The three-country run

Had a great time at the baths in Baden-Baden, then hopped on a train--or rather, two trains and a bus--for Liechtenstein. Checked in to our hostel, an official Hostelling International place, which means that you have to pay an extra membership fee, but aren't allowed to use the kitchen, are surrounded by third-grade school groups, and there's no internet.

Our primary goal in visiting Liechtenstein, other than checking off another country on our Facebook maps, was to complete a three-country run. Our hostel in Schaan was only about two miles from the Swiss border, and not much farther from the Austrian one, so we were hoping to do a ten-mile run that crossed both borders.

Our plan was foiled twice, first by the loudest snorer we have met so far on this trip, who kept our entire hostel dorm awake all night and, as a result, kept us from running early in the morning. And second, by the rain. When we set off on our run in the evening, the temperature was perfect, and we made it to the Swiss border with no problems, admiring the mountains in all directions. As we headed for Austria, the mountains to the west disappeared behind gray sheets of rain. We kept running for a little bit, thinking we might beat it, but since we had brought the camera along to document the run, we eventually decided to turn back. We ended up doing a couple of cold miles through the rain to get home.

Since leaving Liechtenstein, we visited Munich for a couple days, and stayed with our friend Annette (whom we also stayed with in Lausanne--now that's a friend!). I should add that if our last post sounded especially smart, it's because we typed it in the epigenetics center at Ludwig Maximilians Universitat in Munich, where Annette works. We spent two days admiring the mountains in Berchtesgaden, and traveled to Salzburg, Austria. I'm sure Kelly will have some highlights to add later, but she's sleeping and I wanted to bring us up to date.