Day 20- June 7

 (at the top of the Olympic ski jump)

 (the rafting girls)

            Today was our second free day in Innsbruck to enjoy the city and the various outdoor activities available.

            This morning Jessica and I used our Innsbruck card that we purchased yesterday to go to the Bergeisel, the gigantic Olympic ski jump.  The concierge at our hotel told us that it is much better to walk there rather than take city transportation, so we walked for about fifteen minutes from our hotel to the base of the mountain where the ski jump is built.  It turned out to be pretty much a hike up to the jump once we hit the base of the mountain and we were in sandals, but thankfully it was paved.  Using our card, we were able to take the gondola up to the top of the building attached to the jump, and look down on the whole jump as well as the whole city of Innsbruck.   The view was wonderful but it was slightly terrifying to imagine that people actually speed down that jump on skis (at 60 miles per hour, we’re told!), fly through the air, and (usually) land safely.

            After our visit to the ski jump we grabbed an early lunch and headed back to the hotel to meet up for our water adventure!  I went white water rafting down the Inn River with several other girls (and some random Germans), and it was a complete blast.  The water here is FREEZING but we had extra thick wetsuits (much thicker than the ones at Noah’s Ark), booties, and a helmet.  The trip down the river was shorter than I was expecting, but we hit some pretty fast rapids and were completely soaked within the first few minutes.  Our guide, Kevin, was really fun.  During the parts where the river was slow, he had us play games like “everyone stand on the edge of the raft and see who falls in,” and “everyone stand and also rock the raft and see who falls in,” and “go stand on the bow of the boat and see if you fall in,” and a variety of others.  We were able to jump in and swim in some areas, so I did, but that quickly turned into “get me out of here, it’s really cold.”  Even though the water was freezing, it was not a miserable ride- I remember being much colder and wetter when rafting in Colorado.

            After our trip down the Inn, we got ice cream (even though it was cold outside) from the café across the street while waiting for our group of people going canyoning to come back.  (Canyoning is basically jumping off rocks into freezing cold water.)  After an hour and a half of waiting, everyone finally made it back to the rafting place, so we headed back into Innsbruck.

            By the time we got there it was almost 8 pm and we were starving.  We ended up going back to the restaurant we went to on our first night here, and it was delicious again.

            Then, since we were still a little wet and a little cold from rafting, we called it a night and retreated to our hotel room for some much needed warmth and rest.

            PS- I am incredibly sore from our little hike yesterday, and I’m sure it will be even worse tomorrow as a result of paddling through white water.  At this rate, every move I make will be painful.