Up and ready to go out, Mama is OK, and we have planned to go to Schloss Amras and possibly Hall afterwards. More in my next.  Dad

Wednesday, May 12: We arose in good time this morning and took our breakfast at 8 o’clock. We then went to the Innsteg station to go to Schloss Ambras, but, upon learning that the train would not leave until 12 o’clock, we decided to go to Hall instead. We had a beautiful ride through Muhlan, where we stopped at a Gasthaus to await a through train. I ordered 1/4 Litre of Tyrol wine for which I had to pay 22 heller (4-1/2¢) and which contained three small glasses. It is something like our Missouri red wine.

Heard a genuine live Koo-koo in Muhlan. We had a fine view of Ambrast and its cable and, passing the Kalvarienberg, which once upon a time had a castle, we saw two pretty little villages, Ruin (!) and a Thaur with their neat churches. On the road we passed a Prayer station every little while. Heiligkrenz and Absam, two more villages in the valley, were passed and, after a ride of about half an hour, we reached Hall, a quaint old Tyrolean town of 6200 inhabitants.

We ascended to the top of the city by stairs leading us through narrow streets and low passage ways underneath houses to the old Rathaus, which in 1406, was given to the city by Duke Leopold. The battlements on the wall have the coat of arms of the city in mosaic.

We next stepped into the Pfarr Kirche, built in 1352, with a grand old portal under which some very old tombstones showing figure of a Knight in stone, all worn out from walking on it. On the walls of the church some very old carving and iron work, and we walked back to the Haltestelle and took the little steam car back to our starting point, the Innsteg.

In the afternoon, Emily and I started out for Ambras, we took the steam train, which gradually winds its way up the mountain and affords us a fine view of the upper and lower Inn valley. The Schloss erected in the 13th century owes its fame to Arch Duke Ferdinand, husband of Philippina Welser, daughter of a wealthy Patrician of Augsburg. He had it reconstructed in 1563 for his wife.

In two large room there is a fine collection of arms and armour and another fine room is the Spanish Salon 140’ long which has beautiful doors and ceiling of interlaid wood. Besides this we were shown the bath chamber and dressing room of Philippina which reminded me of the Baptistry in a Baptist Church, in the other rooms there are collections of old furniture “Kachel oefen,” objects in metal, ivory, etc.

From the balcony, we had a fine view of Innsbruck and the mountains surrounding it. We found that we would have to wait two hours for the next train, so we walked it to Wilten and took the electric from there to the Maria Theresienstrasse, and from there we walked home, a pretty well tired out pair.