Innsbruck

     Last Friday I took the train to Innsbruck, Austria. It was a 2 hr and 15 min train ride through the Austrian Alps. It was an unbelievably beautiful ride, and though I didn't take any pictures along the way, it was awe-inspiring the entire time. Once I reached Innsbruck, the first thing I saw when I left the train station was a Burger King. I couldn't quite believe it. I have seen a McDonald's in just about every town, but this was the first American food chain I had seen since arriving here.
     The night before traveling to Innsbruck, I downloaded a walking tour to my iPod. I used a map I had downloaded to get me to the starting point of the walking tour, put my earphones in, and then simply pressed "play". The lady on the audio tour told me everything I was looking at and every turn to take. It was a very cool way to see the city. I'll post photos of Innsbruck at the bottom of this post.
     Tomorrow I am planning a trip to Liechtenstein, about 20 miles south of where I'm living in Austria. This will mark the fourth country that I have visited in just over a month since arriving in Europe. That will equal the number of countries I had visited in my entire 23 years leading up to now. I will have pictures of that trip for you on my next blog.
     Mike comes in on Monday, and I'm very excited. When he gets here, we will have all of our imports here and we will be ready to go. Our head coach comes in on Tuesday, and then we will officially begin our season. We are just over a month to our first game, and the anticipation is building.
     I apologize for the short post, but have to leave for practice here in a few minutes. I hope all is well back at home, and please check back in soon for more updates.

Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch Niekamp

Goldenes Dachl (The Golden Roof). The most famous landmark of Innsbruck. This used to be a royal palace.
Austrian Alps in the background. 

St. John's Cathedral

A hotel that has been in operation since the 11th century. A stone slab on the side of the building lists the famous people
who have stayed here, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The river Inn, for which the city was named after. 

A rooftop view of the city of Innsbruck