Day 163: Smaller than Singapore.

Date: 11 FEB 2009

Where am I heading next? I am going to a country where not many people know of - Liechtenstein. How many of you have heard of this country, please raise up your hands. Not many, I suppose.

Measuring just 25km in length and 6km in width, and with a land area of only 160km square, Liechtenstein is even smaller than Singapore!! Just for your information, Singapore has a land area of 707km square and is the second smallest country in Asia (The smallest being Maldives). Being the smallest German speaking country in the world, Liechtenstein is also one of the only two doubly landlocked countries in the world - being a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countries (the other is Uzbekistan).

Alittle more information. Liechtenstein has no military service and its minuscule army (80 men!) was disbanded in 1868. It is best known for wine production, postage stamps, dentures (an important export) and its status as a tax haven. Though tiny, the Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest leader with an estimated wealth of USD $5 billion and the country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living. Each year, on its Independence's Day, the king will hold a huge banquet and invites all his citizens to his castle for a blasting celebration.

Well, enough said. Its time to flood you with pictures. To get to Liechtenstein, I have to first take a train to the border of Switzerland. Views along the way.







Then at the border, I transferred to a Liechtenstein bus.



And then.... TATA!!! I am in Liechtenstein!!





Well, since Liechtenstein is famous for its stamps and post ink mark, how can I missed the chance to get it? (Many people came here just for it!) so I went to the post office and sent home a postcard.



Then I went to the tourist information center for some information, ofcourse.



After which I went to see an exhibition. A rather empty one. Well, thats the concept.



Took a walk around Vaduz city (the capital).









The flag of Liechtenstein.



More pictures.













Then I went up a nearby hill, to see the castle where the royal family lives and also to get an overview of the place.





Along the way up, you see many signs like this feeding you with information about the country. I think this is a very good idea as it also helps to make this steep walk up the hill less tiring.





The view of the top.





The castle and its surroundings. This castle can only be viewed from the outside.















After lingering around here for awhile, I went back mid hill, sat there and admired the scenery.











And guess what's next? I sat in the church staring at the cross for more than an hour. Partly because I wanted to and partly also because it was very cold outside.



After spending some personal time with him, I took the bus and went back to Zurich, Switzerland. No, god did not tell me to go back. Liechtenstein was meant to be a day trip.

An interesting article.



Then it was time for me to catch my train. It was only a short ride and I reached my transit train station at about midnight. Now the thing is, my next train will only pull in at about 5am. And so I have another 5 hours on hand. 12am-5am. 5 hours indeed. But never did I know that this was the WORST and most TORTURING 5 hours that I had ever been through on this trip. It was really no joke. Want to know what happened? Stay tune for my next post.

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Day 162: Largest Waterfall in Europe

Date: 10 FEB 2009

Ready to go again. Cam whoring while waiting for the tram. This is my shy look. :P Cute right? wahahaha...



Going out of Zurich today and so I have to take the train.



So where to? To see the largest waterfall in Europe. And the name of this place is....





Its about a 20 minutes walk to the waterfall from the train station. Took some pictures along the way.









First sight of the waterfall.









Still following the river, I soon arrived at the front of the waterfall.











Ok, its time for more photos. BUt wait, LOOK!!



A swan!!



Its head is going down the water.



Erm... Hey Miss Swan, why are you showing me your ass?!?!



Well, never mind the swan. Lets take more pictures.







Leaving the waterfall, I hop onto the train again, heading towards the next destination. This train was colourful.



There were beautiful scenery along the way and it traveled along the border of Switzerland and Germany, and so I caught a glimpse of Germany. Its on the other side of the river.







I am now in St Gallen.



On the streets of St Gallen.



I find the buildings here very unique. Each of them has its own character.















My main purpose of coming to St Gallen is to visit the St Gallen Abbey Precinct, which was for many centuries one of the chief Benedictine abbeys in Europe. The Abbey has existed since 719 and became an independent principality during the 13th Century. It was founded by Saint Othmar on the spot where Saint Gall had erected his Hermitage.

The library at the Abbey is the oldest library in Switzerland and one of the richest medieval libraries in the world. It is also one of earliest and most important monastic libraries in the world. It holds 2,100 manuscripts dating back to the 8th through the 15th centuries, 1,650 incunabula (printed before 1500), and old printed books. The library holds almost 160,000 volumes. The manuscript B of the Nibelungenlied is kept here.

The library hall in a baroque style is considered the most beautiful non-sacred room of this style in Switzerland and one of the most perfect library halls around the world. In 1983 the library together with the Abbey of St. Gall were made a World Heritage Site, as "a perfect example of a great Carolingian monastery".

A virtual library was created to provide access to the manuscripts — Codices Electronici Sangallenses. Currently 174 manuscripts are preserved in digital format.

However, I got here too late and it was already closed. So I can only have a look on the outside.









Here's a picture I got from the internet of interior of the library.







































There is another very interesting place to see in St Gallen. They built a living room in the middle of the city and look at the cute parking lot. Pictures of cars means its a car parking lot.



Moving pass the cute carpark, I got to the "living room".





Everything here is so expensive and so I searched high and low for a cheap place to dine. Eventually I managed to find a relatively cheap (still not very cheap though) restaurant for dinner.

It started snowing very heavily after dinner.



Back at the train station, waiting for the train to arrival.







Then it was back to Zurich....

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