Liechtenstein-There is only so much cute you can take.

After almost a week in Austria we decided to head south to Switzerland. The train ride from Salzburg to Lucerne, Switzerland was a long distance so we decided to break it up with a short day trip to the country, yes I said country of Liechtenstein. It is one of the world's smallest countries up there with Monaco and the Vatican. Sandwiched right between Austria and Switzerland it is in a prime location. Its formal name is The Principality of Liechtenstein and has one of the most powerful royal families in all of Europe. I won't go into all the historical nuances, you can google it in your free time or click here. 

It took about 4 hours on train to get to Switzerland and then we had to take a bus into Liechtenstein. There are no direct routes to this country--so I suggest if you visit make sure you have the time. We decided to make the time for this country and to add another tally to our countries visited box. However, once we arrived in Liechtenstein we were less than excited. I'm embarrassed to say it, but we weren't even sure we were actually in the country at first. We knew we were on a bus that went to the country, but there were no visible differences. No guards, no major signs saying, "Liechtenstein we may be small, but we have a big name," nothing. We actually missed our stop for the capital. We got off a few stops after and just stood around. I looked at Ben and said, "Is this it? Where are we? Are we really in another country?" Well we made the trek to the capital (it only took 10 minutes) and still felt under excited. Maybe it was the bitter cold or the fact that we had already seen too many cute cities already in Europe, but we were not impressed. I'm not sure what I expected, but this was not it. Ben's Dad the night before had said that sometimes there is only so much cute you can take, and this country had hit our cute limit. I told Ben that we had raised the "cute quota" too high. Every city we go to cannot be cuter than the next, but yet that is what we expect. We are in Europe right? Land of all things cute? Well, in this case...maybe not.

So don't take it personally Liechtenstein you are cute, we were just having a bad day. We'll come back in 30 years from now on a sunny warm day with our passports in hand ready to be stamped again.

We traveled through the alps by train.

In Liechtenstein

The country coat of arms.

Ben pulling our bag through another country.

No offense Liechtenstein,
but was it worth the journey?

In the capital of Vaduz and a little underwhelmed. 

One of the Christmas decorations in the city.

Downtown Vaduz. 

Look Mom another country on my passport!

Where the royal family of Liechtenstein lives.

At the bus stop ready to head out. See you in 30 years. :)