Once we made the decision to drive to Liechtenstein (a country in its own right since 1719) after lunch at Kristall Thermal Baths at Schwangau, we made good progress but had to be careful that we didn’t accidentally get sent onto any Swiss motorways as we didn’t have a vignette. 40CHF (Swiss Francs) seemed a hefty cost for basically using a couple of motorways. Our vignette for Austria still had a day left (thanks W&S) so we were okay for that part of the journey. We crossed from Germany into Austria and Switzerland to get to Liechtenstein. The weather was pretty atrocious with snow, hail and rain. We headed towards Vaduz, never knew that was the name of the capital, and stopped at the Royal Winery on the way in for a quick tasting before purchasing a case of very nice rosè.

Our park up was near the football stadium next to the Rhine and was free from 17.00 on Friday and all weekend (P4N#17876)! It was absolutely lashing it down when we arrived so we deferred going into town until the morning. Our first impression of Vaduz was that it was all a bit dull and soulless (maybe as a result of being a tax haven?) but this improved dramatically once we got a chance to get away from the main drag.

There were wonderful art installations dotted about the place including one from children from 9 EU countries who had designed “traffic signs of justice” that depicted their hopes and dreams. If we adults don’t screw the world up, the future feels safe in their hands.

Before we left, we walked along the Rhine to a wooden bridge erected in 1871 to enable goods and people to cross easily between Switzerland and Liechtenstein as the river is the border.

Did you know that the country car plate for Liechtenstein is FL? We kept thinking we were in Florida until we realised the weather wasn’t quite the same!

We left Liechtenstein on Saturday, April 20 to head back towards Germany around 12.15 glad that we had made the detour but unlikely to need to go back.

Miles driven since last post: 131

Miles driven this trip: 4,203

Tolls: €0