RTW 2013 | The Glacier Express

 
Dubbed the slowest express train in the world, the Glacier Express takes the journey from St. Moritz to Zermatt (291km) in just under 8 hours, going over 291 bridges, 91 tunnels, and traversing the Oberalp Pass (2033m ASL). A good chunk of this is ascending and descending the Swiss Alps, so the train makes good use of its cogwheel, and employs a rack-and-pinion system for the steep grades over the Alps (just like the Bernina Express).

This was actually the train-ride that I was looking forward to the most, as I like snow, and getting the chance to see some glaciers in the Alps would be quite exciting. Of course, this was before I realized that the Bernina Express has similar views, as the Bernina Pass is also pretty snowy.

Anyways, the Glacier Express started off in St. Moritz and heads north to Chur first before turning west and going up into the mountains. Once again, we go over the Landwasser Viaduct and through the Albula tunnel before reaching Chur. At this point a german tour group joins the train and all hell breaks loose. Picture me, another asian couple, a drunk grandpa, and an Indian family surrounded by 40+ old german people.

It was nuts.

After they managed to settle down a bit, lunch was starting to get served. The waitress went around and got everyone’s drink order before running to the back to make sure they had enough beer. As you can imagine, old german people on a train and none of them are driving…well, let’s just say they weren’t ordering lemonade. I joined in as well (again, beer’s cheaper than water here), and was brought a bottle of the local stuff – Feldschlösschen, which reminded me of many other european pilsners (like Stella and Heineken). It went pretty well with the lunch.

Lunch was a three-course meal beginning with a mixed greens salad for the starter. The entrée, from what I could tell, was steamed veggies, some kind of grain (with more veggies), and pork with gravy. It was then capped off with a Swiss chocolate cake for dessert. It was decent for train/plane food, and was served in stages.

As lunch was coming to an end, we were approaching the Oberalp pass, which is the high point of the train journey. The train, at this point, was running on its cogwheel, and you can hear the grinding as the cog was keeping us going up at a 12-15% grade. As we got to the pass, it was an amazing sight. The pictures can’t do it justice as there’s always glare.

After the pass, we reached the town of Andermatt, at which point the german tour group disembarked. The train settled down again, and we were able to continue on in peace to Zermatt. At this point during the train ride, the glaciers and snow have now been replaced by green pastures and cows, which was a pleasant surprise. We were still deep in the Alps, but it’s nice to see greenery here.

When we reached Brig and Visp, the train had basically gotten down to ~5-600m ASL. However, in order to reach Zermatt, the train would once again need to rise to 1600m. The cogwheel kicked in again as we started to ascend the mountain toward Zermatt. It’s amazing to see random farmhouses and cabins up in the mountains, and there were even entire villages along the way, some on the edge of cliffs.

By the time we neared Zermatt, we were ducking in an out of tunnels. We first reached a small town of Täsch, which is the end of the road for cars. Zermatt is a car-free village, and cars must park at the avalanche-proof parking garage in Täsch and take the train in to Zermatt like everyone else. After the near-eight hour journey, we finally reached the Zermatt station, also avalanche-proofed (just in case).

Aside from the Beijing-Shanghai train-ride (which was in a sleeper cabin), this was definitely the longest I’ve ever spent on a train. It got tiring after a while just sitting there, and any chance I got I would either walk around a bit or, if the train was in station, step down for a few minutes to stretch my legs. It was definitely quite an experience though, and one I’m glad I took.

RTW 2013 | St. Moritz

St. Moritz is an upscale resort town in the Engadin valley that caters to folks that travel there to ski in the wintertime. Thanks to its location within the valley, St. Moritz has 300+ days a year of sunshine. The town has a wide range of activities, first and foremost being alpine skiing of course, but there are activities throughout the year. The regular british classic car get-together occurs here, along with the Cartier Polo World Cup on snow (played on the frozen Lake St. Moritz). There is even an annual boat match and it seems quite a few people are in town in the summer and fall for mountain biking.

When I got in town, I had a bit of déjà vu.  From the water-side resort feel to the hilly ascent to the hotel, I had the weird feeling I had been here before. At first, I couldn’t quite figure it out. Then, once I reached the lift, I realized it: this is the winter equivalent to Monaco! After depositing the luggage at the hotel, I decided to wander around the town a bit. The shops in town are fairly pricy, and bear a striking resemblance to the shopping in Monaco. The atmosphere is similar too – lots of pretty people driving around in fancy cars. The town buildings retain the characteristic of the stereotypical ski resort, and now that I think about it, it’s possible that a lot of nicer resorts in the states may be modeled after a town like St. Moritz (Vail and Squaw come to mind).

cresta run statue

Since I wasn’t here to do shopping or skiing, I decided to check out the local sights and take a walk around the lake before sunset. I went a few blocks from the hotel to the leaning tower of St. Moritz. Apparently it’s been around since the 12th century and was the tower to a church that has since been demolished. After checking out the tower, I moseyed on down the hill to see what was around.

St. Moritz does a good job of promoting the tourism that flows through town. All the information stations are marked clearly, there are escalators to get you up and down the hill, and there are centralized parking structures that can accommodate thousands of cars.

I ended up going for a stroll around the park. The info booth guy said it takes 1hr max around the lake, so I should have enough daylight to make the loop. I ended up taking pictures every 5min so I ended up pushing the outer bounds of that estimation. Of course, it was fortunate that I did, as a passing old lady pointed out one of the most amazing full moons I’ve ever seen (the picture doesn’t do it justice).

The search for dinner ended up being a bit harder than I thought. This being a resort town, and the fact that it’s in Switzerland, I was looking at roughly 30-50CHF for a meal, assuming that I wanted something other than what I could hobble together at a market with no access to a kitchen or, well, any utensils (also, by the time I got around the lake, the market had closed). I ended up at a restaurant close to where I was staying, and had a pretty good rösti, which is basically swiss hash browns with cheese and any regional additions (in this case, air-dried beef). The upside of Switzerland is that draft beer at any restaurant is either cheaper or the same as water or soda. The downside is that a plate of fancy hash browns will cost you 25CHF.

After dinner, I pretty much went back to the hotel and planned out the next day, which involves the Glacier Express and finding things to do in Zermatt in the late afternoon. On this trip, wifi has been crucial, cuz otherwise I’d be completely screwed in terms of finding things to do. Anyways, stay tuned for the next segment. =)

RTW 2013 | Tirano

I only had a few hours in Tirano, and since this train station didn’t have luggage lockers, I pretty much had to haul my luggage wherever I went. I ended up wandering around a bit near the train station. This town is really small (a few thousand in population) and is fairly touristy, mainly because it’s the meeting point between the Rhaetian Railway and Trenitalia.

Walking around town was fairly nice around lunchtime. It was funny, once I crossed the border into Italy, I can see the difference in culture between the Swiss and the Italians. The Swiss rail system is known for its timeliness, while the Italians have a more laid back, if it arrives today then kudos approach to almost everything. Even the restaurants and business seemed more relaxed. I tried to go to a bank to exchange some Euros, but the bank was closed for mid-day (noon-2:30pm – luckily the restaurant takes visa).

I ended up picking a restaurant that had a plethora of tripadvisor reviews, mainly because it was pretty close to the station and a lot of people on transfer could go grab a meal. In any case, the waitress was attentive, but also exuded a relaxed approach. The risotto was quite tasty and cooked perfectly. It had a bit too much cheese for my taste, but the cheese did make the risotto very creamy.

I also sampled the cappuccino, which was made very well. The foam seemed to stay even after stirring in cream and sugar. Just sitting roadside at an Italian café almost seemed to put me in a state of relaxation. Time seemed to slow down as I just watched people go about their daily lives. It was a pretty cool just hanging out for a while before my next train to St. Moritz.

RTW 2013 | Bernina Express

The Bernina Express is a scenic train that goes between Chur and Tirano over the Swiss Alps. The route is a UNESCO world heritage site, and gets tons of tourists each year. There’s also an option to continue on to Lugano from Tirano via bus.

This train ride was pretty cool because it takes you from the cool crisp air of Chur at 584m ASL to the freezing cold of the Bernina Pass at 2253m ASL, then back down to the nice mild weather of Tirano, Italy at 429m ASL. The train itself is geared toward tourists, and features panoramic cars with large windows and information over the speakers at key points. I ended up taking this train twice, as I went from Chur to Tirano, and then back from Tirano to St. Moritz. This way I can start in St. Moritz for the Glacier Express the following day.

this is what I mean by glare

The drawback to panoramic windows is that, since the windows are so large, the glare is ridiculous. On the ends of the cars in the luggage hold area there is a tiny window that opens, exposing the cold air. Pretty much all the serious photographers on each car were huddled in that luggage hold area trying to take a shot through the tiny window.

Landwasser Viaduct

Starting from Chur, the train trekked along the Albula line toward St. Moritz/Pontresina. The first main attraction along the way is the Landwasser Viaduct, which was a massive viaduct that was built without any scaffolding, and spans the Albula River. Right after that the train heads into the Albula tunnel, which is the highest subterranean alpine crossing in Europe.

After that segment, the train crosses over to the Bernina line, and makes the climb up through the Bernina Pass. At the peak, there is a white lake and a stop: Ospizio Bernina. Right by the stop is a small yellow sign labeled Wasserscheide (watershed). This is a monumental point in the Swiss Alps – it marks a European continental divide: From here, rivers flow either north (toward the Inn, Danube, and finally to the Black Sea) or south (to the Adriatic Sea via the Adda and Po Rivers). It also denotes a cultural divide. North of this pass is mostly German speaking. South of this pass is Italian speaking. In winter, when the train line was more susceptible to bad-weather closures, the remote Italian-speaking valley of Poschiavo was often cut off from Switzerland and turned itself toward its southern neighbor, the valley of Veltlin.

As the train descends to Tirano, it passes the Poschiavo valley and over the circular viaduct, apparently the only one of its kind in the world. This allows the train to climb or descend a sizeable amount in a short span. The train then makes its way into the valley where Tirano is.

On the way back north, I completely lucked out on having an empty car to myself. It was quite nice…I didn’t have to reach over anyone to snap a picture, and I had the freedom to play music and walk about the cabin more. It was pretty freeing. I was also about to take some better pictures and even capture video of the circular viaduct on the ascent.

All in all, the view from the train was breathtaking. I’m constantly amazed at the beauty of this country, as pretty much everywhere you look there’s tall trees and beautiful snow-capped mountains. Sometimes I wonder how Swiss people ever manage to move from this place.

RTW 2013 | Chur

Nestled in the east, Chur is a small town that sits on the Rhine River, and is a good transfer point for going west to Zermatt or going south to Italy via the Bernina Pass. The town is the capital of the Swiss canton Graubünden and is also known as the oldest town in Switzerland.

I pretty much came straight to Chur after landing in Zurich, as I wanted the opportunity to walk around a bit before knocking out early (jet lag is no bueno). The main reason I wanted to visit Chur is because this is also the starting point of the southbound Bernina Express down to the northern part of Italy (Tirano). The journey here from Zurich was only 1.5 hours, but the two are worlds apart. Pretty much once we left Zurich, it went from industrial city to farmland with sheep and happy cows.

My first impression of Chur was…where is everyone?? The town isn’t very big, and there aren’t many people out on the streets. The people that are out are very friendly though, and cars will always wave a pedestrian through. Just walking through the streets, there is quite a lot of Swiss pride going on. It’s possible that it’s due to being in a tourist area, but in general, I see a lot of Swiss crosses everywhere, and the flag is prevalent in most areas.

My hotel was in old town Chur on Poststrasse, and it was an incredible area to bum around in. I was able to just sit at a café and enjoy an espresso sitting on the side of the street. For dinner I ended up picking up some cheese, prosciutto, and bread at a local supermarket and bringing it to the Kornplatz to enjoy in the late afternoon before sundown. Right next to the Kornplatz, I found a little park area with a climbing structure and built in trampolines…pretty cool!

enough for lunch tomorrow too!

Kornplatz

Trampolines!!

I think if I ever came back to Switzerland, this would be a place I’d be interesting in revisiting. It’s a nice serene town and the pace of life is very relaxing. It’s a lot of happy people that seem to enjoy their lives.