Innsbruck to Bled

The Hungerburgbahn, a funicular railway, takes you over the Inn river and then the Nordkette cable car whisks you up to nearly 7000 feet above sea level all in less than 30 minutes, it took a lot of tourists in shorts,T shirts and flip flops by surprise even though you could see from the city the snow lying on the tops of the mountains. 

The cross at the peak.

Yesterday i decided to take the scenic route from Innsbruck to Lake Bled via the Brenner pass and looping down through Italy, it was certainly scenic but the amount of roadworks and other hold ups added an unconscionable amount of time to the journey and i was charged tolls for the pass itself part of the autoroute and the tunnel into Slovenia as well as another Toll Vignette, an expensive decision.

The difference in the accommodation between the two places is astonishing especially as they are priced the same, I will not bore you with the details but I am polishing up my review skills for Trip Adviser and Booking.com. Bled is a beautiful place but very touristy and there seems to be a lot of work going on to make it more so, I circumnavigated the lake on foot today which seems to be a popular pastime especially by people on wheels. The different forms of wheeled transport I have seen on this trip are amazing, not only bicycles of all the usual forms but also recumbent and semi-recumbent cycles and weird bikes that have what looks like a gym style stepper as a means of propulsion. Electric bikes have taken off hugely and I am beginning to see how effective they can be especially for us fogies who may need a little assistance where inclines are involved. I have also seen a variety of scooters from children's to adult some with electric power and some with full bicycle sized wheels.

My landlord recommended a local restaurant for last night, the food was as usual far too plentiful but so good, I will be going back there again tonight. On to Venice tomorrow via Lipica which is home to the Lipizzaner stud if I can find it.