Day 9 - Tuesday July 25 - On the Road - Lugano to Leichtenstein to Austria
We were on the bus at 8:30 this morning having, one last time, taken the funicular from our hotel to the top of the hill where our bus was parked.
Our day started sunny, which was much better than the evening before. Wayne and I went to dinner last night only a block from our hotel. We ate semi alfresco under big awnings and glad of them. After being served, the thunder and lightning and a deluge of rain started. I've been taught to count the number of seconds between the lightning and thunder to determine how far away it is. I didn't get to "2" several times. We caught a brief pause in the storm and ran, not literally, for the hotel.
Our first stop was in Bellinzona, Switzerland and toured the castle, Castlegrande, built between 1100-1500. It was an entire town at one time, protecting the inhabitants from invaders to the north. There was a 20 minute movie describing the reasons for ita location and it's building. Castlegrande is a UNESCO World Heritage site for it's historical significance. The views from the ramparts were evidence of it's need and benefits.
We were on the road again, heading to Liechtenstein and lunch over the San Bernardino pass. The view of the Alps as we crossed over the pass were incredible. I finally found and got to see the Alps I had in my mind and in the book Heidi. We stopped for pictures near the top of the pass and I'm grateful we did. I thought I saw Heidi playing on the mountain above us, but couldn't get a picture.
An hour and a half later we were in Leichtenstein and the capital city of Vaduz.
The population of the entire country is 39,039 and when our bus left, it was most likely 39,025. The population of it's biggest city of Vaduz is only 5,500. I have to pay attention at the next Olympics opening ceremony to see how many athletes are representing this tiny little country.
We had a quick lunch having to pick from sandwiches with labels I couldn't read. It turned out to be tuna fish and very good. The bread was wonderful since these were from a bakery, confectionary store. The strawberry tart was ok too!
I was able to get my passport stamped in Leichtenstein. There is no official border crossing, the country is so small, so there's a booth where all the buses are parked and they'll stamp your passport for 3 Euro. How many others have a passport stamped from Leichtenstein? After a very quick stop in a tacky little gift shop and another tote bag for my "quilt to be" I had a chance to wander this tiny little town's pedestrian area of Vaduz before we got back on the bus again. I stopped in the art museum, the Kuntsmuseum to look around a little. Outside in the ground were all these posters/ stamps as art. Very pretty. I wonder if they were ever Leichtenstein stamps?
It's a long day of bus riding and I'll be glad to get off but when the sun is out, it's lovely to look out the window and not worry about roads, directions or traffic.
The next stop is Seefeld, Austria where we'll spend two nights. Dinner tonight is a group dinner. Many of the meals are included in the tour with a menu being passed around several days before to choose from. It's always interesting to see what you ordered several days prior. I started taking pictures of the meals selections but too late into the trip. We just selected our last two evenings.
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