Liechtenstein Adventures!

On Sunday, myself and 4 other exchange students ventured to Liechtenstein – a very small, bordering country of Switzerland – to meet up with another exchange student, Alex, who lives there. Liechtenstein has a population of 36,000 people and is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It is still run by a monarchy – whose castle we saw – and is both similar and different from Switzerland. They also speak German, but have their own dialect – much like the different areas of Switzerland. There are only 9 unemployed people in the entire country (who are of working age…). The landscape is different than that of Switzerland, but mountains can still be seen.

The Castle of the Royal Family

Castle of the Royal Family

 Adriana and I rode the bus and train together to Zurich where we were meeting up with Morgan and Mark. Coming from Ecuador, Adriana is not used to the colder climate here, so she was freezing when we were at the train station waiting for the others. It was probably 10C outside, so it wasn’t too cold, but she was pretty much dying. She can’t wait for winter! Mark and Morgan showed up around 10:25, and then we had to board our train. The train ride was about an hour and we talked about anything and everything – but mostly exchange, as it seems to be the common topic and experience for all of us, all the time. When we got to Sargans, we met up with Jade and then got on the double-decker bus to Lichtenstein. The bus was double-decker, so we ran straight up to the second floor and sat right at the front like the little keeners that we are. We could see everything and it was a little bit scary sometimes because it felt like the bus was going to hit so many things all the time. We rode the bus for a while and then got off in Vaduz, and met up with Alex. We walked up a hill to the Prince of Liechtenstein’s castle, which just looks like an old medieval castle. We could tell he was home because the flag outside was raised. Alex said that he acts like any other normal person and will eat with his family in the city and drives around town. His license plate is 00000, so everyone knows when it is the Prince. He also owns 2 or 3 of the banks in Liechtenstein, and is a very wealthy man.

During our walk down from the castle, we stopped at a little lookout area where we could see Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein all at the same time. We walked around Vaduz for a while and purchased souvenirs, because we are such tourists. Most stores were closed because it was Sunday, so we walked around forever and talked.

Parliament House