But let's back up a bit, shall we? Why, after all, was I stumbling off of a train at 6:00 on a Wednesday morning into the "bright stone" country, a country twenty times smaller than the state of Rhode Island? (Also, interestingly, it is the only German-speaking country not to border Germany.) Well, we'd have to go back six years to a younger me sitting in (what was supposed to be) a high school Latin class taught by arguably the school's most famous teacher who would interrupt himself weekly to shout, "What is the capital of Liechtenstein?" to which we all had to answer in chorus, "Vaduz!" The class, by the way, had a much stronger resemblance to a world-history-and-knowledge-themed philosophy class. So with the echo of ten teenage voices chanting, "Vaduz!" still ringing in my ears half a decade later I felt the need to pay homage to the little town (and I do mean little; it has a lower population than my hometown for goodness sake!). And as I was already passing through the country I really had no excuse not to at least send a postcard my old teacher's way.
But backing up even further (or perhaps going forward a bit as I'm again talking 2012 and not the bygone days of high school), why was I 719km away from Vienna? First of all, it helped that while I would help out if I was in town, I wasn't strictly required to work during the summer months. Secondly, I had yet to visit Switzerland and was still eager to see more of Germany after a year in Austria. Thus, I was taking a two-week trip through the two countries, stopping to see friends here and there along the way, and conveniently being near a certain town in France where one of my best friends lived last year on a day that a certain bike race I happen to be quite fond of was going through said town.
But enough about that, there will be plenty to read concerning those details and adventures in forthcoming posts. What you should take away from the above rambling is that I was passing through Liechtenstein on my way to Switzerland and decided to drop by for a few hours.
So, back to 6:04 AM on a Wednesday morning, technically in Buchs, Switzerland, as Vaduz doesn't have a train station. I was actually quite awake after a surprisingly restful night's sleep considering I had been on a train. But as far as nighttime train rides, this was great. I shared a compartment with three elderly men who were all very pleasant and quiet, I awoke on occasion to admire the Austrian Alps bathed in the bright blue glow of a full moon, and had witnessed a lovely sunrise outside of Feldkirch, Austria twenty minutes prior to alighting from the train.
I found the bus to Vaduz and was immediately surprised not by how many people were awake and about, but by the fact that every one of them seemed to know everyone else. By name. At every stop a few people would hop on and greet half of the people on the bus as well as the bus driver. I happened to find that very charming. We went through one small town that had a handful of stops, one of which was a "Zentrum" (City Center) stop, so when we started making stops in Vaduz a few minutes later I waited patiently for a "Zentrum" stop. Only there never was one. We were very soon rolling through another town, then out in the verdant Liechtenstein countryside and on our way to yet another town, the southernmost town in Liechtenstein if I'm not mistaken. At the end of the route the bus driver kindly asked where I had wanted to go and when I explained and offered to pay the fare back he said not to worry about it and that he would point out the stop I wanted. It turned out to be a rather nice way to spend half an hour touring almost an entire country, especially considering nothing was open when I got off the bus at 7:00 AM. I wandered around for a bit, taking in whatever I could find to take in and enjoying the crisp morning mountain air. Among things of interest I found this modern sculpture:
across from this Government House of Liechtenstein:
which was near this Vaduz Cathedral (also known as the Cathedral of St. Florin):
which had a pretty little half-timbered building next to it with curved half-timbering and frosted glass windows:
all of which was right on the main (only? - okay, maybe that's hyperbole, but only just) road through the town:
whence one could also glimpse Vaduz Castle looming menacingly over the country to the east:
or the scenic sun-bathed mountains of Switzerland to the west:
Having seen just about everything there was to see at that hour, I bought a few postcards, found a café, and tried to occupy my time writing until the tourist office opened at 9:00. Although not a necessity to stop in, I had read that the Vaduz tourist office was the only place in the world you could get your passport stamped for Liechtenstein, and who doesn't like passport stamps?
Even better, when I walked inside I also saw a Liechtenstein cycling kit and decided to at least walk away with a jersey to match my passport stamp.
Having accomplished everything (and more) that I set out to do in Liechtenstein, I ambled along the main pedestrian road paralleling the main (only) road past the Rathaus:
and caught the next bus back to the Buchs train station so I could continue on to Zürich. I didn't have to wait too long, but I did have enough time to notice this very interesting poster:
"With milk the party lasts longer."
And with that I was whisked away, waving farewell to the mountains over Vaduz.
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