Day 18 /// Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland
October 15, 2020
Smallest Country of the Trip: Liechtenstein
Greeting the day in Linz, we decided we had to try some Linzer Torte, the first desert associated with a geographic place in history, but we were frankly underwhelmed. We explored the medieval city and had a brief meeting with a previous work colleague at a large CDMO that was acquired by a very large integrated pharma services supplier. We then left Austria behind and proceeded to Munich, Germany, a very impressive modern city that notably includes an English garden where the Eisbach, a small man-made channel of the Isar River has become a popular destination for river surfing.
Recalling Germany’s early success in containing COVID-19, we were quite surprised by the low level of mask wearing that we observed in Munich, which may explain the recent surges in cases in the country.
We made a stop in Vaduz in the German-speaking principality of Liechtenstein, but we had been unable to arrange any meetings in the tiny microstate, making it one of only two countries where we came up empty. We then proceeded to Zürich, Switzerland.
