.30am. I found the Information Centre and went in – to be told that the times of the tours had changed since the book was published (in 2005!) and there was now a city tour at 10.30am and then the mine tour at 11.45am.
This threw out my plans for the day considerably and I was pretty darned ticked off, I have to admit, but I decided to make the most of it, so I wandered around Hall Altstadt for a bit, had tea and then went back to the Tourist office where the tour was announced as beginning. I still had some spare time, so I went looking at the various brochures in the Office and found one that gave the times for the bus that ran between Innsbruck and Swarovski, which I planned to catch. Rather crappily (I thought) it only ran every two hours (it takes only 30 mins from Innsbruck to Swarovski), so the first bus I could catch after the 30 min. mine tour would be 1pm, and only then if all my connections went properly, as the train trip from Hall to Innsbruck is at least 20 mins. I could then only catch the 3.30pm bus from Swarovski back to Innsbruck and would have almost no time for the glacier.
So, rather ticked off I waited outside the office for the start of the city tour. And waited and waited. 10.30am came and went and I was getting pretty annoyed. By 10.40am, I was sick of waiting and realised that, if I hurried, I could get the 11am bus for Swarovski. I hailed a taxi and asked for the station, at which point he offered to take me to Innsbruck station for 17 Euros. As this would mean I’d be sure to get the 11am bus (which was a bit iffy if I trusted to the trains), I agreed and got to Innsbruck with five minutes to spare. I got the bus to Swarovski and saw the crystals, but that took me a grand total of 30 mins, so I still had two hours until the bus would turn up again at Swarovski to take me back to Innsbruck at 1.30pm. I could have walked back, but I’d paid for a there-and-back ticket for 15 Euro and I really didn’t want to waste that money.
In the end, I got back to Innsbruck at 2pm and went to find out about Stubai. The woman in the Info office told me that yes, I could catch the 2.05pm bus, but that I was too late to catch the cable car up the glacier itself. That left me in a tough spot with not much time to decide what to do. I could go to Stubai, I could spend a bit of time in Innsbruck, but I planned to devote an entire day to that city next week, so I wasn’t keen on that idea, or I could go back to Pertisau early. In the end, I definitely made the wrong choice. (I blame the fact that I’d had no breakfast and, now, would have no lunch either.) I went to Stubai. The bus took 1.5 hours each way, so it was 3.30pm by the time I arrived and, as the woman in Innbruck had said, I couldn’t go to the glacier or I would miss the last cable car (and thus also the bus) back. In the end, I bought a few postcards, admired the snowy scenery and the skiers (in May!) and then caught the next bus back.
Except the bus didn’t go all the way back. It stopped at Fulpmes and I had to get out and wait for the next one. Fulpmes is nice, but now I was thinking about the buses from Jenbach to Pertisau and wondering about the likelihood of missing the last one. I finally got in to Innsbruck at 5.15pm and raced for a train that left for Jenbach at 5.20. That would get me in to Jenbach at 5.50pm and the second-last bus left at 5.52pm. The train was packed – and five minutes late, so I missed the bus. By two bloody minutes!!!
So, having had no brekky, no lunch, needing a bathroom rather urgently (the loo on the train was blocked and I didn’t have a 50 cent piece to use the one at Jenbach), I decided to get a taxi. My second for the day. Still, according to the Achensee handbook, it’s only 20 Euro and that’s not so bad. Er, wrong. It’s now 26 (and that only after some debate with the driver). We literally followed the bus almost all the way back to Pertisau where, of course, I hadn’t ordered my dinner at breakfast, as I wasn’t there (see yesterday’s entry for details) and I wondered if I’d get anything at all. Fortunately the hotel staff were nicer than just about everyone else today, so I got a lovely meal and feel a lot better.
However, the upshot of today’s debacles is that I have to go back to Hall as I really want to see the salt museum. I’m even thinking about it tomorrow so that it’s out of the way. I suppose we’ll know tomorrow if that’s what happens… ;-)
A bit cranky
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