Four Countries in One Day Take 3
I may well have peaked, achieved my greatest ever acomplishment, well, until I visit five countries in one day!
Seriously though, I had planned to mearly visit Liechtenstein which is wedged between Switzerland and Austria just south of Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leichtenstein As it turned out the usually impecable European rail services let me down resulting in very long stopovers in Lindau (in Germany, right on the German border) for an hour then somewhere in Austria for another hour before arriving in in Schaan-Vaduz which is in northern Liechtenstein and a short bus ride from the capital, Vaduz. After four hours in Vaduz I had to catch the train back via Switzerland, which invloved a mere 45 minute stopover, before getting a train back to Germany where I arrived in Freidrickshafen on the shores of Lake Constance from where my adventures were to continue. So, in summary, 6 hours on or waiting for public transport and four hours of visiting Liechtenstein. =)
So, why visit Liechtenstein anyway? Most people have never heard of it and almost no-one knows where it is. Well, I guess I'm just a bit odd and, for me, it's endearing qualities are this: It's total size is 160 square km which makes it the fourth smallest country in Europe (behind Vatican City, Monaco and San Marino) and about the same size as Tauranga; my mate, Tim Llewellyn, once met a drunk guy at Oktoberfest singing Liechtenstein football songs and they have the honor of being the only team in the history of international football to have ever lost to San Marino; they are one of only two countries in the entire world to be not only landlocked themselves but also surrounded by landlocked countries (the other is Uzbekistan); and last but not least, they have their own postage stamps.
To be honest, Liechtenstein is actually very dull. I was there on a Monday so all the Museums were closed except the postage stamp Museum (free entry, arguably Liechtenstein's main attraction). The only other point of interest is the castle. However, since the Princes of Liechtenstein still live in it you can't go in and the outside was covered in scaffolding. It has a nice church, but it's rather small and nothing special (yes, that's right, a European capital without a massive Cathedral!). So I spent the day eating lunch, drinking the local beer (which was lovely, they're very close to Germany after all and there is no such thing as a bad German beer in my experience) and writing and sending postcards so that as many people as possible can enjoy the glory that is the rarity of a Liechtensteinian postage stamp!
Having said all that, however, I had an absolutely fantastic time. Life goal number 324: Visit Leichtenstein - tick!
Seriously though, I had planned to mearly visit Liechtenstein which is wedged between Switzerland and Austria just south of Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leichtenstein As it turned out the usually impecable European rail services let me down resulting in very long stopovers in Lindau (in Germany, right on the German border) for an hour then somewhere in Austria for another hour before arriving in in Schaan-Vaduz which is in northern Liechtenstein and a short bus ride from the capital, Vaduz. After four hours in Vaduz I had to catch the train back via Switzerland, which invloved a mere 45 minute stopover, before getting a train back to Germany where I arrived in Freidrickshafen on the shores of Lake Constance from where my adventures were to continue. So, in summary, 6 hours on or waiting for public transport and four hours of visiting Liechtenstein. =)
So, why visit Liechtenstein anyway? Most people have never heard of it and almost no-one knows where it is. Well, I guess I'm just a bit odd and, for me, it's endearing qualities are this: It's total size is 160 square km which makes it the fourth smallest country in Europe (behind Vatican City, Monaco and San Marino) and about the same size as Tauranga; my mate, Tim Llewellyn, once met a drunk guy at Oktoberfest singing Liechtenstein football songs and they have the honor of being the only team in the history of international football to have ever lost to San Marino; they are one of only two countries in the entire world to be not only landlocked themselves but also surrounded by landlocked countries (the other is Uzbekistan); and last but not least, they have their own postage stamps.
To be honest, Liechtenstein is actually very dull. I was there on a Monday so all the Museums were closed except the postage stamp Museum (free entry, arguably Liechtenstein's main attraction). The only other point of interest is the castle. However, since the Princes of Liechtenstein still live in it you can't go in and the outside was covered in scaffolding. It has a nice church, but it's rather small and nothing special (yes, that's right, a European capital without a massive Cathedral!). So I spent the day eating lunch, drinking the local beer (which was lovely, they're very close to Germany after all and there is no such thing as a bad German beer in my experience) and writing and sending postcards so that as many people as possible can enjoy the glory that is the rarity of a Liechtensteinian postage stamp!
Having said all that, however, I had an absolutely fantastic time. Life goal number 324: Visit Leichtenstein - tick!
posted by Ricardo at
2:48 pm
1 Comments:
Can I just say, that I found the above post highly amusing. In fact, it has lightened my day indeed, to a bearable state even.
In fact, I have been inspired to push my 'Visit Lichenstein' life goal, up a full 200 places to number 301 in my "Top 500 Life Goals".
Full marks Richard!
By
Anonymous, at August 18, 2006 12:48 am
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