Lonely in Little Liechtenstein

We drove into Liechtenstein a few hours ago, and I said goodbye to Hannah and James. They’ve left me to take the rental car back to Munich, and they fly home tonight. I think the buggers plan on hitting the Hoffbrau Haus beer hall before they jump on the plane. Wish I was there too, I know just how much fun they are probably having right now as I type this.

As soon as they left, I was once again horribly homesick, almost to the point of throwing up. I still don’t understand why it hits me so hard; after spending four weeks on the road, I thought I had possibly gotten over it. But I should have known that by bringing a few friends into the equation and travelling with them for a few days, that as soon as they left, it would return again, just as bad as ever.

So I’m sitting here in a campsite, pretty tired and emotional, wishing the night away with a beer. I’ve plugged my iPod in for the first time this trip, to listen to a few tunes. Ironically, the first two songs were Slim Dusty’s Pub With No Beer, and Neil Finn’s Better Be Home Soon. I couldn’t help but laugh at the lonesome, homesick lyrics. Topping it off, I’m pretty sure it’s gonna bucket down soon as I can hear thunder and see some dark clouds looming over the mountains on the other side of the valley.

Anyway, I’m sure you don’t want to hear about all that crap all the time. So I should tell you about Leichtenstein. Speaking of the mountains, basically Hannah has saved me a monstrous uphill slug by dropping me somewhat up into the Swiss Alps. My GPS tells me that the valley floor is about 550m above sea level, and to either side are these monstrous mountains. Across the river, literally I can see Switzerland. Yes, Leichtenstein is that small, I’ve already crossed it left-right, top-bottom. The campsite I’m staying at tonight is in the south of Leichtenstein, right at the foot of a huge mountain, with a stream flowing past down to the centre of the valley, a swimming pool and a biergarten (naturally). The first thing I did after setting up my hammock tent was jump in the pool. I gotta tell you how good the weather is, it’s been so bloody good, that since leaving London, I’ve never had a day below the 20’s. Since Helsinki a couple of weeks ago, nothing less than about 27 degrees. This past few days in the Czech Republic, southern Germany and now Austria/Leichtenstein, have been 32-36 degrees. And the forecast for the next 4 days in Switzerland looks like about 31-32 degrees most days.

Well Hannah, it looks like you were right about the cows lying down on the grass. It’s just now started to piss down, and the thunderstorm is right above me. The last clap of thunder echoed through the valley and was so loud that it shook the ground, and sounded almost like it had set off an avalanche from above! I just remembered that my washing is hanging on the tent line, not getting any drier now after I washed it about an hour ago. Oh well, my poor shirt needed a good clean after I wore it for 4 days straight. And anyway, the rain is good, as it has also been very sticky and humid, so the air is now a bit cooler. I’m guessing that with temperatures like this for the next week, I could expect to see thunderstorms like this come through every arvo until I leave the alps, or the weather cools a bit. So my plan is to cycle very early in the morning, as soon as I wake up, and get to my destination as soon as possible, before the storms hit. Tomorrow’s leg is Vaduz to Zurich, and the route that I’m taking is a fairly direct 108km. I should be up for it, given that I’ve had a good break from cycling now for a couple of weeks, and no shortage of food and drink lately.

Some German blokes have just sat down in front of me and turned the TV on in the common room at the campsite. I’d almost forgotten, the World Cup final is on tonight, and Spain are playing Holland. Should be a good match, so I’m just gonna duck over to the shop and grab a few more beers. My early night will begin after the soccer.

OK I’m back with three beers. Funny, the first one (something called Calanda, in a yellow can with some kind of red dragon on it) tasted pretty good and seems to have wiped out my feelings of homesickness, and I’m feeling pretty good. I’ve cracked open a pack of Cheese Moments, a little snack that I’ve taken a liking to whilst over here. The music on my iPod is starting to spit out some more uplifting stuff. It’s brilliant to have some speakers on my laptop that aren’t crackling static. Oh yeah, so this is the first blog I’ve typed using my new laptop! Happy Birthday Matty. I’ve handed the old one to Hannah and James who are going to take it back to London and keep it safe for me. I had a lot of difficulty getting all my files off it due to the USB crapping itself, and literally 6 days with virtually no useful Internet meant that all my maps for my GPS, all my music (except what’s on my iPod) and a whole bunch of other crap is still on there. Thankfully, everything essential for my trip is still with me including my master spreadsheet and budget.

I digress, let’s get back to Liechtenstein. So in looking around today, I have to say that apart from being quite naturally beautiful with the valley and the mountains (and I’ve seen better in Austria and Germany before to be honest) there’s not a lot more to the place. Of course, no European country is complete without a castle, and in the case of Liechtenstein, Schloss Vaduz sits perched directly above the small capital, that is really no bigger than a small village. Interestingly, in this country, the King still rules supreme – there is no elected government – and as he lives in the castle, unfortunately it’s not open to the public. The king is a rich bastard too, apparently with a fortune numbering in the tens of billions of dollars, or Swiss Francs, or whatever he keeps.

Despite being an independent, sovereign nation (the 6th smallest country in the whole world) most of the services, the currency, the airport, etc are all shared with Switzerland. In saying that, the country has had its own postal service since 2005, and so sending a post card with a Liechtenstein stamp is something of a novelty for travellers. I have sent two already! It’s such a big deal that they even have a Liechtenstein Post Museum – I can only guess showcasing the full glorious 5-year history of the service! Apart from the castle and the national museum, I think this is the only other big tourist drawcard in the country.

At the risk of sounding like I’ve just ripped off a quote from the Lonely Planet guide, there is a humorous little story that could only have happened in a nation as small as Liechtenstein. The last time the army was actually deployed in a war – sometime in the 1800’s – their 30 odd men returned with absolutely no casualties. In fact, they returned from duty as 31 men, having picked up an Italian ‘friend’ along the way. After this, the army was disbanded and they’ve never had an armed force since, being under the protection of the ever-neutral Switzerland.

So there you have it. A short chapter on a small country, that I’m literally spending only one day in because that’s really all the time you need to see everything. Including the World Cup Final which has now just started, and there are a few Dutch supporters that have just joined the crowd. The group of Germans that I’m sitting with however appear to be supporting Spain. We will see how the night unfolds. Hopefully without too many more bites from these pesky carnivorous flies that seem to have taken a liking to me.

Next stop, Zurich! Guten Nacht.

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