Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Trip Start
Feb 27, 2008
1
18
31
Trip End
May 28, 2008
Vaduz,
Liechtenstein
Monday, April 21, 2008
Day 53 - I was planning on going to Liechtenstein today. Karla didn't share my obsession with tiny countries so she was going to visit the Zurich zoo. "I'm glad you're leaving today." She told me at breakfast. Ouch! I guess the fat bastard wakeup had put me in an obviously bad mood. The weather wasn't helping things. It was threatening to rain and I knew that my only transportation in Liechtenstein was walking. This day had to get better because it couldn't get worse. I was wrong... I tried to send my stein back from the post office but I got some anti-American type post workers who would only speak to me in German. Not only that, but they wouldn't write anything down. If they could have just written "$2.40" on a piece of paper, I would have figured it out. They probably took by box to the back and promptly broke it. The Swiss are not my favorite people so far. The train ride to Liechtenstein was nice, except I left my notebook behind
Art museum,
. It not only had all my notes in it, it also had about 10 post cards that needed to be stamped and sent. Maybe some good Samaritan will find my stock of written addressed postcards and pay to put them in the mail. But there's a greater chance of Switzerland entering the Iraq war. From the Swiss town of Sargans, I took a bus to the Liechtenstein capital of Vaduz. Liechtenstein is one of only two principalities left in Europe (Monaco is the other). The king still lives in his castle up at the top of the hill. You can walk to the top to get a good view, but the castle is closed to visitors. I walked all around the city, taking pictures and exploring what few things the country had to offer. The tour book said they were famous for their wine. Being from Oregon, I know that that's just a tactful way of saying that there's absolutely nothing to do there. They had a heritage museum and an art museum. Liechtenstein is small, but not too small to have several soccer teams. Although I saw a good portion of the country and didn't see any stadium.
In 10th grade my buddy Adam wrote a paper and gave a speech on Liechtenstein. His topic was the national stamp museum, since he couldn't find anything else about the country. As I walked down the main street (as if there were more than one street), I looked at a sign and read 'Post museum'. "No shit, there really is a postage stamp museum in Liechtenstein!" I said, then realized that I was standing alone and was talking to myself...
Border of Liechtenstein
.The museum was small, normally it would not be worth my time, but because of the unique speech that Adam gave about it, it held a bit more interest actually seeing it. One of the claims to fame in the Museum is a stamp of unusually large size. It wasn't THAT big but it was probably an inch across and two inches tall. I sent some post cards home and looked in some gift shops. When the rain started pouring down I decided it was time to leave. I had seen the place, it was nice, but I probably won't be back. Liechtensteiners don't really like people making fun of their country for it's size. If you happen to go there just for the stamp in your passport and bragging rights (like I did), keep it to yourself.
That night the rain didn't let up so we paid the ridiculous $16 to eat dinner at the hostel. We were staying in tonight so I had no choice but to pay for the wireless internet available. $10 for one evenings internet! If I've already blathered on about internet in this blog, feel free to skip down. I am of the new generation that believe that the internet is my birthright. I HATE PAYING FOR INTERNET! Paying for home service is one thing, paying a small fee for day use can be acceptable depending on the location. But charging $1 for 10 minutes of Internet is the kind of shit that starts revolutions. I hear there are currently riots in Haiti over the price of bread doubling in the last three months. I wonder if I could gather enough geeks together to overthrow the administrator of the hostel and liberate the internet. Nah, I'll save this revolt for another time and place.
