In the city of Innsbruck, capital of Austria's federal state of Tirol

 "If I would have listened to the naysayers, I would still be in the Austrian Alps, yodeling." -- Arnold Schwarzenegger

=================================================================
(in western Austria) One of Europe's most idyllic cities, Innsbruck is nestled in the heart of the Alps. The capital of Austria's federal state of Tirol, it is found on the Inn River, at the mouth of the Sill River, in the Eastern Alps. Coveted by empires and republics throughout its history, the city was the seat of the imperial court of Maximilian I by the end of the 15th century. Explore the Tyrolean capital's history at Archduke Ferdinand II's 10th-century Schloss Ambras, the Tyrolean Folk Art Museum, the grand 15th-century Imperial Palace and Maximilian I's famous Golden Roof. First mentioned in 1180 as a small market town belonging to the Bavarian counts of Andech, it developed rapidly because of its strategic position at the junction of the great trade routes from Italy to Germany, via the Brenner Pass, and from Switzerland and western Europe. The bridge (Brücke) over the Inn originally carried this traffic and gave the city its name and its insignia. Innsbruck was chartered in 1239, passed to the Habsburgs in 1363, and in 1420 became the capital of Tirol and the ducal residence under Frederick, the duke “of the empty pockets.” Napoleon granted the city to the kingdom of Bavaria in 1806, and during the War of Liberation (1809) four battles were fought around Berg Isel, a hill immediately to the south, by Tirolian patriots led by Andreas Hofer against the Bavarians and the French. The Old Town area has narrow streets lined with medieval houses and arcades. One of the most famous buildings is the Fürstenburg, with a balcony with a gilded copper roof, allegedly built by Duke Frederick and refashioned by the emperor Maximilian (around 1500). Other notable landmarks include the Hofburg, on the site of a 15th-century ducal residence) and the Franciscan, or Court, church, containing the mausoleum dedicated to Maximilian I and the tombs of Hofer and other Tirolian heroes. The university was founded by Emperor Leopold I in 1677, and its great library was a gift of the empress  Maria Theresa in 1745.
+ The jagged rock spires of the Nordkette mountain range are so close that within minutes it’s possible to travel from the heart of Innsbruck to more than 2000 meters above sea level -- and alpine pastures where cowbells chime. Summer and winter activities abound here, and it’s quite understandable that some visitors only take a peek at Innsbruck proper before heading for the hills. But to do so is a bit unfortunate, for Innsbruck is in many ways Austria in microcosm: its late-medieval Altstadt is presided over by a grand Habsburg palace and baroque cathedral, while its Olympic ski jump with big mountain views makes a spectacular leap between the urban and the outdoors.