Schaan part 2

Now.. where was I? It has been an especially active couple of days and I've got sooo much to write about but today I'm just going to take a breather and upload the rest of my pics from around Schaan.

Schaan is very easy to reach by train.

Apart from Ivoclar, the other big name in Liechtenstein is Hilti. They seem to own.. just about everything these days.

A street on the Kulturweg (I think.. the signs were not very clear as to when you were on the Kuturweg or had gone astray!)

The Kulturweg signs that one is supposed to follow..

Another view of the Ivoclar factory

The bus depot. This is a lift that goes down to the underground parking.

Cafe/bar that is right beside the Rathaus (town hall)

Art in the main street, right outside the Denner supermarket

La Golosa Italian cafe/bar/ice cream shop - yummy gelato, great espresso and friendly service.

Inside La Golosa

One of the many 'fountains' (?) around Schaan. Most are suitable for drinking from - they are marked 'trinkwasser'

Ancient Alemannic arm bracelet in a cabinet on the Kulturweg

Please drive slowly, this is also a 'school way'!

Recycling is very big in Liechtenstein and in Switzerland. Here you must put different colours of glass into the specific bin.

Another watering hole. Really nice on a mega-hot day.

Art of the side of the Ivoclar building

Little gardens. I'm not sure if these are a community project, or personal gardens.

On the Kulturweg - under the case is an ancient roman road. It was impossible to take a photo through the glass though!

Schaan 1 (part 2 tomorrow)

Here are some pics I've taken in my walks around Schaan, which is the most populated town in Liechtenstein.

The town is overlooked by the steeple of the St Laurentius church, which may or may not be featured against an impressive mountainous backdrop, depending on the weather.

 The last few days have been cloudy and with thunderstorms. Watching lightning fizzle around the Alps is better than any manmade lightshow.

Here are some more pics from my wanderings. 

Residential housing (if you are hearing 'the sound of music' playing in your brain, that's totally ok, and completely appropriate):

The Theatre Am Kirchplatz (TAK):

Camels and zebras - apparently not locals; there was a visiting circus:

The Waldorf School

Shops:

Today, I finally made it to the best coffee shop in town - Demmel Kaffee (you may recall from this post, that The Programmer and I loved their espresso cups so much that we bankrupted our travel budget to own some.

What could be better? No matter which side of the world I'm on, it's a guaranteed happy moment if I'm sitting in front of a great espresso in an actual roasterie. Not only that, but the owner, Peter, who has met me exactly once and speaks good English, welcomed me like a long-lost friend, and set me up in a window seat so I could re-caffeinate, watch the world go by and feel good about life.

Travel Food

Halli Hallo, yes, that's a very delicious pic, oder? One of my favourite things about travel is encountering the foods of a different place or culture. Even the simple task of supermarket shopping becomes full of wonder and excitement.  I always want to try everything. I'll be posting later on Sanaworld about how I do this without letting my ass get enormous.

Some of my most loved foodie things about this part of the world are: pastries (as above) and bread - things which do not feature heavily in my regular life. The variety in the Liechtenstein-Switzerland area is astounding and they are fresh baked every day in the Bäkerei and most supermarkets.  With the bread particularly, there is a treasure chest of organic and wheat-free varieties, as well as traditionally fermented. I was musing over Dunkelbrot (mm.. I wonder what this one is made of..?), when Miss J grabbed it from my hand, placed it in the trolley and said 'that means dark bread, you will like it, can we go now?' I believe I may have been loitering past the patience level of a 5-and-a-half year old.

Other favourites I have become reacquainted with this week:

90% Lindt. You just can't get this in NZ. I will be bringing a bunch of it home with me, including some for a Sanaworld blog giveaway.

Bircher Muesli in a pot:

Organic yogurts and quark. You can get organic yogurt in NZ, but the selection is limited. Cherry is oh-so-yum. Organic quark is not something I have seen in my homeland at all. Even getting non-organic quark is a little difficult sometimes:

I also found coloured eggs, which I've never seen before. They are pre-hardboiled, for picnics in the alps and so on.

I was also once again awed by the processed meats selection. This photo represents about 1/4 of the chilled area devoted to all things salami, prosciutto and kaiserfleish in the local Coop. Meats and cheeses are a very big deal in this region, far more so than I ever noticed in other parts of Europe.

The local sodium consumption must be off the charts.

Today my plans include walking the Kulturweg, which takes in the arty parts of Schaan, which is the most populated town in Liechtenstein and, according to tourismus.li, the most cultured. I'm sure today will also contain quite a bit of German language cartoon watching, bike riding, food cooking and caffe trinken in the sun. Can't complain... :)