Lil Liechtenstein

Joe & decided to venture into a new country this past weekend for the day (and got the cheesy tourist stamp in the passport to prove it!) We didn't really know what to expect out of Liechtenstein as their tourist website was not functioning, I suppose with only 35,000 people in the country, if more than 4 people are on the site at once, it's above terminal capacity. So, we just took the train & guessed on which bus to hop on & 1.5 hours after leaving Zurich, we were there. Much easier commute than most of our inter-Switzerland trips too! After exiting the bus, we asked (in German) a nice girl with a pierced lip how to get to the tourist information (TI). She responded in English, of course she did. But, albeit, her English was actually as pitiful as my German, something which I am oddly proud of --- my German could rival her broken broken English, yesssssss. But I digress, we got to town (this is in Vaduz, the capital of Liectenstein peoples) and it's just one lil street with some shops & restaurants lining it, so town is not going to be the main draw, clearly. Luckily, we'd dressed in our hiking gear & got a great recommendation from the guy at the TI (who was rocking a chest piercing & a giant Micky Mouse belt buckle) about where to hike. We started up first to check out the castle which the ruling monarchy of Liechtenstein still live in. We saw their picture on postcards, some classy, 1980s-looking people. From there we proceeded along a beautiful wide trail up, up, up to the Wildschloss (ruined castle). We did not see a single soul the entire hike up. As we turned the final curve, the ruins just above us, we eyed a picnic table on the grounds, which was perfect considering how much my belly was talking at this point. We relaxed & enjoyed the views of mountains all around us, enjoyed the crispyness of the air & then began the descent. It was an unexpectedly pleasant day in a great area & we'll certainly return again considering how close & easy it was to get to.