The World Wide Webb

There had been clear blue skies in Feldkirch over the weekend, but things had changed suddenly overnight with the rain clouds appearing and the temperature dropping by about ten degrees. It was therefore a very grey train ride from Feldkirch to Zurich, but I did still enjoy the views of Lake Zurich for the final miles of the journey. On arrival in Zurich, the first thing that struck me is that the train station is huge and very busy - it took me a while to find the luggage lockers to store my rucksack for the day. I had about four hours in Zurich before my next train, so I had planned a walking route to take in lots of the key sights of the city. I started to walk down the right side of the river, stopping for a cuppa on my way, and doing various AdLabs as I went. I walked down Bahnhofstrasse, which is the big (and seemingly rather expensive!) shopping street, but my first significant stop was Lindenhof Hill, where there is a park and views over the city. Not far from Lindenhof is one ...

Austria really seems to take chilling on Sundays seriously, with most things being closed. I decided to embrace this spirit a bit, partly to try to shake the lingering LLL (an LLLL?). So, it was a leisurely breakfast and some time doing the Sporcle Sunday Crossword and various word games on my phone. I then headed into the town centre of Feldkirch, using an AdLab to guide me to lots of the most important sights. There are lots of old buildings and cobbled streets, making it the perfect place for a Sunday stroll. My main intended stop was the Schattenburg - the old castle that is now a museum. The castle was built in around 1200, so it really is pretty old. Sadly for my legs, they had already had the idea to put castles on hills by then. The views were good though! The museum was really interesting - with loads of artefacts to learn about. Grandpa would have loved the clocks. My favourite find was a cannon-like instrument for sending ‘warning or greeting shots.’ I’m not sure how I feel ...

Annoyingly the LLL (low level lurgi, for those who haven’t learnt my lingo yet) was very much still with me today, but nothing was going to stop me achieving a long-held ambition to visit Liechtenstein. After a quick breakfast (I may have pressed snooze on my alarm a few times), I found the bus conveniently right outside my hotel. There is no train station actually in Vaduz, Liechtenstein’s capital city, so I enjoyed a nice Alpine bus journey instead. It would be fair to say that Vaduz does not give capital city vibes - which is probably unsurprising given that it has a population of under 6000 people - but it does have a Postal museum, which perhaps unsurprisingly, was the first place I went. Essentially the free museum was just an opportunity to admire lots of historical stamps. There were many that I enjoyed - these are some of my favourites: I did then choose a postcard to send to my Global Politics class at Haileybury - imagine my frustration when the cashier put the stamp on upsi...

I said goodbye to Pontresina this morning and very much enjoyed my (downhill!) walk to the station. There were cute squirrels and lovely scenery. It was then a two hour train ride to Chur. The scenery continued to be spectacular - it was just mile after mile of beautiful Alpine views. I made a slightly last minute decision to stop for a few hours in Chur. I have been struggling a bit with a LLL (low level lurgi), but had heard good things about Chur, so decided to leave my pack in left luggage and explore Switzerland’s oldest city. It has been pretty hot today (about 30C) so I really just had a wander around. Geocaching was tricky with descriptions and hints in German, but I did find one near a restaurant that looked nice, so stopped there for a yummy lunch or Rosti and a smoked venison sausage. After lunch, I walked through the old part of the town. I would be fascinated to learn more about the history, as there clearly is a LOT in the city. I went to visit the cathedral, which was ni...