Another country off the list...

Got bored this morning and decided I wanted to go for a drive...but where to go?  I've been to almost every city in normal driving distance, and kind of felt like making today's trip something special.  Did a quick distance check and realized that if I left by 9AM, I could be in Vaduz, Liechtenstein around 4PM, and back by Midnight.  I can do that...I've done worse before...so off I went!

Drove down via A67->A61->A6->A5->A8->A7->A96->A13 with some local roads in between in Switzerland.  Arrived just on time, at 4PM (better than planned in fact as I had a delay at the start to put some oil in the car ... thanks Avis!...and had some traffic jams due to construction).

I got a stern look from customs as I drove into Switzerland itself, but no troubles there.

  Was a great border crossing on small town roads, not the big highway traffic jam you get when crossing in at Basel.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but what I saw was not at all what I expected!  Liechtenstein is a very small country.  Switzerland officially ends at the Rhine river to the east, but Austria does not begin until you cross the mountains on the east of the Rhine.  Liechtenstein is the area on the East bank of the Rhine up to the mountains.  There is an open border between Liechtenstein and Switzerland...I guess you can only get in via Switzerland. 

The city, well, town of Vaduz is quite small.  There is a nice center area, from the Cathedral on one end to the area around Town hall on the other end.

  Overlooking it all is Vaduz Castle.  You cannot go into the castle itself as the Prince still lives there, but you can walk along a path towards the castle which is supposed to offer great views of the Alps.  I did not have time to do this walk today, but will try to go back another day to see the view and spend more time.

In the center, there are numerous restaurants and pubs that were all quite busy, it looks like a fun place to hang out, have a drink and watch the Alps on the west of the Rhine, and Paragliders coming over Vaduz castle.

For 2-Euros, you can get a passport stamp at the tourist information booth as well, for those who want to prove they were there.