Our quest was full of adventures and it was only about 2 days old. The exact time had escaped us since we hadn't actually had a night's sleep in the complete sense of the term. Through the day I managed to get to about four and a half hours of sleep. Not horrible. Our arrival in Stuttgart now is imminent.
Once in Stuttgart we found the train headed to Lindau. The town we were staying in for the night after Liechtenstein and conveniently one of the southern most cities in Germany. The train departed at something like 8:06 AM. We were on the platform in plenty of time. What we saw there made our sleep deprived demeanors sink. Bitte Nicht Einsteigen. If you have traveled by trains before and needed to make a connection, the train you are wanted to connect with telling you to not board makes you sad. Fortunately less than 10 feel away was a train headed to a town along the way, Ulm. It left at somewhere around 8:15. This was nice because not only did it mean we didn't have to wait very long, but it meant that we could keep an eye on our Little Engine that didn't want to. It left without allowing any passengers on. And with its departure so left any shred of decent feeling about making any stable connections on regional trains in obscure times of morning and night even in big cities. After being asleep for only about one and a half hours to this point, it was my turn again to make sure we didn't miss our connection. I diligently stayed awake for a part of it and Michael kindly relieved me. At this point the espresso purchased in Stuttgart may as well have been flavored water to me.
Finally heading very close to Liechtenstein our hopes were lifted. When one makes a lot of random and somewhat unplanned connections, one is forced to develop a knowledge of the local geography. In addition, one also becomes acutely aware of the ubiquity of bakeries and their implications of an inexpensive and tasty meal to go. We took advantage of this more times than not. If you have been to Germany then you understand the deliciousness of this gift from God that is German pastries.
Once we arrived in Ulm, we saw a train for Lindau. Naturally we boarded the train with a gusto one can only muster after spending twelve hours trying to get to this very moment. I don't remember who slept and who stayed awake for this leg of the trip. I know that part way through I saw the beautiful countryside and I remember my first glimpse of real mountains. We made it to Lindau. By this time we were all awake and all very excited. Just across the lake, to the mountains was both Austria and Switzerland and somewhere in the mess of the beautiful mountains was Liechtenstein. The goal was in sight. We got on a train that would get us very close to the small country but not quite in it. Austria here we come. I was glad to add another country to my list. If that is what Austria is like, count me in. We ended up accidentally getting off on the wrong stop but in the same small town, thus missing our connection. But no matter, another was coming in about an hour. We took this time to wander the city in search of lunch. Bless you Austria for having bakeries everywhere just like Germany. We also found a small grocery store that magically turned into a quite large store and bought some foods to supplement our bread. I bought an avocado. If ever I have made a good life choice, that was it. It wasn't until later that the impact of what I just bought fully hit me. We eventually made it to our almost Liechtenstein city in Austria. We left the train station and saw a beautiful sight: A bus that read "Bus Liechtenstein" and had an itinerary for Liechtenstein. As fate would go we ended up not stoping in Liechtenstein. But we did see almost all of the country as the bus wove in and out of the two "big cities" it is home to. We ended up in a small town in Switzerland just across the border from Liechtenstein. We were not concerned because the mountains were calling, and I must go. It wash't as early as we had planned so we had supper in a field looking out across a corn-field and up to the vista of Swiss Alps. I was unspeakably ecstatic. I ate my supper of avocado on an Austrian baguette and decided that life could not get better than this. Our meal ended but our quest did not. In unison we all stepped across the border into Liechtenstein and spent the remainder of daylight accomplishing the goal we spent over 14 travel hours to accomplish.
It's the simple things in life that often stick with us the most. Seeing those mountains, eating that avocado, and stepping into Liechtenstein is definitely in this category. I added 3 countries to my list in one single day, making our total country count for the day 4. Getting into Liechtenstein is not just a little part of life I will remember. I will remember it forever, but it certainly was not a little part. We spent many hours of effort, lost a lot of sleep, and had one of the best life experiences ever. The memory of that doesn't just go away after one night. The beauty of the struggle that is the Quest of Liechtenstein is how great the reward was to us. Yes, it is just another small country nestled beautifully between the mountains of Austria and Switzerland, but this quest shows me that we can live through sleeping in a weasel inhabited parking garage, missing trains, and going way out of our way and spending way less money than most, to accomplish a poorly planned trips. In Germany, not planning something down to the smallest nuances is often shied away from. But this weekend I have learned that sometimes not planning, I experience more, I just have to be willing to try.
Be sure to read the Epilogue: Quest of Liechtenstein: Part 3 - Epilogue: Lessons Learned and Life Enriched.
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