This past weekend Zurich hosted their annual "Love Festival”. This street parade is actually a huge European trance - techno costume party. There are “love” floats pumping trance into the crowd with scantily clad women hanging from stripper poles. To say the streets are filled with hedonistic party goers is an UNDERSTATEMENT. People with the equitant of a washcloth (if that) covering their unmentionables. My delicate sensibilities were definitely offended. I would categorize the costumes into (3) basic categories: 1.) Neon fairy whore, 2.) Jungle - leopard whore, or the 3.) the sexy police officer. Group costumes are also very common. My group decided to dress up as "Uncle Sam's". It was overwhelming the amount of positive feedback we received from the happy crowd. Many Swiss and German's stopped us for a picture. The city allows people to drink openly in the street and after about 2 hours you were standing on a layer of trash. We stayed for about 3 1/2 hours which was about 2 hours to long:) Although the official parade begins at 1pm and finishes at 10pm, the entire weekend is dedicated to parties and good times. On average just under a million people line the streets to dance and go bananas.
After the Street Parade we headed to Liechtenstein a small country with an estimated population of 35,000. It is a landlocked alpine microstate in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over 160 km² (about 61.7 square miles). Its capital is Vaduz; the biggest town is Schaan. Liechtenstein has the highest gross domestic product per person in the world according to the CIA World Factbook. Why on earth would we go to Liechtenstein you ask???? Well August 15th is their national holiday with a open bar happy hour at the crown Prince's castle. The reception is held in the royal gardens where fruit, pretzels, sandwiches, and beer are all served in abundance. During the reception the Prince shakes hands with his visitors. How cool is that?
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