Austria, and Liechtenstein, and Switzerland Oh My!

Last weekend I decided to use my ÖBB Summer Ticket to its maximum potential. I discovered that the farthest Austrian city from Vienna is Feldkirch, which borders Liechtenstein. Knowing that I'd need plenty of time to read Harry Potter 7, the seven hour trip seemed like the perfect fit.

The first train in on Saturday the 21st left at 7:30am. Therefore, I had to get my Harry Potter book at 1:01am on Friday night unless I wanted to wait for the stores to open at 10am and miss the morning trains. I walked down to 'the British Bookstore' at around 12:30 to find hoards of people. Unlike the two Canadian midnight releases I've been to, there were very few children, and a surprising number of older people. They had an amazing system, which allowed everyone to get through the store within 15min or so, so I was back before I knew it.

I arrived at the station early to claim an empty set instead of paying for a seat reservation. I found a seat in a 6 person compartment which I shared with a Swiss father and daughter who had biked to Vienna from Bern and were now returning by train, and an Austrian woman from Vienna who spoke very little English. The train stopped at about a dozen cities along the way, with the notable ones being Linz, Salzberg, and Innsbruck. Between Salzberg and Innsbruck a group of drunken Austrian guys in liederhosen with a boombox playing polka music came by selling shots of home-made schnopps for 2€. They were pretty funny, so the Swiss man bought one. By the look on his face I'm glad I decided against it.

As the train rolled on the rolling green hills turned into large mountains, then even larger mountains, then the Alps with mountains that I thought only existed in paintings and stories with shear faces reaching into the clouds. Having never been in the mountains before, having grown up considering Blue Mountain and Mount Pakenham to be "mountains" I was blown away.

Feldkirch, Austria
When I arrived in Feldkirch it was, as forecasted, overcast and looked like it was going to rain any second. So, I went right to my hostel, which is a building deserving of a post unto itself. The 'Feldkirch Jungendherbergen' is a youth hostel that's run out of an ancient building about a 15min walk from the train station. When first mentioned in 1362, it was described as "having been in existence for a long time". The chapel next door has been dated at over 1200 years old, so the house could easily be the same age. The building and chapel were used in the past as a leper colony, and a plague hospital for the surrounding villages. After falling into disrepair and almost being torn down, it was refurbished in the early 1980s and turned into a hostel.
Looking at the interior with the nail-less mortise and tenon timber framing and paneling with single 4ft wide boards it's easy to see how this building was already hundreds of years old when the Incas built Machu Picchu. The dining room shows the width of the ancient boards use to panel the walls.
All the windows had a small window within the frame of a larger one, the old-fashioned answer to a double-pained window.
In the ultimate display of Europeans respecting their history but not living in a museum, the stables next to the hostel had been turned into the entrance for an under-ground crosswalk (which, for some unknown reason, were very common in the tiny town of Feldkirch).I spent Saturday afternoon and early Sunday morning exploring the Medieval town.
One thing I noticed throughout the area was the close proximity of pasture land and built-up residential areas. This field was meters from a technical school, the city's bus terminal, and the McDonalds.
As you see throughout Europe, the Feldkirch city walls were demolished in the 1800s, filling in the city moat. However, three guard towers and the castle remain.

As you can see in the picture above and more sure to follow, the rivers throughout the area were a translucent aqua colour, which looks weird when you're used to the almost-black, perfectly clear St.Lawrence river or tan coloured silty streams like parts of the Danube.

I walked up to the castle to sit and read, and check out the museum.

An astronomical clock using stones as counterweights

The walls of the castle were covered in religious carvings.

The central courtyard.

The only building in Feldkirch with the grandeur of Vienna was the music conservatory. It was first built as a private boarding school for rich Europeans. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories studied here.

Sunday morning was foggy and the streets were deserted.Liechtenstein
The country of Liechtenstein only has a population of 35000 people, with 5000 people in the capital city of Vaduz. However, it still has a monarchy, full court system, and a parliament.

The Royal castle , where the royal family still lives, is built on a hill overlooking Vaduz.City Hall with an example of the modern art found throughout Vaduz.

After about an hour of wandering, I grew bored with the 'city' of Vaduz and hiked up the mountain to the castle.
As the royal family still lives there, the castle is off-limits. This is as close as you can get, looking in the front gate.
By the time I got up to the castle the clouds were beginning to thin, showing the tops of the mountains.
The royal winery is the oldest building in Liechtenstein. The wine press which is still used is carved from a single piece of oak which was felled in the 1400s.More of the modern art found in Vaduz
As Liechtenstein is basically Prescott with a Royal family, after a few hours I was ready to move on. So, I walked to Switzerland, twice!

Switzerland

I cross the Rhine into Switzerland via this covered bridge. As Liechtenstein is closely tied to Switzerland, the only indication of the international border was a small sign with the two flags.

In my two visits to Switzerland (I went back to Vaduz for an organized tour in the afternoon) I went to Sevelen and Buchs. As it was Sunday there was really nothing to see or do other than wander around. The only thing I managed to buy was 1kg of Swiss chocolate for €8 ($12 CAD) which is intended to be Christmas gifts for people back home, if it makes it.

Innsbruck, Austria
On the return trip to Vienna on Monday morning I got off the train for a few hours in Innsbruck.

A picture taken from the train.

Even the train station has an amazing view!

The old city was packed with tourists but still amazing.

A 400 year old bell factory.You might have noticed that the second half of this post became much briefer. I leave for this weekend's destination, Hallstatt, tomorrow morning so I decided to finish this post first, or I'd never get it done. Hopefully the pictures speak for themselves.