Saturday, July 24, 2010

Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein, located in the Swiss Alps of western Europe, is either a hilariously tiny nation or a really enormous studio apartment, depending on how you look at it. I think that's one of those glass-half-full/glass-half-empty things. The official demonym for residents of Liechtenstein is Liechtensteiner, but I wouldn't worry too much about remembering that because there are only about 35,000 of them, and even if you do eventually happen to meet one, you can get some pretty hilarious reactions out of them by continually referring to them as Germans, regardless of how many times they correct you. Like neighboring Switzerland, Liechtenstein remained officially neutral during World War II. This came as a huge relief to the Nazis, who were ill-equipped to fight an alpine war against an imaginary army. Today, Liechtenstein has the highest GDP per person in the world, and an unemployment rate of, well, apparently there are only 209 unemployed people in all of Liechtenstein. Imagine being one of the 209 unemployed people in your entire country. That's gotta be depressing.

Vaduz Castle, where the Prince of Liechtenstein probably makes all kinds of super-important decisions.

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