April 3: Liechtenstein and the Bodensee

Today we drove an entire country! We left Oberstaufen in the morning planning to drive directly to Liechtenstein but ran into some problems when we encountered that to go there we would need to drive through Switzerland, which would be nice to visit but only has a one year vignette available and we didn't want to purchase one (approximately $50) just for an afternoon. We ended up stopping in a town called Kolbach, in what we thought to be Germany but was actually in Austria (there are so many borders in this part of Europe and there is rarely any indication of which country you are in). In Kolbach, we spoke to a very nice gas station worker who gave us directions straight down to the road to Liechtenstein - without passing through Switzerland!

Although it may have been a complicated start to our day's journey, once we passed the "Welcome to Liechtenstein" sign, we were very happy to be there. We drove to Vaduz, the capital city, where there is a castle that the prince currently resides in as well as a nice area with lots of tourist shops and cafes. Liechtenstein seems like a very nice country - so nice in fact, that if you would like to become a citizen, it would take about 35 years to do so. Another interesting bit we learned from the friendly young woman at the information centre is that on your 18th birthday, you are invited to the castle to meet and have champagne with the prince. While in Liechtenstein, we visited the postage stamp museum, a small art exhibit and the prince's castle. All of the people we encountered in Liechtenstein were so friendly; it seems like a very nice place to live. I even got to use some French with the woman at the art exhibition as it was her first language.

After driving to the western border of Liechtenstein and driving back into Austria, we headed to Meersburg, Germany which is a small tourist town on Lake Constance, where we had dinner at an Italian restaurant and went to the new castle as well as the old castle. Both were very beautiful and I really enjoyed standing on the balcony of the new castle looking out onto the vast and pretty lake. We wish the clouds would have cleared, but despite this, still really enjoyed our short visit.

After Meersburg, we continued down the Bundesstrasse to Lindau, also on the Bodensee, where we ended up going to a shopping centre. After our shopping, we found a restaurant (after much searching) to finally have one of the fancy desserts that we have been seeing everywhere. Filled with yummy food and the photos and memories from another good day, we returned to our hotel in Oberstaufen which we will say goodbye to early tomorrow morning as we depart for the long drive to Berlin.

Hockey Update: The Canadian Explorers played an exhibition game in the Czech Republic today and won 4-3. They also got to do some touring of a castle and a UNESCO protected village!