It was a short 70km drive from Zurich to Arvenbuel. The weather was absolutely perfect and provided a wonderful introduction to this part of Europe. The scenery was a little bit like New Zealand, only more beautiful (according to Stephen). We were looking for the Arvenbuel Hotel, which we found on a lush green meadow plateau, surrounded by rocky cliffs and cows with their noisy swiss cow bells. Once we found the hotel, it took even less time to find Barbara.
Caroline and Barbara worked together in the Sydney Sheraton several moons ago. Barbara said we could always visit the family owned and run hotel. If we had known how beautiful the scenery was we wouldn't have waited 15 years to make the journey here. We sat down on the terrace in the blazing sun for coffee and the famous Arvenbuel Hotel Plum tart (with whipped cream).
We went for a short walk to explore the viewpoint looking over Walensee (the lake). The mountains were beckoning Stephen, so he took off for several hours to find the local peak, Gulmen, to climb.
The fine weather meant the hotel and restaurant were extremely busy and unfortunately also meant Barabara was run off her feet. So we didn't have much time to catch up that day.
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| View from our room. |
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| Hotel Arvenbuel |
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| Gorgeous view a short walk away. |
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| A bit further and higher afield. |
Sunday, October 19th
After a leisurely breakfast we jumped into Sterlin and headed off to Liechtenstein. We took the back road over the mountain and were rewarded with some stunning scenery and forest views. The road was narrow with many twists and turns but quite delightful. We found out later that cars are not permitted on this road and we were lucky not to get caught by the Police.
Liechtenstein, or more accurately Vaduz (the Capital City of Liechtenstein), was fun for a half day. We wandered up and down the tiny shopping street before deciding the best thing to do was have some food. Being Sunday all the shops, some tacky souvenir stores excluded, were closed. After lunch we took a lovely stroll up the hillside to the castle, which still houses the Princely Family of Liechtenstein. For that reason the castle is not open to the public. Some more strolling brought us back to the city center. We visited the Post Office museum, one of the main attractions. And then we headed back to Switzerland and an even more exhausted Barbara. The great weather was really attracting the hikers and visitors. Like the previous night, we took dinner in the hotel restaurant.
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| Leichtenstein Castle |
Monday, October 20th
Caroline agreed to wake-up at 2am in the morning to help Barbara check-in a large group of hotel guests. Who knew that the Chippendales were on their Forever Sexy World Tour and would be staying in Arvenbuel for the next 2 nights. Caroline managed to talk herself into some free tickets to one of their shows in Belgium.
Barabara had the day off and spent the day with us playing tour guide. It was very nice to be able to spend some quality time with her. We visited the Seerenbach Falls which might be the highest waterfalls in Europe. We had a nice lunch to finish off our visit.
Once back at the hotel, Stephen headed back up Mt Gulmen, while Caroline and Barbara made up for the last 15 years. We had post-dinner drinks with the extended family which was delightful.
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| Country life |
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| Church |
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| Barbara and Caroline and the waterfall. |
Tuesday, October 21st
We said goodbye with plans to see each other in California soon.
