00:02 John Daub: Greetings. Hello, everybody. We're looking at one of the most beautiful views in Innsbruck. It's absolutely stunning. I'm doing a very short live stream from here to the old town, but it's too stunning not to go live. This is the Inn River streaming past the colorful houses. Last night it rained down here, but you can see the snowfall has really accumulated just a couple hundred meters above the city.

00:33 John Daub: Hey, Florencia, Gary's here. It's nice to see everybody. Look at the color of the river. It's stunningly blue, like an emerald green compared to the rest of the city. The colored houses are very famous here in Innsbruck. You can see the other bridge on your right side of the screen. We're going to walk towards there through the Christmas market. In a couple of hours when the clouds clear, it's supposed to get sunnier, and you'll see the peaks of the mountains.

01:06 John Daub: I'll bring some photos on Instagram stories, maybe some YouTube stories. Only in Japan TV is our Instagram name. There's a cable car that lets you get up to the mountains around Innsbruck and take a look at the beautiful city from the top down. I'm excited about that. We're going to try to stay warm. How is the view? Do you like it? You can hear the bells from the churches across the river. I can't believe we're here. Let's take you on a trip around here, show you the river from the other side, go over to that bridge, and take you into the old town during daylight. Tonight, Dominique, we're going to take you to the old town.

02:12 John Daub: Dominique is going back to Germany. We're staying here, but he's going to give us a Glühwein (mulled wine) guide. He's no professional, but he says he's a professional of alcohol. I believe him. He's a big man with a big heart and big beer. Let's go through this Christmas market here and take you back to the river, then swing into the old town. Whoa, that's what it looks like at night. Check it out.

02:44 John Daub: Germany is very famous for Christmas markets. Nuremberg is the most famous, where 90% of the bottled Glühwein is made. This is a small Christmas market that just opened. I'm going to do a quick walk-through. Some sweets are already out. This is copyright music, but we'll get through here. They got the smokers here. I saw that. Nasha brought her to this secret Santa, the Christmas Santa. Oh, we're in trouble. We've got to wait for that.

03:55 John Daub: The last Garmisch live stream got demonetized several times because every song was claimed by the city of Mittenwald. We'll take a zero on that one. It was worth it. Wow, this is a little teeny overhang. Some Glühwein. I can already smell the hot wine starting to boil, giving off a beautiful, delicious spice scent to the air. This is a small Christmas market on the riverside. When you get to the old town, the market is massive there. It's more subdued compared to Nuremberg and the big German cities, but what we learned from Garmisch is that small-town Christmas markets are more intimate because there are fewer people.

05:06 John Daub: It has a different feeling. Garmisch was a breath of fresh air for Christmas markets—not a lot of people there. The old town is straight ahead. The temperature is dropping rapidly from three or four degrees yesterday to minus seven. If my stuttering is from the cold, I apologize. This channel is called Only in Japan, but we got to take vacations too. The important thing for everyone who lives in Japan is that we need to sometimes leave Japan to recharge. Japanese are avid travelers—they need to leave too. Coming to a place like this resets your thinking. Wow, we're going in there next. We're back at the riverside like I promised. It is just so beautiful, one last time at the colored buildings.

06:21 John Daub: Pan to the left—you can see the bridge where we started. It's a little more relaxing. My friend Tom is on this side of the river and we're on the other. We've lost the mountain in the clouds, but you can see it in the background. That means the snow's coming. This feels more like Christmas with the mountains and snow around us. Let's go into the old town now.

07:12 John Daub: I think our hotel is the one right in the middle. We're staying at a nice hotel, which we rarely do, but we wanted to stay close to the Christmas market. It's called the Goldener Adler (Golden Eagle), several centuries old with a lot of history. Weirdly, it's run by Best Western, a U.S. chain, but they've done a really good job in cooperation with the family that's owned this building for centuries, where VIPs and dignitaries have stayed. Beautiful. Look at the bike path—maybe I'll go for a run later if the sun comes out. Christmas markets are just opening up. My friend Tom said this is the cheapest Glühwein—two euros. Smells so good. Toasted almonds with sugar.

08:36 John Daub: There's the hotel we're staying at, the Goldener Adler. It's pretty nice. For Christmas, I wanted to spoil all the superchats that came in over the month—we used it to get something nice. So much love for you guys—thank you. You can see a lot of little shops here. Now the snow is starting to really come down. The temperature dropped significantly just as we started the live stream. We'll walk over to the big tree. This is supposed to be a short live stream—just give you a chance to look at the market area. Things are starting to open up. It's close to 11 a.m.—market closes at 9 p.m., but shops shut down around 7:30 or 8, and by 9 they kick you out. Innsbruck's pretty traditional—they like their city quiet in the evening.

09:52 John Daub: Things start getting warmed up by 11 a.m. Sometimes in cities you should look up, and Innsbruck is so beautiful. This is the symbol of Austria up here—let's give you a closer look from around the Christmas tree. I can just stand here and absorb these buildings, the cobblestone streets, the hum of people talking echoing in the tunnels underneath. The smells of delicious foods—a lot of cinnamon. This is where we had a lot of Glühwein last night with Dominique, out of this big cauldron.

10:33 John Daub: Turning to the left—this is called the Goldener Dachl (Golden Roof), designed by Maximilian I. I don't know too much about the history—wish Dominique, who's German, was here. It's got a lot of history, somewhat controversial in the 21st century. Some Google reviews complain he didn't give money to the poor. But it's a symbol of Austria and a museum—we might take a quick look. It's getting chilly, right off the square. From here on the left of the Goldener Dachl, you have the massive Christmas tree. This is where we had the meetup last night—just two people came, including Dominique and my friend Tom, so four of us. We ate, drank, and were quite merry. Fun time.

12:29 John Daub: Kanae Daub and I are going to a strudel cafe, then Kanae Daub is going to look for a dance school. Then we got to look for presents for my mom. She wants a German Räuchermann (smoking Santa) where you put incense in its belly and smoke comes out of its mouth. I got one for myself and showed her last night—she wants one too. You can see he's got the little pipe—you put the incense in the stomach. All right, Mom, I'll get you one. We'll walk a little bit down the street and call it, because we're doing another live stream around 4:30 local time, Central Europe time, where Dominique gives a Glühwein tutorial from his point of view. I only have one or two cups every night—I had two last night. You shouldn't overdo it.

13:39 John Daub: Smells like Christmas—the incense sweetness of candles, the sights, smells, chill in the air. All that leads to an amazing Christmas experience. Look at this tall statue. Even the McDonald's is pretty stylish. Christmas market goes all the way down the street—more stands on the other side. We didn't investigate much last night—we started the meetup at 7:40 and stayed around here. Everything you need is here: sausages, bratwurst, strudel, Glühwein, cookies, chocolates—all the good stuff. You don't have to go far.

15:08 John Daub: You want some strudel? This is what strudel has done to me. That's all Christmas market fat—butter, good stuff, icing sugar. I have a lot of deliveries to make—turning into Santa Claus. I love the architecture. Usually you can smell McDonald's from 100 meters away, but not here—they have bank doors that close so the smell doesn't come out. Like a double door—the smell stays inside. Nothing wrong with it—I remember in Siena, Italy, smelling it half a mile away. Oh, such a beautiful bakery—look at the warm glow inside. This looks like a scene from Kiki's Delivery Service, a Ghibli movie. Warm bread right out of the oven—you can smell it from the street. That's the dream.

16:34 John Daub: Oh, that's creepy. How you doing? Is that a ghost? That looks like a ghost—I'm gonna get out of here. Did you see that? What was that? Ciao, buongiorno—that's Italian. He said ciao buongiorno and some gibberish. Some mime, but mimes don't talk. That mime was talking—he's all freaky, like he's been in a dungeon all his life, just got released. Out on good behavior after 350 years. The ghost of Christmas could very well be—he broke character, broke the law of miming.

17:53 John Daub: There's another Glühwein stand. Looking back at the Christmas tree. We'll go through the Glühwein area—another cauldron, smells so good. The market goes on for another hundred meters towards the station, with little teeny markets bubbling up on different sides of the city. If you want to see more at nighttime, give it a thumbs up—show appreciation for this wonderful Innsbruck Christmas market. There's a Christmas tree in the distance on the other side. This is live—you can see the snow starting to come down, and right above it all, the mountain of snow. Typically you'd see blue skies above. It's a towering mountain that adds to the feeling you're in the Alps. They call Innsbruck the capital of the Alps for a reason.

19:46 John Daub: Thanks for the thumbs up and love. We'll be back for another live stream with Dominique around 4:30—he's going back to Germany tonight. Appreciative of our friend Dominique who came from Augsburg to say hi and show us a good time. He did in Munich last year, this year in Innsbruck and Garmisch—probably next year too. The snow is really coming down now. Have a good day—we'll see you in a few hours. Thumbs up if you like it. Auf Wiedersehen. Bye guys, stay warm.