September 22, 2022

While eating, Kathy lost a crown. That set off an interesting saga. Our medical travel insurance had no emergency dentists to recommend and the hotel recommended we try the University Hospital which had a dental department. So early in the morning we set off to the Zanklinik (tooth clinic). The service was amazing and rather quick given we were tourists and had no appointment. Kathy filled out paper work and we were led to a waiting room; within 15 minutes we were in a dental room with many procedures in progress in separate kiosks. The interns with some English skills accessed her needs and said they would confer with a colleague who turned out to be a dental professor and medical doctor who supervised the interns. He spoke fluent English and said that she would need a temporary to cover the tooth. I told him we had tickets to the once every 10 years’ Passion Play in Oberammergau the next day and would need the replacement today. I also informed him we would not be back home until November. Turns out, they were enthralled we were going to the play, and one of the interns shared he had been a singer in the Passion Play Children’s Choir in his youth. The doctor said Kathy would need a more substantial replacement than the regular temporary and went to the lab and ordered an improved type of temporary that should last the duration of the trip—sort of an enhanced temporary. There was no time to cast a permanent replacement, but we were thankful for the enhanced one. We came back at three in the afternoon for it to be installed, and Kathy is now back to normal. Cost—$122. 

We had time to make it to the Court Chapel for an organ recital with guest organist Mario Aschauer, who is from Houston. This pipe organ is the oldest still in use in the world. In the setting of the chapel of Emperor Maximillian I, with larger than life cast bronze statues of the forefathers of the Habsburg dynasty surrounding the Emperor’s monumental tomb. We sat in the richly carved wooden choir stalls; the music was enthralling. The organist had selected compositions that highlighted the instrument’s versatility—i.e. pieces that highlighted the flute stops, etc. The Steele’s, Paluch’s (Karen plays the pipe organ) and we had a delightful visit with Mr. Aschauer who invited us to the upcoming performances of a pipe organ music group to which he belongs back home in Texas. 

While Kathy and I spent time at the dental clinic, everyone else took hop on/hop off tours of the beautiful city of Innsbruck. We all met at another awesome Austrian restaurant in the evening to recap our day.  We have throughly enjoyed our Innsbruck visit.