Photos

Dear friends and family,

Achoo…oh excuse me, well, there goes Liechtenstein . This tiny principality wedged between Austria and Switzerland is well, small. Fit only for a lunch stop by Contiki standards, but I say Vaduz has more to offer than a wonderful looking castle atop a hill where the royal family lives. And gosh darn it! The crowned prince of Liechtenstein is already married! So my hopes of marrying a strong man (a dictator) is once again dashed. I missed out on Prince Albert in Monaco and now the cute prince from Liechtenstein is already hitched! No to worry, I heard the crown prince of Greece is still available. Hmmmm Greece…didn’t I just say Greece had plumbing problems?! Let me think about that some more…h aha ha ha ha

Some of you are not familiar with my true mission of this trip. No, it is not primarily to experience the old culture of Europe, and it is not secondary to see places I haven’t seen, it is not thirdly to give myself the space and time to get to know myself better…to find out what stuff I am made of…no…I came to Europe to seek out my destiny. I am to marry a dictator, kill him off and rule the land myself. Ha ha ha ha ha ..I think I sniffed way too much glue in grade school and only now are my psychosis showing… ha ha ha… I believe having met and shook hands with Imelda Marcos ruined my values for life! See when I was a young impressionable girl of 12, I won a writing contest in school. I believe it was the regional features or essay writing contest and as a prize we were asked to go to Malacanang Palace and have the First Lady award us the prize. Well, for a stringy, short girl like me, Imelda looked tall with her coiffed hair and huge butterfly sleeved dress! She became my hero! And when she left all her shoes…I cried! She had the same shoe size as me! Oh boy…gotta stop now…dangerous territory.

Vaduz. Again, small, they use the Swiss franc as currency and Italian wines aplenty. According to the guide books Liechtenstein offers some of the world’s most elaborate stamps. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see a post office while on our lunch (so I failed to purchase one for you Grace, sorry!). And since the whole of Europe is on the EU already, passports are no longer stamped. Not so in Liechtenstein. For a nominal fee you can purchase that passport stamp. How very entrepreneurial of the royal family, aye?!

Achoo… there goes Liechtenstein!

I am Mary Grace, still in pursuit of her destiny!

Oct 16, 1999