On Tuesday evening, the place we stayed at was actually in Austria, in a little town called Jungholz. The GPS couldn't find the address we put in, but at least we got to the town and then a kind German lady who was out walking in the rain was able to point us in the right direction. We were lucky to find it because we forgot to print out directions. It was one of our more enjoyable places to stay - it was cheaper than any of our other accommodations and it included breakfast. That was huge, since most of the places charged about $15 each for breakfast, which meant we didn't eat breakfast usually or had store bought muffins. It was also run by a family, and the friendly gentleman had 4 kids, so we had something in common.
Our plans to do the luge (on wheels) for Wednesday was spoiled by rain, so we decided to drive to the tiny country of Liechenstein. Who can say they've been to Liechenstein? The country is in between Austria and Switzerland with Germany to the north but not bordering Germany. We visited the capital, Vaduz, and got our passports stamped in the Liechenstein Center. We were only there for about an hour.
We then headed towards Zurich Airport to return our rental car, but stopped at Rhine Falls on the way. Rhine Falls is near Schauffhausen and not far from Zurich. Pretty neat falls - nothing spectacular, but we enjoyed seeing them.
From Zurich, we began our train travel. The transportation system is really amazing in Switzerland. It was easy to get around by trains, trams, or bus, and the Swiss Rail Pass allowed us to use any of those. By Wednesday evening, we were in Bern, the location of Alex's second conference. We walked around the city for a little bit in the evening. At first I wasn't too impressed, but it does seem to have a certain charm to it and the lights at night were pretty. We had a 7 minute train ride from the city center to the front door of our hotel, which was connected to a mall. We were in for a shock when we went to get something to eat. We wandered around the restaurants in the mall and everything was so expensive. We finally settled on an italian place, and I ordered the cheapest pasta dish on the menu. It was about 12 swiss francs, which was about $15 US dollars. For that amount, I was expecting to get a lot of food. Nope. It was a small bowl of pasta with a couple of tomatoes on it. Alex got a pizza for about the same price, which was pretty much like cardboard with a little bit of cheese on it. We never ordered a drink anywhere - the sodas were about $5.75. We ended up eating cheeseburgers from McDonald's a few times, because they were only about $3.25 (for the $1 menu burgers). Luckily the grocery stores weren't as bad and we bought some things for breakfast. I think we still ended up missing a meal every day we were in Switzerland, either for lack of time or trying to save money.
3 comments:
What an amazing vacation! You are so lucky to have seen such beautiful places. Glad you had fun! It looks like you both excel in planning and organizing. You packed in the fun! Thanks for the posts.
Me, me! I've been to Liechtenstein!!! Such great pictures. I LOVE the colors of a dark sky, mountains, and such green trees and grass, etc. I love watching the Sound of Music - takes me back to my young childhood! Watch it again and you'll love it all the more for your trip! :)
I've been to Lichtenstein! (It was part of the Swiss mission.) Funny hearing your food stories. When Matt and I went to Switzerland 5 1/2 years ago, all we ate was cheese, bread, chocolate, and some yogurt. I was so vegetable deprived by the end of that trip.
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