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Published: October 27th 2005
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We made our way from Munich along to Va duz, the capital of Liechtenstein, I’d never even heard of Liechtenstein until going on this tour! It’s a very very small country. It was named after the Liechtenstein family who bought all the land here many years ago and is still run by them today.
There was an Orchestra playing a concert in the main part of the town. We got lunch at a little café - a hamburger which was delivered without a bun… we are guessing it was the low carb option!!!
We continued along a very picturesque route with tall mountains and endless paddocks of feed, some spotted with cows and although the area seems quiet, it would be easy enough to see yourself living here, well me anyways!!
We crossed the border in to Switzerland and saw Lake Lucerne. We then drove to see the Lion Monument dedicated to 792 Soldiers which were massacred by extremists. It is probably the nicest monument I’ve seen in Europe. It’s all carved into a rock face.
We then headed to the Gondola that would take us up to our accommodation at Mt Pilatus which has the highest
hotel in Europe. The first gondola took 35 minutes or a bit less, poor Art was unamused as she is scared of heights. There were only 4 in this one, the next took about 30 of us at a time. The ascent was steep. (Arty was worried it was going to break - I was like do you think a country that protects itself which high tech stuff is really going to let its gondolas just fall off the cable? I don’t think so… it was only a couple of days later when we left that it was on the news that a gondola had fallen off the cable in Austria killing a few people and injuring others…. Oops!!) You could see little kiosk type cafes below and lots of people hiking or on bikes. You can also hear wind chime like noises continually which turned out to be all the cow bells that were around the cow’s necks! They are quiet loud and it must drive the residence and the cows crazy!! We passed over a massive toboggan track which I hope to check out later!!
Up the top at our hotel is an amazing view. It sits
at 7000 ft. Clouds sit low and mountains peak above them. The weather is warm and people are lying on banana chairs. We are warned not to drink too much given the altitude.
I drank two pint bottles of beer without feeling any different… you aren’t allowed to take your own alcohol up, allegedly due to the altitude, but we think it was more to do with the price of beer up there and the fact that they wanted a captive audience…
By this stage I no longer feel like drinking much, partying or staying out late and am finally counting the days until I am back at home… It’s been a long time coming.. I’ve had headaches the last couple of nights and I think that it’s my body protesting!! It’s not home I necessary want to be at, I just would like to settle somewhere permanently so I didn’t have to keep living out of a damn suitcase!
We were given some background on Switzerland and it would appear that they are a very paranoid country…. They are neutral and have always reminded so since the 1800’s when they nearly got roped into one war
but cut a deal with Hitler and gave him right of passage through Switzerland and they promised to also look after his money, if he’d leave them out of it and so a deal was struck.
It is compulsory still for all able bodied, fit men between the ages of 20-30 to do military service. It is said that they would be able to assemble an army in excess of 600,000 strong within 48hrs should they ever be called to war and this is one of the main reasons no one has invaded their country. In additional to this, every new ship must be built with a bomb shelter below it. There is also a nuclear bomb shelter with the capacity to hold 20,000 people and is prepared by being able to serve 60,000 meals and has a fully operational hospital inside. The doors are so thick it takes 2.5hrs to close them. There are also triangles on the roads that can be raised tup to stop tanks and there are detonators at key intersections that can be set off to destroy access paths for any unwanted visitors. There are cameras all around and guns in positions throughout the
city.
As Switzerland makes excessive amounts of money through banking they choose to stay with Francs as their currency instead of changing to the Euro. You bank as a number here, not a name and it’s extremely difficult to infiltrate. Only the numbered person can access the account. There accounts earn no interest but you get charged fees for having it keep there, this is how they make their money. If you die and don’t have a will, your balance becomes the property of the bank. Switzerland has been helping people embezzle money for years.
Switzerland is also the home of the Swiss Army Knife and fine watches. I bought
As the last gondola leaves at 4.30pm you have to be on it or you will be spending the night in town, the hotel graciously decided to ‘make party’ for us and they called it ‘Swissco’ it was pretty lame and was full of Contiki people only as this is a Contiki hotel. I decided to call it a night early and head off to bed…
The next day we caught the cable car back down the mountain and went to Ruettimanns, I ended up buying
Stac & Myself
After Stac spilled my drink!! knives as gifts for my family and a watch for myself!! Hehe!!
We saw the famous wooden bridge called Chapel Bridge, it is beautiful. Apparently it was burnt down a few years ago by someone who had been smoking on the bridge, so as you can imagine, it’s now a no smoking area…
We took a cruise of Lake Lucerne, the view was just beautiful. There have been no new houses built along the water for 30 years and they said that there are laws in place that state that there will never be anymore. Throughout Lucerne and Switzerland as a whole, there are limitations on how many houses can be built in each area and once it’s been reached there will be no more. They do this to ensure it all remains beautiful and for the main part, mostly untouched and scenic. This makes it a very expensive place to live. The houses on the water rarely come up for sale and are generally passed from one generation to the next. About 70% of people live in units as houses here are too dear.
Went back up Mt Pilatus via Cog Railway - very, very steep
and it takes about 25 min. The incline is about 49 degrees.
That night we had the worst budget included dinner on the whole trip!! Am sure prison food would have been better!!!
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kim t
non-member comment
still going strong
I am still waiting for the blogs to be finished and then to get my journal will be worth keeping 4 ever and ever and pass it on