Shaan, Liechtenstein Oct 21 - 22, 2000  Our Travel Experience More Photos Ratings Tourist Info

Our Travel Experience

This is the first new country we'd traveled to since coming to Europe three months earlier. We always like visiting new places and had fun coming to Liechtenstein.
 

When we asked in Innsbruck about getting to Liechtenstein, we were informed that trains don't stop in Liechtenstein since it is so small. We would actually have to go into Switzerland and then travel back by bus to Leichtenstein.

The train ride from Innsbruck to Buchs SG in Switzerland was especially gorgeous because of the Fall colors. At many points we were surrounded by Alps. Alps to the left, Alps to the right and cows also all around! The scenery did change from a typical German Bavarian landscape to a more Swiss-looking landscape. But, we still had cows and Alps the whole route.

We had no trouble finding a hotel. Seth picked the one that had pumpkins sitting out front and it proved to be a perfect choice. There was a time of trepidation though since the hallway looked suspiciously like the Yaesu Terminal Hotel in Tokyo. The hotel obviously spent money on the inside of the rooms though and not the hallway. We had a TV and bathtub for the first time in three weeks! Plus there were many brochures in English for us at the reception area. Tara had a fun time reading about the history of such a tiny country while sitting out on our room's tiny balcony. Seth meanwhile was flipping through all the TV stations. For a long time we were the only ones staying at the hotel that night. But, then another couple did check in since we could hear them next door.

We finally decided to leave our nice room in search of dinner. After visiting the church, we walked along a residential road parallel to the main road. We were in the largest city in Liechtenstein, right next to the main downtown area and we were walking by cows! Seth would hear a cow bell and start saying "they're everywhere", "they're everywhere". It was true, they were everywhere!  We decided to walk all the way to the country capital - a whole 15 minutes away. On the way, it started to get dark and the silouette of the mountains off to the far right in Switzerland became dotted with lights. Not many lights and not clumped together. Just single lights from homes perched part way up the mountain. We didn't find anywhere particularly exciting toeat, so we headed back to our hotel restaurant. We had an excellent meal in what was described as "home-cooked style". Tara's gemischte salad (mixed salad) was exactly as she remembered having so many times in Zurich. It even came with corn and beets - her favorite. Ahhh, but then things got better with her cheese spaatzli. YUM! Seth also lucked out with a tasty soup and delicious garlic butter chicken. The french fries were so good that Tara didn't need any ketchup for them. We finished it off with a big Movenpick sundae. It was truely a delicious meal. And back in the room we lived in luxury with our TV and bathtub!

We couldn't have asked for a better Saturday night out on the town.

The next morning we took our time leaving after enjoying a typically Swiss breakfast. The English TV was broadcasting a translation of the Arab countries response to the recent weeks of violence between Israelies and Palestinians. We listened to the live translation and then were confused when the news summaries following the conference mentioned very few of the actual Arab demands.

	As it approached noon we headed out and started walking back towards the river we'd crossed from Switzerland to Liechtenstein. We passed many cows along the way!  The Rhine river actually marks the border between the two countries and right in the center of the bridge is a nice marker stating where Switzerland ends and Liechtenstein begins.
We stood talking on the bridge with Tara in Switzerland and Seth in Liechtenstein.  We stood here for a whil enjoying the view before continuing into Switzerland.

Overall, we think it is kool that we've been to Liechtenstein.

We decided to go back via Munich instead of Innsbruck since we figured the easyEverything Internet Cafe might be open. The trip back to Murnau was long and boring. We had to go from Buchs SG to St. Margarethens and then were unexpectedly re-routed to Augsburg. At one point Tara was so bored that she started saying "cow" each time she saw one. This was quite often "cow cow cow cow cow" and then "cow cow cow" after a short pause. We played some cards to relieve the boredom and surprisingly, Tara actually one some of the hands (for once). The one good thing about the trip was that we had our very own 6 seat little compartment in first class. We love it when the day trains we travel on have these enclosed compartments.

The fact that we ended up in Augsburg was ironic since many of Tara's classmates had visited Augsburg the day before on a Goethe Institut sponsored trip. We thought the city was very picturesque with a big long, tree-lined boulevard and an old, nicely kept up walking area with many painted buildings. We were only in Augsburg long enough though to enjoy dinner and then get back on a train.

In Munich the easyEverything Internet cafe was open and the 40 minutes we spent on line between trains flew by!

 

Category	Rating	Comments
Overall Experience	8
Ease of Journey	7
Accommodation	7
Activities	6
Coolness	8

 

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