10 May

Ah, today I awoke before the alarm, then was up and prepared for breakfast at 8. Mine hostess had deputed the job to Hermann, who duly boiled up the water for my pot of tea, there already being the slice of torte and cake on the table. I took a bread roll to have with vegemite, so I could get my fix after missing out yesterday.
During breakfast we discussed a little about Australia, a lot about my trip (he had watched the pictures last night on his computer) and a little about Trento. Apparently it is named for the three-headed mountain visible out the front door of this house. It was also an important front in WW1 and there is a celebration in a town (Bassano) just down the road today with the army putting on a real show (which is probably why I saw two tanks being transported there yesterday and a whole load of army vehicles heading that way).
Eventually I finished up after seeing his two dogs (one a Labrador cross, one a husky) and packed ready to go. As I left, the couple who were also staying there were up and we exchanged greetings as I departed.
I set the SatNav for the Brenner Pass and headed off. All went well (apart from Italian drivers) until I was about forty kilometres from the border and found the road closed. I had seen some signs but didn’t know what they meant until I saw a pole down across the road, with a padlock on it and a red circle on it. I went back to where I had seen the sign and a man was busy changing it into a green one (open). I asked him and he assured me it was open now (even though he could only speak Italian). I turned around and went back, to find the pole locked up. I headed off on a road which was narrow and winding, but gave wonderful views.
The road to this point had been narrow, but not too winding. Around each corner had been views of either new mountains (in the Italian Alps) or a valley with a small village or a few farms in it. It reminded me so much of Heidi, even though it wasn’t Switzerland. Now it became very winding, with great views at every turn and snow piled by the roadside (it looked as if the road had been ploughed that morning). It was very difficult to concentrate on the road, but I had to as many motorbikes were on the road and taking up all of it on corners, then suddenly straightening up as they realised a car was there. Then, suddenly, I was nearly at Brenner. I stopped in the town beforehand, to get lunch and also to see what accommodation was available. The Tourist Centre didn’t open until 2:30, so I walked around the town and had a look. Each of these little towns has its own claim to fame, but some proclaim it more loudly to the world. In the Piazza, there were a number of restaurants and at one, one of the customers was playing a piano accordion, with clapping from all in the square each time he finished a number. He was quite young. Looking only about twenty.
At 2:30 the Tourist Centre opened and I asked. Fortunately the girl on the counter spoke English and I was given the name of a hotel which had Internet. When I went to book in, it was an optional extra (At €5 an hour, which mounts up quickly!). I declined, even though the place looked very nice, and decided to head on into Austria and Innsbruck. The first thing over the border was the discipline of the drivers. I quickly saw why with four radar traps within fifty kilometres. I stopped in a supermarket to restock. I could get real biscuits (sort of like milk coffee) and coke was relatively cheap (so was beer, as I saw from the four young lads in front of me who must have been nearly dying of thirst, as four slabs of twenty-four cans, 500 ml each, at €15,60 a slab, was barely enough to quench their thirst). The second thing was the roads got wider. As I arrived in Innsbruck, the neatness, the cleanliness and the garden-like appearance of the town amazed me.
However Teutonic efficiency had to come undone somewhere, and when I went to park to get tourist information, I had to wait ten minutes to enter the underground car park. I found the information in a newsagency and got a list of B&Bs, although it was made to sound that Internet access was a rarity. I read up on the list and found a place, while large, suited my needs in that it was cheaper, out of town (so I didn’t have to park on the street) and had Internet access listed. I arrived there to find the daughter of the house (she also is an Inspector Rex fan) on duty. I could have a room at €31 a night, including breakfast (7 to 9:30) but it didn’t have private facilities (but they were just next door). Internet depended upon her dad getting things working, so I implored her to get him onto the job tonight.
I settled in, wrote this up, then went for a little walk.
However, after the little walk (which was only out the front), I found there was a network and the daughter rang the father, he gave the password and I was on. Photos were uploaded and blogs will soon be up-to-date.
I will be staying here two nights, and tomorrow I will be walking around to see the town. I will see if I can get a T-shirt “There are no kangaroos in Austria” – but I would like to see someone release a few kangaroos into parks here so it is wrong.