Some digital pictures from Innsbruck

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May-June, 1998

Here are some digital images acquired with the electronic camera at the Institut für Experimentalphysik at the University of Innsbruck, where I am currently visiting.  Later there will be more images as I get the hang of the camera system.  I am maintaining this page as "postcards" for my family and friends and make no guarantees about the quality or durability of the things I post here.

At work

• A picture from the north window of Harald Weinfurter's office, which I am sharing.
• A somewhat nicer pan taken northeast, from the little balcony outisde the window.
• A picture from the west window of Harald's office -- this is the window I look out.
• A tired me in Harald's office.
• The building where I'm working, viewed from the west.  Harald's office is located at the corner marked by the arrow.  In fact, the white shade on the window next to my desk is pulled down, and you can just see it at around pixel (105, 291).

Near to "home"

• My room at the Pension Neuhauser.  The view out my window.  OK, so it isn't the Ritz and it doesn't look out on the Riviera.  But it is comfortable and just about midway between the University and the Altstadt.
• A neat bridge across the Inn near my hotel.  The train runs on top and pedestrians and bycycles go below.

A trip to the Altstadt

• The Inn river from the south bank, near the Altstadt (the old part of town).
•  A panorama looking across the bridge that gave Innsbruck its name.  Well, anyway, the bridge that now stands where the bridge was that gave Innsbruck its name.  Or whatever.  Notice the cool way that I've fitted the pictures together.  I've got a better one down below.
• Looking down an alley in the Altstadt toward the Stadtturm, or City Tower.
• The staircase that leads to the top of the Stadtturm.  Think of this as my Hitchcock homage.  Actually you can only see about half of the staircase; it's about 170 steps up from street level (pant, pant).
• Another picture of me, on the viewing balcony atop the Stadtturm.  In the background is the cathedral, the Dom zu St. Jakob.
• Looking west from the Stadtturm.
• Another panorama, this one looking east from the top of the Stadtturm.  The pan reaches around about 160 degrees.  The cathedral is to the north (left end of the pan), and off to the southeast you can see the ski-jump area from the Olympics.
• Looking down on the plaza from the Stadtturm.  At the end of the plaza is something called the Goldenes Dachl (the "Golden Roof"), a portico whose roof is covered with 2600 golden coins.  This is one of the great sights in Innsbruck.  Unfortunately, it is under repair at the moment; but the thoughtful Innsbruckers have put up a full-size photograph on the scaffolding, so that the place still looks okay.
• Looking down the street toward the Goldenes Dachl.  See, from a distance the poster doesn't look half bad.  You can also see a famous restaurant.
• A band concert in front of the Goldenes Dachl.  A few minutes after this they played "My Way" and then "Killing Me Softly".  Very nice.
• Another alley in the Altstadt.
• A fountain with an equestrian statue of Leopold V.  I am not quite sure why Leopold gets a statue, but I do know that this is the oldest equestrian statue north of the Alps in which the horse is rearing up on its back legs.  So they tell me, anyway.
• TheImperial Palace, just across the street from Leopold V's statue.
• The interior of the Dom zu St. Jakob.

Round about

• There is a lot of sailplaning this time of year in Innsbruck, and the University campus where I work is next to the airport.  Here is a great big picture of a sailplane being towed aloft.  (They also launch them by catapault, which is cool to watch.)
• Looking up the slope toward the village of Kranebitten and the Nordkette (the line of mountains that runs along the north side of the Inn valley).
• Sights in Kranebitten:  A church and the gasthof.
• Local folks picking strawberries in a field near the University.
• A statue of the Frog Prince (as frog) returning the golden ball to the Princess, from the Hofgarten (a city park near the Imperial Palace).
• An interesting sundial in the Hofgarten.  If I understand it right, you can also tell something about the time in London, etc.  I have enough trouble with local time, however.
• Just in case you are wondering where I am.  The longitude is not measured from Greenwich, but from someplace in the Faeroe Islands.  I think.  The Austrian Empire was a little funny in some ways.
• A statue of somebody, I'm not quite sure who, but he looked nice.

A trip to Seegrube and Hafelekar

• The aim of the trip is to go to the top of the Nordkette, the range of mountains immediately north of the city.  I start by taking the Hungerburgbahn, a funicular railway from downtown Innsbruck (alt. 500 m) up to the Hungerburg (alt. 800 m), which is a part of Innsbruck that overlooks the rest of the city.
• The view from the Hungerburg, looking down toward the Altstadt and the Inn river.
• From the Hungerburg, you take the cable car.  Here's looking down from about halfway up, and a picture of the cable car.
• This is where you are heading.  On the left is Seegrube (alt. 1900 m), where the first leg of the cable car journey ends.  On the far right, that little building at the top of the ridge is the upper cable car station at Hafelekar (alt. 2250 m).  When there's snow, people ski down that steep (70 deg.) slope.
• Looking down from Seegrube.
• The cable car station at Hafelekar.
• Here's a picture of me at Hafelekar.  And here is another, which was taken on top of the Hafelekarspitze (alt. 2330 m).
• Here is a picture of some crazy people climbing near Hafelekar.  (Actually, they seemed to know what they were doing.)
• South and west from Hafelekar.  Some of the mountains in the distance are 3500 m tall (rather more than 11,000 ft.)
• North and west from Hafelekar, looking at the country beyond the Nordkette.
• East and north from the top of the Hafelekarspitze, looking along the line of the Nordkette.
• On the way back down, I stopped off at the restaurant at Seegrube to get lunch.  There was a bit of excitement.  A medical helicopter landed amidst flying dust and debris, medics ran out, and a little while later they flew back down with a patient on a stretcher.