Thu, 02 Oct 2003

author Liz	location Genève, Suisse
posted 20:03 CEST 09/10/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Osterreich/Osterreich 3 ( all photos )

Quickly Through Österreich ( 7 photos )
(Continued from Deutschland 3)
Near Lindau, the train went alongside Bodensee (Lake Constance), which was really beautiful, especially with the huge mountains on the horizon, and the sun setting behind the mountains, making the lake and the sky so many different colours.
Our last part of the journey was in the dark. The train stopped at Feldkirch, and from there we caught a bus into Liechtenstein.

author Liz	location Genève, Suisse
posted 20:03 CEST 09/10/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Liechtenstein ( all photos )

Into Liechtenstein ( No photos )
(Continued from Österreich 3)
Liechtenstein is so tiny that it is ridiculous. From north to south it streches 25km, and from east to west just 6km. It is kind of amazing that such a small scrap of land can actually be deemed a country. They even have their own stamps and bus system, although they use the Swiss franc, and the Swiss postal system.
We drove into the country on the bus, and we were even pulled over and a border guard got on to check everyone's passports - that must get annoying for the locals.
We passed the border and the bus took us into Schaan, one of Liechtenstein's towns. The incredibly helpful bus driver told us which bus to get next, and where from, and even came and told our new bus driver where we wanted to get off! How's that for great service?!
So, we were told where to get off our new bus, and even given directions to The Hostel (the only one in the country!) by yet another friendly and helpful bus driver. It took me a while to understand the German instructions (the German sounds quite different down south), but we found the hostel easily.
We treated ourselves to a double room for a slightly extra cost - we had had enough of dorms after our thirty bed dorm in Munich, and we just wanted a good night's sleep. Our room was small but nice, and we soon went to bed.

author Liz	location Genève, Suisse
posted 19:47 CEST 09/10/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Deutschland/Deutschland 3 ( all photos )

Leaving Munich ( 3 photos )
On Thursday, the day after our big Oktoberfest day, I didn't feel too bad - just tired. I would love to go to Oktoberfest all over again, just perhaps another year!
We had our breakfast at the hostel, and packed up our bags. We chatted to some of our Aussie dorm mates for a while, and after leaving our bags in the hostel storage room, we went out for one last wander around Munich.
We made a quick stop at the internet café to check our emails and to sort out a few details to do with getting Rosie towed. From there, we walked towards Marienplatz although not quite as far as the square itself, bought some tourist junk, and then headed back in the other direction to Oktoberfest.
It was about 11am, and the place was starting to get busy and fill up. We walked through the showground again, bought a nice souvenir for ourselves, and even came across two Aussies we had met in the beer hall the day before and had a quick chat.
Tim and I couldn't quite face any more beer, but we did go back into our Hofbräu tent and sat with two half-litre Cokes, and shared half a bbq chicken, which was very tasty. It was tempting to get one last beer, but we had had plenty the day before, so we reluctantly said goodbye to our beer tent, the huge lion that bellowed "Löwenbräu", the wooden pecking chickens at the pecking chicken stall, the big wooden cow being turned on a spitroast over the top of one of the beer halls, the wonderful smells and the colourful atmosphere of Oktoberfest.
On the way back to the hostel to pick up our bags, we stopped at a hairdressers where I had a quick haircut. Then we went and got our bags, and walked up to the train station.
We were at the station for quite a while, waiting for a privately-run (but incredibly helpful) tourist office and ticket-seller to open. I stayed with the bags (we have bought a cheap carry bag to cart around our extra stuff), and Tim went off to organise the tickets. When he came back, we had train tickets that would take us to Liechtenstein that afternoon, so we went to our platform and boarded the first of three trains.
A lot of the journey was quite scenic. Just out of Munich, we went through beautiful rolling farmland and small German villages. We changed to our second train in Kempton, and then our third in Lindau, near the Germany/Austrian border.
This took us across the border south into Österreich once again.

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