A Day in Lichtenstein

Our B&B is about a mile from the Swiss/Lichtenstein border. Switzerland is 216 miles from east to west and 220 miles from north to south - so quite a small country. Lichtenstein is 4 miles from east to west and 16 miles from north to south. A really small country. There are 38,000 people and no taxes for the residents. It's a very wealthy country.

Some interesting tidbits from both Switzerland and Liechtenstein: 

• Food in the restaurants arrives in a dumb waiter. The kitchen is on a different floor.                     
• There are specific garbage containers for dog poop. Bags available at each one.                             
• Gas in Switzerland is $4.26 (US) per gallon. It's a bit more in Lichtenstein.  (It's currently about $3.75 at home.)                                         -
• Hamburgers come with a fried egg. I got one that must have come from a teeny, tiny chicken as it was the cutest little egg I've ever seen.                                                                                               
• Food prices are generally lower than at home - in grocery stores in "non-tourist" locations.            
• Tombstones have photos of the deceased (in Lichtenstein.)                                                               
• Other than restaurants, businesses close for 1.5 to 2 hours for lunch.                                                
• Road/building construction carries on in the rain. Mind you, the rain so far has been quite light.   MI = Michigan   FL = Lichtenstein   CH = Switzerland                                                              
• In this part of CH, and in FL, the sides of the streets/boulevards aren't cut but grow up with grasses and lots of wild flowers. So pretty!                                                                                        
• The typical Swiss houses in this area (stucco, brown roofs, and shutters on all windows) are quite similar to the FL houses except the FL houses mostly look like big boxes. However, when you get higher up in the mountains, they again look like Swiss homes.                                           

Now to our day. We were going to visit the Walser Museum in Triesenberg but arrived too late to see it before it closed for lunch, so we went for lunch and had the best food we've eaten so far on this trip. The museum focused on people similar to the Amish (very broadly speaking) who were still living and working in this area following the traditional ways in the late 70's. Except for some artifacts from as early as 1,350 BC (spear found in the Alps), you can touch everything - which was very surprising.

We went into St. Joseph's Parish - a very large Catholic church that was built in the late 1930's on the original site of the church first built in 1769. The ceiling was very unique. There were live flowers on the ends of the pews.

Sevelen (where our B&B is) was 54 degrees and has an elevation of 1,510'. The highest point in our day was in Malbun where it was 41 degrees and has an elevation of 5,250. So, lots of steep roads and crazy, tight switchbacks.

We drove up to Malbun which was pretty much deserted. Most of the homes' windows were shuttered up. Snow covering the road stopped us from going any further up the mountain. It's a big ski area but I'm thinking many people use the area for their "summer homes"  - at least those houses that were past where we could drive. There was a sign that said you should have chains on your tires to drive down the road.

It rained (lightly) all day - until 5 or so which means that there were a lot of clouds that blocked the scenery and made taking great pictures challenging. However, I was able to get a great shot of the countryside where you can see FL on the left, the Rhine River/valley below, and CH on the right.

One of things we wanted to see was Burg Gutenberg - which is a castle. Of course, it was at the top of a very steep hill which we had to walk up. We arrived slightly winded only to find that access was restricted to pre-arranged tours. In attempting to find someone, we did get inside the castle but left quite quickly as we didn't want to get "caught." Castle #2 that failed to please. 😒

The walk did result in some pretty terrific pictures - of the vineyards growing on the terraced hill, the church in the valley with clouds/mountains, and an amazing snail.

Back down in Vaduz, FL's capital city, we parked the car and walked along the Rhine River - which has very rapidly flowing water right beside a a stretch of dry, exposed rocks which is right beside a gentle section. The river is about 200' across. What I just described was covering the 200 span. Quite odd.

There's a covered wooden bridge that joins the two countries. We walked through it - being sure to take "I'm in two countries at the same time" photos.

A quick stop at the Lidl (grocery store) and back to the B&B. The cat was waiting for us. It comes and goes out of our room as it pleases - which pleases me very much. 

Tomorrow we're heading to Innsbruck, Austria. Lodging has been secured. 

One thing I learned today: The green, ceramic "bench" in our room is actually a way to heat the room - with wood from the stove on the other side of the wall. The problem was I had left chocolate on the "bench" and it was soft when we got back at the end of the day. It'll be a bit deformed but will taste just fine.

One new thing I experienced today: Taking a picture on a switchback road where there isn't any shoulder/place to stand, worrying a car will come tearing around the corner and/or falling over the side of the road down an incredibly steep "hill." Folks here assume people will use common sense so there aren't fences/barriers to "keep you safe." I did the picture though!  

Most powerful moment of the day: Being able to walk across a bridge from one country to the next and it's "no big deal." Europe has come such a long way with open borders. The downside is that we can't get our passports stamped with countries we can drive/walk to.

One pleasurable experience: Dave isn't a cat lover but the cat likes him. He sits on the back of the chair Dave's in - once licking Dave's neck. Love it!