Before we left Zurich we wanted to say a final farewell to Roger so he met us in the morning for coffee at a nearby cafe. We thanked him again for all he had done for us – taking time off from work, driving us from the airport, buying us a great dinner. We talked a little about work culture in Switzerland versus Japan, and enjoyed the funky vibe of the cafe while sipping coffees.
Afterwards he walked us to a couple of places to look for luxembourgli – the Swiss version of macaroons. The shop he brought us to was a bit upscale. The shopkeeper gave us each a free sample – we had cheesecake flavor which was really good. Kuniko ended up buying a small package of 4 luxembourgli, so at that rate I don’t think the store will be very profitable. Kuniko led us to a bakery nearby that she had wanted to try yesterday, and they were selling Tirggel – a sort of honey cookie that I had wanted to try out. Roger was surprised to find it available in summer – I guess it is more of a holiday cookie. The ones we bought were in a small package labeled as “Romantik” size.
Back at the hotel we showed our room to a curious Roger, and then checked out and said our goodbyes at the station. Roger took a local train back to his home and we did some shopping at the station, picking up a cute keychain for our Christmas tree.
We caught our train out of town, but it was a little hard to find seats. Finally we found a couple of seats that seemed available – later we figured out that they are for the people who would accompany someone in a wheelchair. There was someone in a wheelchair nearby, but as they were traveling alone the seats were OK to take.
We ended up sitting next to an American guy who boarded after us. He introduced himself and he was a retired software engineer living in Plainfield, Indiana. He was traveling around Europe, heading next towards Italy – Venice, Florence and Rome. It was good to talk about his impressions of Europe and the software business in general. We exchanged contact information just in case he plans on visiting Japan in the future.
We got off at the next stop – Buchs – which is the closest Swiss town to Liechtenstein. My original idea was take an Uber there, but the application wasn’t working. There were plenty of Ubers in Zurich, but none out so far I guess. Next plan was a taxi, but none available. Finally we did what everyone else was doing and we bought two tickets on the bus. As it happened a direct bus was waiting right there, so we could get right on. Easy! We snacked on Kuniko’s luxembourgli while we waited.
The bus went right into Vaduz, and using our maps and the GPS we were able to get off at the stop right next to our destination, the wine cellars of the Prince of Liechtenstein.
We rolled into the tasting room complete with suitcase and found a very nice set up. We grabbed a seat inside the tasting room, and the friendly staff explained all about the winery and the wines made there. She pointed out right away that most of the grapes are actually grown in Austria, as the land there was originally the home of the royal family that would eventually start the country of Liechtenstein. Outside the winery was a vineyard or two of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and we could also taste wines made from those grapes.
On the whole we enjoyed the wines. Most were made in a lighter style, the sparkling wines were better than I expected and the whites a little bit better than the reds. Our tasting included six wines, and the poor staff had her hands full with four different groups of customers/tasters. When we left she asked which wine we liked best and I said I liked their Blanc de blanc sparkling wine, and she said that her father was the winemaker. He did a great job!
We took the suitcase for a seven minute walk south to the restaurant that I had picked out, called Adler. It was a bar/restaurant as part of a hotel in central Vaduz, and they had a menu of traditional foods. I had kassenspatzli (flour dumplings with lots of cheese and fried onions, with a dollop of applesauce). Kuniko had roasted salmon with veggies and a unique kind of red rice that had a firm texture. I had a local beer with my meal, Kuniko had sparkling wine, and the food was great. I guess we were hungry again because we were scraping our plates clean.
After lunch we walked around the central downtown of Vaduz, checking out the government buildings and seeing most of the country during a very short walk. It was bright and sunny so we had to be on the lookout for patches of shade to escape the heat. We saw some churches, the parliament building, the royal palace on the hill (under construction). We scored another keychain (very pricey!), and then started to try to figure out how to catch a bus back to the train station in Switzerland. Eventually we figured it out, and soon enough we were back in Buchs waiting for our train to Innsbruck.
We waited a while in the convenience store drinking water, juice and getting into those “Romantik” honey cookies. I wasn’t sure about the texture – they were firm as hell. The flavor was nice, but it felt an awful lot like chewing cardboard. Thick cardboard.
We decided to wait for the train on the platform, but when we arrived it was already there. We boarded in first class, and the cars were deserted. It was really spooky, like a zombie movie. Above the seats there was a small digital readout that said “ggf.reserviert” which according to Google meant “reservation possible”. Hmm.
We took seats anyway, and after about ten minutes another train pulled up, and pretty much every passenger of that train transferred to the one we were on. We were in the right place, and we kept our seats the rest of the way.
The next leg of the ride was just as beautiful. On both sides of the train tracks there were dramatic peaks and huge mountains, ravines, rivers and tiny villages surrounding a church. I often saw fields of corn – which was odd because we rarely saw corn on the menu during this trip. Maybe grain for the cattle? In some of the deep countryside we’d spot small cabins – too small for living but they must have served some purpose out there. I also saw more than one ladder in the forest up to a shooting blind, so hunting must be big here. There were some campgrounds that looked nice, even a waterskiing facility where the skiers held on to a handle connected to an overhead cable system. So much to see! At
Part of sitting in first class meant that staff were always asking if they could bring you anything from the restaurant car. I had a hot coffee while riding and you just need to pay anytime before you get off the train. I was feeling a sore throat coming on, so the hot liquid was an attempt to burn the engine clean. I was hoping not to catch a cold in the middle of our trip!
The train arrived a little late into Innsbruck, but since our hotel was right near the station we weren’t worried. As we rolled our suitcase towards the hotel we instantly felt a difference around us. The area was a lot dirtier than anything we’d seen so far, with lots of old guys drinking and some homeless people sitting around on the ground.
Once we reached the front desk of the hotel there was a loud group of young men who were goofing off, and so the feeling of unease grew a little bit more. The room itself was very nice – we had a room on the eighth floor with a spectacular view of the mountains overlooking Innsbruck, some of them with a slight dusting of snow on top.
When we took the elevator back down to the ground floor there was a large puddle of water in the middle – what happened here? Once outside we were headed to the historic Old Town, but to get there we had to walk through some dodgy neighborhoods. We passed a surprising amount of Middle Eastern markets and restaurants, discos, betting parlors, and bars. All the staff and customers were Middle Eastern and it seemed like they had built a community here. There were quite a few supermarkets open so we made a mental note to stop in and buy some water and supplies on the way back.
Although the neighborhoods we passed were pretty dinghy (and maybe a tiny bit scary) once we arrived at the Old Town area things looked much better. There were lots of shops and restaurants, crowds of tourists looking for dinner on a Friday night, and some sightseeing spots and beautiful architecture.
We checked out a few restaurants and settled on a traditional one called Ottoburg. We grabbed a table and although there were open tables when we arrived it soon became completely full. The place also had a lot of what seemed like regular customers – they were talking with the staff and managers like they came every day.
Kuniko ordered a sparkling wine that came in a huge glass, but strangely tasted like was watered down. My red wine was good, and then we had dinner – Kuniko ordered the “deer pan” – a dish with stewed deer meat, beets, spaetzel, and a citrus jam on a slice of orange. I had vegetarian dumplings in a butter cheese sauce, very oily! I thought it was a healthier choice but maybe not.
On one side of us a group of regulars were eating these huge sized portions – more food than we eat in two days they are consuming at once. On the other side of us a couple had brought their two dogs along on leashes, and as I watched one dog slipped its leash and made a run for it. I nodded toward the guy and he was able to catch the dog, but it was close.
I was getting a little hot and sweaty sitting there, so we decided to go rest back at the hotel. We walked back into the slightly scary area, and now that it was getting dark the vibe was even stronger. As we crossed one street some young guys in a car burned rubber and skidded out near us, putting us on edge. All the supermarkets that we had previously seen had closed up, and so we had nowhere to go but the station for shopping. The station shops were also closed – it wasn’t that late on a Friday so WTF? We ended up finding a bookshop open that was selling waters, but we had to ring the bell for the staff to come from the back room and he looked supremely pissed that we had bothered him.
Finally we made it back to the hotel and Kuniko was asking me what the hell we were even doing here. I was also starting to feel the sore throat even more, so hopefully water and sleep will help. It was a rough and spooky night in Innsbruck for us!
