Liechtenstein

College road trip! Robert, Raquel, and I drove from the University of Michigan to Purdue University earlier this week. Knowing that one of the largest Liechtensteiner communities in the United States is in Wabash, Indiana and that we would drive right through it, I spent a significant amount of time the night before searching the Internet for a relevant restaurant in Wabash, then any kind of Liechtensteiner business in Wabash, then anywhere in Indiana, then in the Chicago area where we would be the next day. Nothing.

So failing to find a restaurant, tonight I invited Gladys, Joanie, Lidia, and Laurie over, and I made schnitzel, kasknofle (the Liechtensteiner version of macaroni and cheese), and apfelmus (homemade apple sauce). The two kinds of honey I ordered from Latvia (forest honey and meadow honey) came in yesterday and I decided that both countries being in Europe, it was close enough to also serve with some lovely dark bread and fresh butter. Here are the recipes I used, and just a warning, kasknofle is hard to make. Give yourself extra time or buy some premade pasta to use in the recipe. I wasn’t sure that homemade apple sauce would be worth it, but it was delicious! https://www.internationalcuisine.com/about-food-and-culture-of-liechtenstein/

What are more of the Liechtensteiner online options? They include a prince who talks with American YouTubers about rice and a writer who refuses to talk about writing but will sing for her interview. Most of my usual sources don’t have anything on Liechtenstein, but please come with me anyway to this beautiful country where they know how to ski and thus have more Olympic metals per capita than any other nation.

Let’s start with the prince who talks with American YouTubers about rice. Kara and Nate are travel influencers who have been to one hundred countries. They planned their trip to Liechtenstein to coincide with the yearly party at the castle and they met the prince! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20SgSrWjm1A

The writer who refuses to talk about writing, but sings for her interview is Iren Nigg. She has quite a personality! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAQXRSS7h0k

Ann Morgan struggled to find a book to read from Liechtenstein and ended up reading Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer. I’ll let her explain: https://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/2012/08/24/liechtenstein-the-long-way-round/

Even the Los Angeles County Library had slim pickings. I found:

· The Rhine by Ben Coates (the source of the Rhine is in Liechtenstein, and they get perhaps 10% of the book)

· Secrets of the Seven Smallest States of Europe by Thomas Eccardt (there’s some interesting history here about how Liechtenstein kept its independence, and this book will come in useful again for upcoming Luxembourg)

There are so many physical activities in Liechtenstein! I enjoyed the interview with Tina Weirather about skiing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfL_ncOu_PA I also watched several hiking videos about Liechtenstein on YouTube but didn’t find any that I loved. My friend Barb went to Liechtenstein on a motorcycle trip in 2001. She said the tour of the Alps was too much for her riding skills at the time and she has no idea how she survived, but she has taken more tours with the same service since then, so it seems she enjoyed it! https://www.edelweissbike.com/en/

Great places to visit in Liechtenstein are listed here https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-liechtenstein/ I also explored the official webpage https://www.liechtenstein.li/en and the tourism page https://tourismus.li/en/

I would love to go to Liechtenstein! I look forward to that time when we can travel broadly again. In the meantime, I’m hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Liechtenstein and throughout the world.

Photo credit: Henrique Ferreira https://unsplash.com/photos/4CKnbVZ4Tew