Liechtenstein

My younger brother is pretty sharp for a high school kid, with a head for history and a surprising global consciousness. That's important to know if you want to get the full significance of his response when I told him I had visited Liechtenstein: "Where is that? I have never heard of it." I was sort of surprised, but not incredibly so. Before I came to Germany, I had heard the name, but knew nothing about the country. Since I visited, I don't think I have heard anything about it, except when a friend nostalgically alludes to our visit.

Honestly, I think the country prides itself on not making a name for itself. The little principality is one of the top three richest countries in the world, but it seems to not like to boast of the fact. Everything in Vaduz, the capital city is kept very clean and in good order, and groceries for lunch were a little more expensive than they are in Germany, but there were no blatant displays of ostentation and little evidence of major commercial activity. The people drive new but simple cars and live in well-built but quite traditional houses. In comparison to a close competitor for the title of "Nation with the highest per capita GDP", Luxembourg, Liechtenstein is downright pastoral. In Luxembourg, the capital of the country, you can not walk down a street downtown without seeing two international banks, three restaurants where I am not classy enough even to be a dishwasher, and six or eight shops that make your wallet feel lighter just to look at. The two cities couldn't be more different, except for two main points of comparison: They are both incredibly rich, and uninteresting to tourists.

I hate to entirely right off a city, because I do think that on a year abroad, you should go to as many places as possible, taking every opportunity that comes up. Some will be less interesting than others, but are still worth a go. Vaduz was the same. There wasn't much to do in the town, because we went on a Monday, when the Prince's personal gallery was closed. Not sure what else to do, we decided to take a hike into the mountains.

That was what really changed the day from a fairly typical expedition out of olde Konstanz and made it into a 'Really Good Day' (Trademark). We walked up a long trail through a quiet evergreen wood until we got to the Prince's castle. I have seen better castles - bigger, more dramatic. This one made a particular impression, however, for still having residents. It is hard enough to comprehend that hundreds of years ago, the nobles lived in castles the way you or I live in a three bedroom, 1.5 bath family home. It's quite an epiphany to realize that some people still do. We wondered what it would be like to be a young teenager growing up in a castle like that, and what a girl would say if he were ever allowed to invite one over. It's not something that's easy to wrap your brain around.

Apart from that, the alps are incredible. Everyone has seen the Sound of Music, but it's entirely different to actually be up there, where the grass is greener than you have ever seen, and the sky bluer than you thought possible, and you can see what basically amounts to an entire country by craning your neck a little. When we first got into Liechtenstein, we were curious why all of the world's rich people would want to live in such a quiet, boring little town. Before we even got halfway up the mountains, it was clear why.