2020. Corona. Travelling is a different game. Yet our Fernweh acted up too often. So we arranged a train trip to Germany and Austria. Specifically to Leipzig in Saxony, several spots in Bavaria and returning home with ÖBB‘s Nightjet from Innsbruck in Tyrol to Brussels in Belgium.

Vienna is not the only Austrian city with a Hofburg, as Moscow isn’t the only Russian city with a Kremlin. The Innsbruck Hofburg or Imperial Palace is visitable, but no photos allowed. Yes, you can roll your eyes.

Hofburg!

The Hofburg is a former Habsburg palace in Innsbruck and considered one of the three most significant cultural buildings in the country, along with the other Hofburg and Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.

The Hofburg is the main building of a large residential complex once used by the Habsburgs that still includes the Noblewomen’s Collegiate Foundation, the Silver Chapel, the Hofkirche containing Emperor Maximilian I‘s cenotaph and the Schwarzen Mandern, the Theological University, the Tyrolean Folk Art Museum, Innsbruck Cathedral, the Congress, and the Hofgarten (Court Garden).

The Hofburg contains five themed museum areas: Maria Theresa’s Rooms from the eighteenth century, Empress Elisabeth’s Apartment from the nineteenth century, a Furniture Museum, an Ancestral Gallery, and a Painting Gallery. 

These themed museum areas illustrate various aspects of the political and cultural history of the former imperial palace, which remained in the possession of the Habsburgs for more than 450 years.

No photos allowed, but I sneakily took some. 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The Hofburg ís interesting to visit, with opulent decorations and also and compelling exhibition about Maximilian I. Maximilian had a firm Burgundian and thus Flemish, Brabantian and ‘Belgian’ connection. The Habsburg were and are everywhere. 

Previously on this adventure

1. The delicious German state secret: dining onboard Deutsche Bahn.
2. VIDEO | Leipzig Hauptbahnhof.
3. Leipzig Bayerischer Bahnhof.
4. EAST GERMANY | Zeitgeschichtliches Forum, Leipzig’s GDR museum.
5. Hyperion Leipzig.
6. Leipzig.
7. By ICE from Leipzig to Nuremberg.
8. Nuremberg Transport Museum / DB Museum.
9. Novotel Nuremberg City Centre.
10. Documentation Center NS Party Rallying Grounds in Nuremberg.
11. Nuremberg’s Zeppelin Field with the Norisring.
12. Memorium Nuremberg Trials.
13. Nuremberg’s real-life Playmobil Imperial Castle.
14. You need at least two full days in Nuremberg.
15. DB Regio from Nuremberg to Regensburg.
16. Thurn und Taxis princely palace museum in Regensburg.
17. Eurostars Park Hotel Maximilian Regensburg.
18. Regensburg.
19. With Alex from Regensburg to Munich.
20. BMW Museum & BMW Welt in Munich.
21. Munich’s Olympiapark.
22. Sofitel Munich Bayerpost.
23. Deutsches Museum’s Verkehrszentrum or Transport Centre in Munich.
24. Deutsches Museum’s main site on Munich’s Museuminsel.
25. By train to Neuschwanstein.
26. Only 15 Minutes and No Photos in Schloss Neuschwanstein Castle.
27. Museum of the Bavarian Kings in Schwangau near Neuschwanstein.
28. Füssen in Bavaria, the gateway to Neuschwanstein.
29. Münchner Stadtmuseum – Munich City Museum.
30. MUNICH | Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum / Pinakothek der Moderne.
31. Five days and four nights in Munich, including Neuschwanstein.
32. By train to Lindau and Lake Constance.
33. Lindau at or in Lake Constance.
34. Hotel Bayerischer Hof Lindau.
35. Trainspotting at Lindau.
36. By train from Lindau to Garmisch-Partenkirchen via the Ausserfern railway.
37. Staying firmly on the ground in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
38. Mercure Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
39. Visiting Germany’s highest mountain, the Zugspitze.
40. Mountaineering in Germany part 2: The Alpspitz.
41. Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Innsbruck via Mittenwald on DB Regio.
42. Habsburg Schloss Ambras Castle in Innsbruck.
43. Ibis Innsbruck.
44. Nightjet Vienna/Innsbruck to Brussels, or how we got thrown off the train in Aachen.