LIECHTENSTEIN

We love Austria. We love Switzerland. This meant that we expected we'd like Liechtenstein. We didn't expect to become obsessed with it like we did.

First, some facts about Liechtenstein because many folks are unfamiliar with it. It is nestled between Switzerland and Austria. It along with Uzbekistan are the only two doubly landlocked countries in the world (countries wholly surrounded by other landlocked countries). It is Europe's fourth-smallest country by land area at just over 62 square miles and has a population of 37,877. (If your brain works like mine you must know that the three smaller countries are Vatican City followed by Monaco and San Marino.) Their population is about the same of that of Richmond, Indiana. 

Liechtenstein has a monarch as Head of State, and an elected parliament that enacts the law. It is also a direct democracy, where voters can propose and enact constitutional amendments and legislation independently of the legislature. (The U.S. is an indirect democracy because we vote for representatives and don't always use majority voting.) The reigning Prince is the head of state and represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The Prince may veto laws adopted by parliament. 

The Prince also runs a vineyard and has a castle that no one is allowed to visit. More on that later.

When we decided to stay in Vaduz we knew there would not be any chain hotels so we cashed in some points at a fancier place than we'd normally stay. It was not a mistake. We loved our hotel. The Residence Vaduz. They upgraded us for no reason and we had possibly the best room we've ever had. Here's a link to my video of the room.

Why wouldn't more people live here?!

The mountains call me.

The castle up the hill from our room

Vaduz is a tiny town and we stayed right in the center of it all. Once we stopped drooling over our room we headed out to explore the town a bit. Naturally I took myself on a tour of a church while Jackson checked into renting e-bikes.

A church to explore! 

Excited little explorers 

The church ceiling was stunning

It was small, like the country it was in!

I love it, though.

It turns out that all of the e-bikes (bikes with a little motor assistance) in the country were checked out for the day (tiny country jokes never get old) so we reserved them for the next day and continued exploring on foot. We took the "easy if you're a mountain goat" trail up to the castle thinking we'd get a tour. NO. Once you get to the very top there is a sign that since the Prince lives there no tours are allowed. WHAT?!

Still a nice view even if we can't get a tour.

Being brave on a ledge.

Unfazed by the ledge

As close as we got to a tour!

The Castle without tours :(

High on hiking! 

This is real.

Trying to show how high up the castle is

Once we finished our hike we got cleaned up and went to grab dinner. I really wanted a final schnitzel before going back home so we went to the country's best kitchen. HA!!! Sorry. I'll quit with the bad jokes now. We got to sit out in the garden and just soak in the sights and sounds of the country. We loved it.

SCHNITZEL! 

The castle looking inviting, but not being inviting.

As we walked home from dinner all 37,000 residents of Liechtenstein were already in bed and we were all alone. It would have been creepy if this wasn't one of the safest places in the world. It was so quiet and so dark. We were in the center of its capital city and could see every star. We loved it. We sat on the balcony just enjoying it and then slept like babies in the huge, comfortable bed. 

The next morning we made ourselves coffee, slipped on our robes and enjoyed the view again. The hotel as comp'ed us breakfast which was delicious. Then, sadly, it was time for us to check out of the best hotel ever. TEAR! 

Coffee and a view

We walked down the street to pick up our e-bikes for the day. We'd never ridden them before, but there was not much to learn. They zip right along and are so much fun! There are paved bike paths everywhere so we rode along the river and crossed into Switzerland just for fun.

Crossing the Rhine into Switzerland! 

The country border inside the bridge

My heart belongs to both!

How does one pick a side?!

We rode our bikes up the castle and still no tours were allowed.

Our e-bikes made us kind of invincible. We rode for a long time, stopped and had a picnic with supplies we grabbed at the grocery store and then decided to try getting up the massive hill to the castle again. That climb, while assisted by a little motor, still did my knee in and I had to turn around. I told Jackson to keep going and I'd meet him in town later. I had a book I wanted to read and I felt completely safe being on my own here.

Jackson rode up to another castle's ruins

Vaduz showing off.

I was completely safe except for a tourist who didn't understand road signs and came up a one-way street the wrong way hitting me and sending me careening into a wall then a field. Ugh! I was a little shaken up, but not really meaningfully hurt. We'd gotten helmets! I dusted myself off and made my way into town to read. Jackson met up with me a bit later and we returned our bikes and headed for our next hotel for the evening which was only about 1.25 hours away in Switzerland.

Since our next hotel was not too far away we got to take our time on the GORGEOUS drive between the two countries.

This is the view from a rest stop!!

A potty and view!

We wanted to be on this sailboat!

The one thing that we kind of forgot when planning this trip is how seriously they take Sundays. We got to our Holiday Inn in Affoltern am Albis (a suburb of Zurich where we've stayed a few times before) and I had my heart set on eating at a restaurant we'd gone to on a previous visit. They were closed both Sunday and Monday. Boo! We ended up eating at McDonald's that evening which is still not cheap in Switzerland! I think our small, basic meal as about $22. 

The next morning we got up early and headed for the Zurich airport for our flight home via Atlanta. Our GPS decided that cutting through Zurich with its insane traffic patterns was a great idea so we had a grand adventure before returning the rental car and clearing customs. We ended up with a row of three seats to ourselves so the journey home was an easy one. I finally watched The Sound of Music and loved it! I don't know why no one told me it wasn't just a musical. It had a real story and I was into it!

We had a long enough layover in Atlanta to get sweet, sweet Chick-fil-A before catching our flight to Orlando. Remember all those years ago when we left our car there because we caught a flight after Jackson finished work? I had kind of forgotten, too! We got to our car and made it down to Sarasota for the night before giving up and getting a hotel. It turns out that flying home from Switzerland doesn't lend itself to a cross-state drive. Who knew?! 

The next morning we made it to Aunt Kathy's in North Ft. Myers to be reunited with the world's sweetest little dog, MacKenzie. She always makes it worth coming home!

Her beauty always stuns me!

We had an incredible trip! We just love exploring over there and we're already excited for our next adventure.