Susan Womble's Adventures: Germany week 35 Liechtenstein

Germany week 35 Liechtenstein
Hello all:
It was back to school week for the last 9 weeks of 2011-2012. Wrapping up has been and will probably be the focus for the rest of the year.
We went to Liechtenstein with the military this weekend. While it was not originally on my list I thought it would be fun. We rode through three countries in a matter of an hour, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein. When we got there we had a two hour walking tour which pretty much covered the whole country. Now this is truly how the other half lives. There were no bums, no litter and massive beautiful houses. The Prince of Liechtenstein and his son and daughter in law and their families all live in this huge castle that overlooks the town of Vaduz one of the 11 principalities of Liechtenstein. We walked around and saw the Princes vineyard and all of the massive amount of banks located in the town. It seems that there are around 36K people in Liechtenstein and around 32K jobs so no one is without work. Houses cost around 2 million a piece. The Swiss Franc is their money which is about even with the dollar, but they accepted Euros. One thing I got from the tour is that women did not get the vote until 1983 yes you heard right so women's rights are let us say a bit behind. They speak German but their next language is English. There is a lot of money in Liechtenstein and it is a gorgeous country--no doubt. According to our guide the following is a little history and some facts about Liechtenstein. Citizenship is hard to get- you can have a birthright. Women who marry men of Liechtenstein citizenship can become citizens in three years. Men marrying women --getting citizenship is a lot harder and longer- hey they are backward with the women thing you know. Also children are Liechtenstein citizens if they are born in Liechtenstein to Liechtenstein parents. This whole country was started during Napoleon times when Napoleon needed men for his armies so the Prince promised to send men in exchange for being granted country status. With only 300 people in the country at the time it was good the battle was over by the time they sent men. There is no army or anything now and only 90 police and to be honest I saw no reason for a police presence at all.
The country is bordered by the Alps and the Rhine river. There was a covered bridge across the Rhine, see picture below.
After our walk we went to their museum and then to eat which rivaled Versailles in price. We opted for a little side of the rode place next to the grocery store. After lunch we we walked up to the Prince's castle which was quite a walk--almost straight up for the first two parts completely steep-- almost did us in and then went serpentine for the rest but once we got up there-- the view was breathtaking, see below. Weather was cold in the morning but warmed up nicely during the day.
All In all I thought Liechtenstein was a great place to visit and if I was a millionaire I might consider having a place there. LOL
With that I will close, going to take it easy today.
Hugs from Germany,
Susan

The Alps