It sparkles everywhere -- on the walls, the floors, on the ceilings in fanciful art displays guaranteed to make you say, ``WOW!'' no matter what your age.

We're at Swarovski Crystal Worlds in the small town of Wattens, Austria, where the company has been headquartered for more than a century. We're just a short drive from Innsbruck at this unique underground museum, Austria's second top tourist attraction after Vienna's Schonbrunn Palace.

As the legend goes here, a benign giant watches over the subterranean world -- crystals, of course, are formed deep in the earth and then refined by human hands.

Each of the museum's paintings, sculptures and multimedia installations is created by internationally known artists and utilizes crystals -- from the Mechanical Theater to Poseidon's Puzzle, which changes based on your movements, and the giant kaleidoscope, flower angels and dancing suns. Kids will love the dancing pants and the man's body that comes apart with crystal inside.

Check out the biggest crystal in the world -- 300,000 carats -- and the tiniest, just 0.8 millimeters. Kids will love the special art workshops, the performances -- we saw some amazing Brazilian dancers -- and the sculpture garden and playground outside.

Who says kids will be bored in Europe? Not in Austria. There's plenty of culture and history -- kids can dress up as royals, in fact, at the Schonbrunn Palace or visit the Imperial Zoo. They can walk over a bridge in Innsbruck that dates back to 1080 or stay in the Goldener Adler, a hotel that's more than 600 years old and once welcomed Mozart.

They can ogle Innsbruck's shimmering Golden Roof, which was completed in 1500 and has real gold and 2,657 genuine copper tiles.

RINGS A BELL

The thing about the Tyrol, we discover from our engaging guide Elisabeth Grassmayr, a grandmother of 10, is that history is personal. Grassmayr shows us through the bell-making operation that has been in her husband's family for 14 generations. Her sons work there now.

There is a Glocken Museum here where kids can see how bells have been cast from iron ore to bells over the centuries and watch as the latest work is being done. Check out the sound chamber.

As we walk through Innsbruck's Old Town, Grassmayr points out a candle shop that has been in business for 300 years and a restaurant, The Ottoburg, that professes to be in the oldest house in Innsbruck -- parts of the building date back to 1180. Some of the walls at the McDonald's across the cobblestone pathway, she tells us, are 500 years old.

We wonder what the kids who lived back then would think of the Tyrol now, with its 21st century crystal creations, the ski jump in the middle of Innsbruck, the chance to skate at the rink built for the Olympic Games, take a toboggan ride or hitch a ride on a gondola that will get you up to the mountains in less than a half hour.

Then there's the Alpen Zoo, the highest zoo in Europe -- popular with local kids and devoted to Alpine animals and fish.

Let's not forget the Aqua Dome, famous for its thermal mountain waters, where you can sit back in a huge futuristic hot tub and look out at the Alps. It's in the town of Langenfeld, less than an hour from Innsbruck.

Aqua Dome offers an expansive kids area, complete with waterslide, kids restaurant, climbing wall, arts and crafts area and supervision, so adults can indulge in the most amazing adult spa area I've ever seen. It has several saunas, steam rooms, an ice grotto and relaxation areas. My daughter especially liked the Blue Oasis with its padded circular seats and built-in headphones. (Note: These facilities are coed, which may take a little getting used to for Americans.)

MOUNTAIN HUTS

There are unique opportunities to stay in traditional -- and inexpensive -- mountain huts near Innsbruck or in the Oetztal Valley, where hundreds of these huts crisscross the mountains. There are also many family-owned hotels in the villages.

We loved the Hotel Regina in Solden where the same smiling waiter met us at breakfast and dinner every day.

We spent several days in the tiny town of Solden, population 3,000, famous for its ski slopes and hiking paths. We stopped every day for lunch at a quaint, picturesque hut with an expansive deck, small wood-paneled rooms and giant cowbells hanging on the walls. My daughter Mel became an instant fan of Wiener Schnitzel and the Austrian version of mac and cheese.

Sitting on the deck in the sun overlooking the spectacular mountain vistas, we promise each other we'll return some time to explore these mountains in the summer when they are blanketed in wildflowers.

Meanwhile, please pass the apple strudel.

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