Oct 23

There was a heavy fog when we awoke, the type that climbs all the way up the mountains.  Around 10:00am it eased a bit and we decided to make the 1 1/2 hour drive to Vaduz, Liechtenstein.  Sus, our GPS took us down the mountain from the hotel and into Austria.  As we gained altitude again the fog thickened so we drove slowly through many interesting mountain villages.  We eventually entered Switzerland and crossed the Rhine to go from one autobahn to another and eventually arrived in Liechtenstein.  The fog was gone but it was overcast and cold.  Fall has arrived it seems.  We entered Vaduz, the capitol city, parked near the center and went to a bank to get Swiss Francs to feed the parking kiosk.

Liechtenstein is constitutional heredity monarchy on a democratic and parliamentary basis.  It is 15.3 miles by 7.7 miles, or 62 sq mi, with a population of 36,000 and 11 communities.  The Vaduz Castle is the home of the Prince Hans- Adam III of Liechtenstein and is not accessible to the public.  There is a path from the city to the castle on the hill overlooking the city, but is was more an effort than we wanted to expend.  We wandered around the city and soon found out that most shops and businesses close from noon to 2:00pm.  There are modern bronze sculptures all around the city that were interesting to see.  We looked at a few restaurants' menus, but the prices were outrageous so we settled for a ham sandwich from a bakery.  There really isn't a whole lot to do in the Principality other than shop and visit museums, particularly on a cold and dreary day.  We headed back towards Oberstaufen and Sus had us make some wrong turns (we wanted to name her "Miss Direction", but that name was taken) and we ended taking an entirely different route back.  For our 2 weeks before boarding our cruise ship in Venice on Oct 30 we are having a relaxing vacation and nor spending all day being tourists.  4 to 5 hours each day is sufficient to pique our curiosities and there are many different places to explore from our base.