I’d have to say that Thursday, July 17, 2008 was the least eventful day of any during the two weeks that we spent in Europe. This was mostly due to the fact that we used almost the entire day to travel from southern Switzerland back into Germany. And besides, it was crummy, rainy weather all day. However, this was the second of only two days in which we stepped foot in four countries: Switzerland, Austria (where we actually only stepped car tire), Germany, and Liechtenstein. Yes, I said Liechtenstein.
The day began at the crack of dawn as we awoke at 5:30am in the Hotel Alfa in Zermatt, Switzerland. We had spent much of the evening before photographing the Matterhorn mountain and Big Jimmy wanted to get up and come into our room (where the view was better) and get some early morning photographs. I wasn’t really that interested in getting in more photos, but I did grab my camera and take one shot from the bed in which I was sleeping. I thought it really cool to wake up to this site:
The view from my bed
Soon the Matterhorn disappeared amongst the clouds, never to be seen the rest of our next couple hours. We were fortunate that we had some great views of it the night before and at dawn. What I was more interested in was breakfast! It was served in the next door Hotel Metropol, where we had eaten dinner the night before. Thankfully, it was a buffet so we didn’t have to deal with any rude, snappy waitresses again. The food was the typical outstanding European breakfast, with the biggest cheese assortment yet – and other odd delicacies in addition to the standard meat, eggs, and cereal.
Jimmy in the one-man elevator at the Hotel Alfa
A parting shot of our 70’s style lounge/lobby/restaurant
After breakfast we were on our way to the train station – this time by foot – by 8am. Kris opted to exercise her passion for chocolate and stopped at Fuchs chocolate shop as we walked. And luckily there was one souvenir store open near the train station where I was able to pick up a magnet with the Matterhorn on it.
The chocolate shop in which Jimmy and Kris are shopping has a name that doesn’t lend itself well to Americans
We caught the train (the second leg of the round-trip ticket we had purchased the day before), which took us from Zermatt to Visp from 8:39 to 9:47. We then railed from Visp to Spiez (about 30 minutes) and Spiez to Interlaken (another 30 minutes), arriving at 11am. This ended up being the very last train of the entire European trip. It felt as if we had been on trains A LOT, so it was a relief to be done. We walked from the train station in the rain to Europcar, where we would be picking up another rental car.
The train station in Interlaken
Hauling my luggage at the last train station of the vacation – about five blocks to the car rental joint
Interlaken was charming, but wet
The original plans were to take another brief train to Grindlewald and then ride in a round-trip gondola up into the Alps to the city of First and back – and then return to Interlaken by rail. However, the weather was rainy and foggy and we were advised by the employee at Europcar that we wouldn’t be able to see much, so we opted to skip this and hope for something else to do while we were in Switzerland.
Interlaken was named so because it was located between two lakes: Lake Brienz and Lake Thun. The area was mostly known for skiing, as it sat right at the base of the Alps. We had toyed with staying around Interlaken because it seemed like such a nice little town, but we couldn’t decide where to park…or what to do once we did, so we pressed on.
We traveled another hour or so to Luzern, Switzerland, hoping to see this area, but soon found out that we were in virtually the same boat as we were in Interlaken. The weather was crummy, the parking was horrible, and we really had no idea what there was to see of interest in the area. So again, we opted to just drive through the horribly crowded and confusing urban area. It reminded me of trying to make one’s way around downtown Dayton during rush hour in the rain.
About two hours later, we were in another country: Liechtenstein. What, you’ve never heard of it? Well I assure you that it is a real country, even if the population is less than one-fourth that of Dayton, Ohio. And in fact it is not the smallest country in Europe; it is the fourth smallest. This country was right on the way to our final destination for the night, so we decided to stop in its capital city (pretty much it’s only city) of Vaduz.
This was one of my eight countries of the trip, so I wanted to make the most out of our brief time here, so I desperately sought out something memorable to see. There simply wasn’t much. Although the city center in Vaduz was very nice, there wasn’t much in the way of unique attractions so that I could say “Hey, I saw X in Liechtenstein.”
I was pretty desperate to find something unique to show that I was in the principality of Liechtenstein
More proof of this, my seventh European country of the trip so far
I thought the Kunstmuseum sounded interesting, maybe highlighting relics of Liechtenstein, but it turned out that it was only an art museum. Finally we found the Government building – which I guess you could say was the country’s capitol building. But it was a far cry from the U.S. Capitol – or even a state capital for that matter. It was more like a county courthouse. I could have soaped the windows if I so desired.
In the city center, proving that I was outside the Kutzmuseum in Liechtenstein
Getting fresh with the artwork of Fernando Botero outside the Kuntzmuseum
The Government building in Vaduz. Apparently parking right in front of its entrance isn’t an issue.
Liechtenstein wasn’t known for many things – but they are known for postage stamps – at least to collectors I suspect. Most all of the shops had Liechtenstein postage stamps for sale and there was acutally a postage stamp museum in town. I found my obligatory magnet and was happy with that souvenir. We also had our dinner here in the nation’s capital – at pretty much the only dive in town – The Old Castle Inn. It was okay, but it wasn’t as fancy as it might sound. I had a panini salami sandwich (with absolutely nothing else on it) and the country cuts french fried potatos. So that was Liechtenstein.
Salami dinner at the Old Castle Inn
Finally, a legitimate Liechtenstein sign. Try saying that ten times fast.
We drove about two and a half hours through Austria and back into Germany (where we had began the trip on July 5) to the town of Füssen, located in Bavarian Germany. Here we stayed at the Hotel Kurcafe, a nice little place in the heart of town. A couple interesting things in this hotel were 1) The key had to be inserted into the wall for the room lights to come on, 2) The bathroom door was glass, so there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of getting any privacy, and 3) Our beds took up nearly the whole room so there was barely any floor on which to walk. But there was a nice view of the city from our window.
The view from our room in Füssen
The Wileys took a little walk around town after we checked in at about 9pm. I opted to get on the internet for a bit and email Jackie, who had been getting irritated at my lack of internet time. I was exhausted though, so wasn’t too worried about not seeing any of Füssen. Besides, we were only there because it was near the attractions that we would be seeing on Friday.
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