ASIANOVERLAND.NET WINTER EUROPEAN DAY 42/215:  INNSBRUCK TO MUNICH, GERMANY

“22/1/81 Innsbruck to Munich

The master Top Deck chefs painstakingly added kerosene to our curry and shared it around – a delicious number – KERO CURRY

Thanks Corrie & Regan.

No, neither of the cooks won DALE!! For this masterpiece. ROBYN was a unanimous winner after tucking into 2 helpings of the old KERO CURRY -

"got to give it a go, you know!!"

Actually, there was no kero in the curry. We always stored spare diesel containers in various places on the bus, and some of it had leaked down onto the floor, where the potatoes and other food was safely and hygenically stored on the floor under the seats. The diesel has seeped into the potatoes, which were unwittingly added to the curry. No-one died.

That reminds me of the Top Deck overland driver who bought a baby pet python in India which escaped on the bus early in the overland trip. Everyone had forgotten about the python until they had driven to Europe and one of the punters opened a bag of rice stored under a seat.  Our crawled Monty!!! Monty had grown quite a lot over the two months, but the driver was happy to find his pet python again.

Another busy day today. The Trip Book contains a half day morning lift ticket for Neustift, a 300 meters high glacier with 15 square kilometers of skiing area. We had great morning ski before heading down the Stubaital glaciers and mountains to Innsbruck – back on the itinerary, more or less, after an enjoyable side tour.

The earliest inhabitation of Innsbruck was in the early Stone Age. Pre-Roman place names show the area has been populated continuously since then.

In 1248 the town passed into the hands of the Counts of Tyrol. The city's arms show a bird's-eye view of the Inn bridge, a design used since 1267. The route over the Brenner Pass was then a major transport and communications link between the north and south of Europe, and the easiest route across the Alps. It was part of the Via Imperii, a medieval imperial road under special protection of the king.

Innsbruck became the capital of all Tyrol in 1429, and in the 15th century the city became a centre of European politics and culture as Emperor Maximilian I resided in Innsbruck from the 1490s. The Golden Roof is a landmark structure located in the Old Town of Innsbruck, and is the city's most famous symbol. Completed in 1500, the “golden” roof was decorated with 2,657 fire-gilded copper tiles for Emperor Maximilian I to mark his wedding to Bianca Maria Sforza. The Emperor and his wife used the balcony to observe festivals, tournaments, and other events that took place in the square below.

In 1564 Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria received the rulership over Tirol and other Austrian possessions, which were subsequently administered from Innsbruck up to the 18th century. He had Schloss Ambras built and housed his unique Renaissance collections (now in Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum).

Until 1918, Innsbruck (one of the 4 autonomous towns in Tyrol) was part of the Austrian monarchy.

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