Originally we had figured that going to Liechtenstein would be a quick matter of dropping in to the post office for me to collect my requisite stamps and mail a postcard or two. We didn't expect that much would be happening and our guidebook didn’t talk about it all that much. Luckily, we were wrong and happened to hit on a day when there was lots going on and we ended up staying for most of the afternoon!

We arrived in Vaduz just before noon and luckily the TI was open all day long. The post office had closed earlier as it was a Saturday, but seeing as most people go to Liechtenstein to collect stamps, the TI shared its space with a shop that sold stamps for mailing as well as collecting. While I perused the racks trying to decide which package I might like, Anoop chatted up the lady at the TI to find out what we should be doing while on our quick stop. We had passed a big tent with people eating under it, so of course it was Anoop’s first priority to figure out what was going on. The lady informed him that twice a year the top chefs from the Vaduz and surrounding region prepare lunch dishes like the ones they would serve in their restaurant and serve it up in Vaduz to the locals for 10 SF a plate (as opposed to the 30-40SF you’d be paying for the same thing in their restaurants). She was so excited about the food and so disappointed that she couldn’t leave the TI to go get herself a plate that Anoop offered to bring them back a plate. She was thrilled and couldn’t believe that someone would do that for them; she promptly disappeared into the back to grab a cardboard box for us to transport 3 dishes back for them. Meanwhile, I had decided on which stamps I wanted for my collection and picked up the stamps for mailing. We then headed over to the tent to make sure that we would have the full selection available to us. We asked the ladies at the front how it worked and bought 5 tickets for main dishes. You could also get tickets for drinks and dessert, but we figured a main for lunch was enough. The ladies also explained what the dishes were which was very helpful since it was all written in German. We picked up the 3 dishes for the ladies at the TI and then Anoop charged back to deliver it while I sat down and started eating while it was still hot. We had picked up two dishes to share and both were delicious. The first was a schnitzel which is a thin piece of breaded chicken that was served with a tasty potato salad. The second was a regional dish which we didn’t really know what it was until we asked at the end. It was a kind of dumpling made out of bread, egg, and spices served with mushroom gravy (including my fave chanterelles!). We enjoyed every mouthful and were glad for some warm food on a cooler day. We then headed back to the TI to pick up our money from the ladies for their lunch plates and get our passports stamped for a couple of euros. The lady at the TI was so happy that we had brought her lunch that she made us an espresso and gave us a piece of chocolate to go with it while we chatted away about where she had been on holiday, where we had been and where we were headed next. Anoop happened to mention that we had seen the cows coming down from the mountains in Appenzell and how excited we were to have seen them. She smiled and pulled out her info sheet and promptly told us that their cows were coming through at 2:00 pm, about 20 minutes from then. So we thanked her, finished our coffee and strolled down the street in search of the best photo spot.

We found a spot out of the rain since it had started to spit and we could hear the bells clanging and getting closer and closer. They were quite a bit louder than the cows we had heard earlier in Appenzell, and as they came into sight we could see why. Each cow was wearing a large bell, not as huge as the ones we had seen in Switzerland, but definitely large. Multiply that by at least 30 cows and you could see why many of the farmers were wearing earplugs! The farmers themselves were not dressed up like the ones we had seen in Appenzell, but the procession was a bit different. The leaders came through on a wagon which was decorated with tons of flowers. Then the cows followed along with the farmers herding them in the right direction. Many of the cows in front had on headdresses made out of flowers. They really were quite neat although I’m not sure that the cows liked them too much – they would probably rather be eating the flowers. Later, many of the cows had leatherwork with flowers embroidered on them which was placed just above their nose. It was all very neat to see and the group was much larger than the one we had seen before. Once again, Anoop took lots of photos and then dashed on ahead to get a video.

We then headed to the free postal museum with a temporary exhibit of Liechtenstein’s first stamp from 1912. It was also a kind of archives and my favourite part was that you could pull out these upright drawers with the original painting, sketch or photograph for the stamp in large size and then see the templates and the sheet of stamps that came from the printing. They had it organized by category so you could look at the nature stamps or the commemorative stamps etc. You could also see the original metal stamps that they would have inked for many of the early stamps. They had a display outside of all the different commemorative moments in space travel with first day covers of the shuttle launches and special stamps issued. The museum was quite interesting and we enjoyed looking at their collection.

We then walked up to the castle to get a view from above. The prince actually lives there so you can’t visit it, but we went up to check it out anyhow. The views on the path up were quite nice and the gardens in the castle were really pretty from what we could see peeking through the gates. As we were heading out, the guard opened the gate for someone who walked in and just nodded at the guard on duty, but we weren’t sure who it was… perhaps the prince and his wife, or a visiting relative?

We then headed back to the car to continue on to Luzern where we were stopping for the night. Considering that it had started out as a quick stop to pick up stamps, Liechtenstein proved to be quite fun for the whole afternoon!