Spring break snuck up on us. We were so concerned with other weekend excursions and day trips that we pushed off planning for spring break, thinking it was farther away than it was. Next thing we knew, spring break was a week, and we hardly had any plans.
Colette, Lindsay, and I sat down after class one day and hashed it out in a few hours: destinations, transportation, and lodging. Here’s the breakdown: Freiburg, Zurich, Vaduz, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna – six cities in four countries in ten days.
Leg One (Thursday, April 4 – Friday, April 5)
We kicked off spring break with our favorite thing – an overnight FlixBus. (Technically it began with a 2-hour train to Hannover, where our FlixBus departed from.) Train rides are great; FlixBus rides are not (see Paris trip). Thankfully, it was but a quick 9-hour jaunt.
I slept on and off, trying not to bump the random guy next to me. He eventually moved seats and I slept a little better, but it still wasn’t enough. The Bundespolizei (federal police) boarded our bus and checked everyone’s identification (even though we weren’t crossing any borders?!). We kept up our tradition of joking around until we were face-to-face with the officers.
We arrived at in Freiburg around 08:30 on Friday. We got lost while finding our AirBnB, but we found it. After dropping off our bags, we headed to Niederhausen, a sleepy little town where Colette’s oldest known relatives are from. We found a cemetery with beautiful landscaping and headstones; Colette recognized many of the family names from her genealogy research.
We missed the train back to Freiburg, so we had to wait half an hour. (For future reference: when in a tiny little town, get on the train that everyone else does.) Back in Freiburg, we headed to the Altstadt. Our stomachs were growling, so we got lunch at La Piazza and I had the best hot chocolate I’ve had in Europe.
Freiburg’s Altstadt is lined with cobblestone streets and pastel façades, all while nestled in the Black Forest What skyrockets Freiburg’s charm are its famous Bächle. Bächle are a system of small channels that run along streets, flowing with water diverted from the river Dreisam, which is supposed to provide a cooling effect in Germany’s sunniest city. In the summer, children often race little sailboats down the channels.
We didn’t do much except walk around, which is the best way to see a city in my opinion. We visited the Münster cathedral; I had no idea that it was so beautiful! It sits diagonally in the square, so all you see is its spire when facing it directly. Under the arch before the door, there were colorful statues of saints. High arched ceilings lead to the altar, the lightest part of the church. Stained glass windows were on either side of the pews. The Münster comes in second as my favorite cathedral, just barely behind the Kölner Dom.
After the cathedral, we wandered some more and found the old city gates, the campus of Albert Ludwig University, a thrift store, and a real bougie bookstore. For dinner, we picked up cans of soup at a grocery store and heated them up in the microwave back at our AirBnB. We also bought bread and peanut butter for Saturday’s lunch. We were pretty tired, so we turned in for the night.
Leg Two (Saturday, April 6)
05:00 came too soon. Our bus was late, but we still made it to Zurich on schedule. Once we deboarded, we realized we had no idea where we were. There was a Starbucks nearby, so we bought drinks and used their WiFi to create the following game plan: Step One: Get Swiss Francs; Step Two: Take tram to hostel; Step Three: Store luggage in hostel lockers; Step Four: Do things in Zurich.
At the hostel, Colette picked up a map for Free Walk Zurich, which became Step Four. The free walking tour hit the highlights and provided more historical background than we would have gotten ourselves. Our guide took to us stops through the Altstadt, on Lindenhofplatz (the view was stunning!!), along the Limmat River, ending at the Großmünster, one of four major churches in Zurich. The church was pretty, but fairly plain as European churches go. The stained-glass windows were a unique feature, as each one was done in a different style. We ate our sandwiches on a bench outside the church, before heading to another important church, the Frauenmünster.
The Frauenmünster has an interesting history. It was built by Louis the German for his daughter on the remains of an abbey that was founded in 853, and he granted the convent with land and immunity. In 1045, it was given economic power over Zurich, essentially making the abbess its ruler. The abbess remained a powerful figure for nearly 300 years. The church also is home to the Chagall windows, 5 stained glass works of art created by Marc Chagall, which were installed in the choir in 1970. Each depicts a Bible story with a dominant color. They were beautiful; unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures, so you’ll have to take my word for it.
We made our way back to our hostel, stopping for pick-me-up refreshments at Joe and the Juice, a hipster juice bar. After check-in, we relaxed before Colette and Lindsay went to Mass. I met up with them an hour later for dinner. We went to Tschingg, a pasta place. It was tasty though pricey (as everything is in Zurich), and the pasta came in a box! We sat outside and got surprised by a marching band with group of people in period costumes.
It was still light out after dinner, so we walked along the river to Lake Zurich. Mountains in the distance, blue water dotted with boats and swans, it was unbelievable. Zurich is one of the prettiest cities in Europe. I was sad to only stay one day there (but my wallet wasn’t).
Leg Three (Sunday, April 9)
Today, we woke up in Zurich but we would fall asleep in München, after traveling through two other countries. Europe, man.
Today was the day – the day that I would visit Liechtenstein. Here’s some backstory: Sophomore year of college, I did a presentation on Liechtenstein in my German class. Since then, I have been obsessed with the tiny principality. With an area of only 61 square miles and a population of 37,810, it is the fourth smallest country in Europe. However, it has one of the highest GDP per person in the WORLD! Yet it’s so SMALL! It has no military; its only law enforcement is the 125-employee national police force, yet it has one of the lowest crime rates in tHE WORLD. You also can rent the entire country through AirBnB (though no one has done it yet).
While its size is what makes the principality unique, unfortunately that also makes it impossible to enter. When planning the trip, we couldn’t purchase tickets to and from Vaduz ahead of time. We bought our inbound tickets through the Swiss transportation app; we took an IC train (so fancy) to the Swiss border and then we rode a bus that just casually drives across international borders into Vaduz.
When we first arrived, we were unsure – the city was basically a ghost town. It was Sunday; most restaurants and businesses are closed. We did some wandering, found the church, but Mass was going on, so we didn’t go inside. We also had our luggage with us; it was going to be a looong day if we had to carry it around with us. We stopped at the tourist information, asked about lockers (yes, at the bus station) and got a map.
After stowing our things, we hiked to Vaduz Castle, the resident of the current prince of Liechtenstein. The weather was wonderful – sunny but not too hot (this day would end up being the warmest day of spring break). The views were fantastic; we could see over the city surrounded by the Alps. The castle itself was neat, but unfortunately, it's closed for visitors.
When we returned from the hike, the city was more alive. We ate burgers outside, before going inside the church and touring the post museum. The post museum was interesting (and free). I had no clue how complicated stamp issuing and collecting could be! If I remember correctly, stamps made up a decent portion (20%?) of Liechtenstein’s national income for a while.
Then we had to figure out how to leave Liechtenstein to get to München. It involved bus to a train station in Austria and several trains within Bavaria. It was confusing; our tickets didn't list specific train numbers – we’d just get one and hope for the best. Five hours later we arrived in München; I didn’t realize how excited I would be to be back!
In Part II, I will detail our adventures in München, Salzburg, and Vienna.