The hills are alive

We awoke late on our second morning in Liechtenstein.  We met the S family in the restaurant for a leisurely breakfast before meeting up with our guides.  Yep, guides.  A few days before heading out on this trip I looked up what unique things there are to do in this small micro-state.  A few things popped up but I was intrigued by one especially.  I texted N and asked if her family was up for it and she almost immediately responded in the affirmative.  We booked our tour to begin at 10 am (which was very lucky indeed - you will see why later) and our guides told us to be waiting in the lobby for our transportation.

Marc and Anna-Lena were right on schedule (even if we were running a few minutes behind).  And 2 minutes after loading into two separate cars we were at our destination and were asked to wait a few minutes while they went to get the Llamas and Alpacas.  You read that right - Llamas and Alpacas.  We were going to take them for a stroll through the mountains and town!

The views were stunning.  I truly felt like moving in and never leaving.

MadHatter with Chippy (one of his ears was chipped) and Stinkerbell with  Julia.

Julia and Stinkerbell led the way - fearlessly and quickly.  Stinkerbell loved her Llama and kept stopping to talk with her.

The rest of us just followed behind, enjoying the scenery, or a ride on Daddy's shoulders...

As I said, the views were stunning and nothing my camera could take this quickly would ever do it justice (I would have loved to have stopped and really taken some shots but the Llamas were leading)

And then we stumbled on this...like we were in a movie...

We somehow ended up on the right mountain, in the right city at the right time.  This is the only day of the year that the Liechtensteiner Weisenblasen is held.   Started ten years ago, musicians from all over Austria, Germany and Liechtenstein come together to play alpine folk music in a truly alpine setting.  Setting up in small groups all over town and in various places in the mountains, they regale the sightseers (and anyone within hearing distance) with beautiful music played with traditional instruments.  We were lucky enough to be walking by just when the alpine horns were beginning their song.  So we stopped to appreciate the moment.  I captured it on video (see below)...And see if you can hear the cows/goats/sheeps bells ringing in the background...it's not just a myth - the animals all wear bells around their necks.

And then the animals were raring to go - and to pose for their close-up...

  

 Both these guys had such character, but Elvis (on the right) was just soo cool.

We walked and talked and enjoyed the view.  I learned some interesting tidbits about Liechtenstein from our guide Marc - who grew up right there in Triesenburg.  

1. Liechtenstein is one of only two double-landlocked countries in the world (bordered only by other landlocked countries).  The other is Uzbekistan.
2. It is Europe's only absolute Monarchy.
3. It is one of the safest countries in the world.  So much so that no one even bothers to lock their front doors.
4. It's the world's leading manufacturer of false teeth.
5. It has the 3rd highest GDP per person in the world and one of the lowest unemployment rates at 1.5% (now do you see why I wanted to move in?)

But I think the best thing of all were the views.  I know, I have mentioned them before but it bears repeating.  With such a small population and wide open spaces you could feel as if you had the country all to yourself.  

And this guy seemed to think the same thing - and want me out of his personal mountain.

And this albino baby - sooooo cute!

We had made it back to the farm and the guides were taking our friends back to their pastures.  The guides asked MadHatter and LM to write them a quick note on their adventure and so MadHatter drew them a picture of her Llama before we said see you later.

We left Malbun in search of some lunch in the city...

This is about halfway down to the capital city of Vaduz.

We were in town within 10 minutes and quickly made like royalty...

We tried not to get run over by the train that runs through the middle of town.

And confirmed that you cannot visit the castle.  I do understand it, the Prince and his family do call it home, but it was still disappointing.

We had some lunch, wandered through a few gift shops and called it an afternoon.  The city has a few museums but nothing we really wanted to spend a lot of time in and we still had one more stop to make before heading home - we had to walk to Switzerland.

The Alte Rheinbrücke was built in 1901 and is the only remaining bridge that spans the Rhine river.  It is 135 m (443 feet) long and a bit over half way through you cross from one country into another.  Something I just had to try.  We had to ask policemen that were routing traffic away from the bridge for permission to park and cross but they gave us their ok and even pointed out a parking spot!  

Not sure they have ever been in different countries at the same time!  B and I crossed into Switzerland and joked that we had left the kids in another country, without a sitter :)

This was taken from the bridge - as close as we had gotten to the castle.

We hopped back in the car and headed home.  It was a school night after all and we still had to cross 3 countries - Liechtenstein to Switzerland to Austria to Germany all in less than 20 minutes.  And that still astounds me as it used to take me hours to just leave the state in the U.S.  We were home just in time for dinner and headed to bed dreaming about the next time we could meet up with the S family for more incredible adventures.