WEDNESDAY, August 24, 2011
Got up before 0600 and was out of the hotel shortly after that for a two hour walk through Riga’s old city. My goal was to find and take pictures of the building housing the national parliament, the “Saeimas”. The early morning was clear, sunny and cool (temperature was in the high 50s F). I found the Saeimas; across the street from it was Riga’s Roman Catholic cathedral, St. Jakob’s (or St. James in English), established in 1225; after the first Latvian independence in the 1923, this church was given back to the Roman Catholic church by the Latvian Lutherans, who had held services there for four centuries (since 1523); the Lutherans declared Riga’s ancient “Dom” as their cathedral; it is celebrating its 800th anniversary this year.
Pictures of Riga’s old town taken on 8/22 and 8/24 are found here:
http://pangborn76.smugmug.com/Other/...846626_8f28XtW
I had another very filling breakfast at the downstairs buffet, and then it was time to check-out and head for the airport.
Pictures of various things outside Riga’s old town taken on 8/22 and 8/24 are found here:
http://pangborn76.smugmug.com/Other/...895675_bXkSKCD
I left for the airport around 0945, a little later than I had hoped, to catch Air Baltic’s flight 641 to Zürich, Switzerland. I took Line 22 operated by the local bus company (Rigas Satiksme). The stop was fairly convenient to the Hotel Riga, maybe 600 yards away along January 13th street. The fare was reasonable, LVL 0.70 ($1.41). The bus arrived at about 1000, we crossed the Daugava and headed through some neighborhoods, driving through an industrial park adjacent to the airport, and by an aviation museum featuring a MiG. I was inside the terminal by 1020. Air Baltic maintains check-in kiosks near the front windows of the terminal, and I was able to operate it without a hitch; the bag drop off line had only a few people in it. By contrast, the line for people needing to check in was at least 30 minutes long. I was finished with check-in and bag drop in 15 minutes; security was a breeze also; and I was airside. Airside looked pretty modern; there were a few duty-free type places. I wasn’t hungry or thirsty, so I wasn’t looking for a restaurant or bar.
Our flight used a bus gate, B10, and the first bus out to the airplane (with me on it) left around 1140. The equipment was a B737-36Q, YL-BBX, first flight having taken place on August 14, 1999, plane originally owned by Deutsche BA, which became “Fly DBA”; this airline was bought out by Air Berlin; and Air Berlin sold the airplane to Air Baltic on April 30, 2008. A majority of Air Baltic shares are owned by the Latvian government; with the rest owned by management. It is not part of any airline alliance at the moment; Air Baltic operates its own loyalty program called “Baltic Miles” (which I could have earned through my bus rides on Lux Express). Anyhow, the second bus load of passengers arrives, and the door closes around 1205. There is a three row business class up front; it does not appear that anyone is sitting there. However, the rest of the flight is just about packed to the gunwales; I counted 5 empty seats in coach (I think there were something like 132 seats in Y).
Pictures of the Riga airport are here:
http://pangborn76.smugmug.com/Other/...904974_zpr2Ldt
A one way ticket purchased 7 days in advanced cost €84, plus €20 fee for one checked bag. Not bad for a flight that will cover 1,480 kilometers (920 miles). Zürich is on a bearing of 231° from Riga. We have a quick taxi to the other end of the airport (Riga has one runway, 18-36), and take off from runway 18 at about 1215 EET. I think the captain estimated the time enroute at 2 hours 20 minutes. I’m not sure what route we flew, but a look at a map of Europe indicated that Gdansk, Dresden and Nuremburg were pretty close to the straight line between RIX and ZRH. Air Baltic operates like Ryanair, in that all snacks and drinks on board were for sale, there were no seatback pockets, and the FAs made two passes through the cabin with duty-free carts. One touch on Air Baltic that I have not seen on Delta or the other USA carriers is in the lav, where there is a supply of “room perfume”. We touched down at ZRH at about 1330 CET, and taxied to a gate, parking by 1340. The first bags take about 20 minutes to reach the carousel (Air Baltic allowed for a 35 minute turn to go back to RIX). Mine comes off about 5 minutes after that, and I’m off for Liechtenstein.
There is a decent sized "Co-op" grocery store on the same level as the ticket counters for the Swiss Federal Railway (SBB/CFF/FFS), and I bought a picnic for my train ride there. Approaching the ticketing area, I have two choices: the ticket windows have a line of about 50 people; and there are automatic ticketing machines. I go for the machines. They don't accept my credit cards, which are not of the "chip and pin" type. However, they accept both Euro and Swiss Franc notes. A round trip ticket to Sargans, the gateway to Liechtenstein, costs CHF68, which I paid for with Euro notes, and got change back in Swiss coins. There turned out to be one problem with my ticket--even though I paid the full 2d class fare, my ticket was only good for travel on the 24th (I learned this from the conductor on the Zurich HB-Sargans leg of the trip).
There have to be somewhere between 8-10 trains per hour that connect ZRH with Zurich's "Hauptbahnhof" (HB); I make a train that leaves at about 1415, and reaches the HB 10 minutes later. An Inter-city express train with Sargans as its first stop and Chur as its destination is waiting on Gleis (track) 5 with departure at 1437. The car I'm in is a double decker, and I go upstairs and get four facing seats to myself. I'm not sure whether there is a prettier ride along a major rail line anywhere. As it turns out, the line leading east out of Zurich and along the south side of the lakes of Zurich and Walen is the main line between Zurich and Vienna, and there are lots of trains on it, both passenger and freight, express and locals. We reach Sargans 54 minutes later, at 1531.
Because the conductor told me that my ticket was not good for travel back to Zurich on the 25th, I went into the ticket office at Sargans station, where a very friendly lady issued me a new ticket for travel on the 25th, at no additional charge. The moral of the story is that, if you are traveling like I did, just buy a one way ticket; and then buy another one way ticket on the day you wish to travel; better yet, stay in Switzerland for a few days in order to take advantage of the Swiss passes allowing for unlimited rail and bus travel.
Pictures of what I saw along the railway are found here:
http://pangborn76.smugmug.com/Other/...066407_9dwFzmG
I had reserved a room through the site booking.com at the Hotel zum Ritterhof, advertised as 200 meters from the Sargans station. As it turns out, the hotel was just beyond the end of the platform on the north side of the tracks, and I found it easily. A young lady was the manager of the hotel, which contained a small restaurant and bar, and she checked me in. The rate was CHF60. The hotel was small, maybe 16 guest rooms; my room had a sink and shower, but the WC was across the hall. I may have been the only guest on my floor. By 1600 I was back at the station, where I caught a Swiss bus bound for Buchs, the Swiss town closest to the Liechtenstein capital of Vaduz. The one way fare was CHF 6.80; clearly, the only way to ride Swiss buses is to buy an all day ticket. We reached Buchs, maybe 10 miles north, in 25 minutes; I was just in time to catch the iridescent yellow Liechtenstein Bus bound for Vaduz. I did buy an all day pass on the Liechtenstein Bus system (which runs between Sargans and Feldkirch, Austria and covers pretty much all the paved roads in Liechtenstein) for CHF 12.
Maybe a mile east of the Buchs bus station we reach the bridge over the Rhine, and we unassumedly enter into Fürstentums Liechtenstein (Principality of Liechtenstein). There is actually a railway station at Schaan (the rail route between Zurich and Vienna runs on the tracks next to it), but there are few if any services that actually stop there, so the public bus is the best way to travel in the principality. Liechtenstein looked like many semi-rural mountain valley areas in the Germanic portions of Europe; it was pretty and delightful, but nothing special out of the ordinary--that is, if you don't take into consideration all of the banks that are located there. No, the banks aren't arrayed like American branch banks along a suburban strip, but mainly are located discreetly in the low rise office buildings that line the main road. After a few minutes I alight from the bus in beautiful downtown Vaduz (population 5,000), the capital. I find the national parliament, the Landtag, as well as the national cathedral, St. Florian's. Perched on the mountain above is the Schloss Vaduz, the home of the Prince, the head of the House of Liechtenstein, who bought the 160 sq. km making up today's country so that they could have a seat in the court of the Habsburg Empire. It was a beautiful afternoon, with temperatures hovering around 80F.
I walked around for a bit, and by 1830, I was hungry again, and found myself standing outside the Gasthaus Au, at the south outskirts of Vaduz. The biergarten is situated under a delightful shade tree, and I find an empty table, resting my aching bones . A couple of minutes later I am enjoying a mug of golden goodness produced by Liechtensteiner Brauhaus. A radio is playing an old local folk tune, "Surfin' USA" by the Beach Boys. I enjoyed my first beer so much that I ordered a second, and then ordered the bratwurst plate with some kartoffeln. Nice little place to stop and enjoy a beer and a snack.
Pictures of my cameo appearance in Liechtenstein are found here:
http://pangborn76.smugmug.com/Other/...090073_BVgMms8
Back on the bus, I get back to Sargans at dusk, and head up to my room. I think I've done enough touring for one day.