Innsbruck, Austria

Driving to Italy takes a while - there are these huge mountains in the way. Alps.

I was most looking forward to the first part of the trip because it involved McDonald's breakfast:

 They should really have these sandwiches in the U.S. Stupidly good.

We also had to turn down a hitchhiker on the way. Too bad for that guy - trying to get to Munich.... not in our car, buddy.

Anyway, we stopped for lunch around Neuschwanstein Castle and snapped a few pictures before continuing:

Our destination for the night was Innsbruck, Austria. What a totally beautiful city!

Of course we stayed at the Hilton and found our parking spot right up front....

...and were upgraded to a junior suite with a great view of everything.

When Chris and Joyce arrived, we met up for dinner at the hotel. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, but even if I did it could not convey how amazing our meals were. We both had filets of Austrian beef with sauces on the side, though there was no way these slabs of meat needed anything at all to make them perfection. One of the best steaks I've ever had, and it came on a wooden slab to boot.

They did have advertisements of the restaurant in the elevators in the form of delicious looking cows...

Anyway, before heading out the next day we got to walk around the pedestrian area, and despite some rain, it was super fun. They had multiple stores that just had slabs of bacon in them. How could this city get any better?

Found a store we totally own....

 Look at the intricate designs on the buildings! So cool.

 Beautiful church....

And can we talk about how gorgeous this is?! Wow. They had tons of shops with amazing things like this, but this one was absolutely the best of the bunch.

So yes, add Innsbruck to your list. Great combo of restaurants, shopping, and those pretty mountains.