I read about the Glacier Express a couple months ago and had been wanting to climb aboard ever since. However, seven and a half hours on a train (and that's just one way) is not something that I was anxious to do by myself. So when Car and Shan and I were planning our whirlwind tour of Switzerland, we thought, why the hell not take a train through glaciers in the middle of winter?
And since the train ride officially starts in Zermatt, we figured it was the perfect excuse to see the Matterhorn in all its glory before taking the epic train ride across the country. And epic it was! My handy dandy brochure expertly outlines the train ride adventure, so here you have it:
The highlights include the imposing Rhine gorge, the mountain lakes in the 2033 meter high Oberlap pass, and the views of the 'Valais 4000s'. . . The daring route of the train line in the Albula valley, the 291 bridges, the 91 tunnels, and last but not least the viaducts make up what is still regarded as a masterpiece of railway technology.
Masterpiece? Umm, yes. With panoramic windows that allow you to literally see the sky above you. Not a single view is lost. Well, that is unless everything is covered in a thick duvet of snow. At times, it honestly felt like we were taking a train ride through some deserted part of Greenland or Antarctica. Even though everything we passed was white, it was absolutely breathtaking.
And in typical American fashion, we had plenty of things to keep us busy along the route including a deck of cards, cameras, snacks, chocolate powder and amaretto (ingenious, I tell you!), and two very nice Brazilian boys that we met the night before at out hostel in Zermatt (they decided to forgo a day trip to Bern and took the train with us instead). The trip was long, indeed, but thankfully the weather was spectacular, and the company, well, it was just about as good as it could get. Ooo! And I almost forgot to mention the most important thing! Every time the "doooong!" went off (that's code for some annoying electronic sound over the intercom), we'd plug in our complimentary ear phones and listen to the trivia of the particular place we were passing. Isn't that just the coolest thing you've ever heard of?!?! I will admit, however, that by the fiftieth and sixtieth time that sound goes off, you'll be ready to fling your headphones against the glass ceiling, hypothetically speaking of course.
So then, here are some of our best moments caught on camera. If you can't tell, we made ourselves at home and drove most people out of our train car due to our loud and oh-so-witty American banter.
Only the beginning. Giddy and photo happy, we were ready for action!
The icy branches of these trees shimmered magically in the sunlight, as if they were there merely for our viewing pleasure.
Snow much? I can only imagine how beautiful this valley must be in the spring. Mountains still covered in snow and lush green meadows and wildflowers blooming below. Sigh.
Our Brazilian boys, brothers actually, from Sao Paolo. Ivan is on the left and Leandro on the right. They were excellent travel companions and occasionally found us very entertaining. For example:
Ivan: "Hey, I think she might speak Portuguese."
Carleigh: "What? She smells like burnt cheese??"
Case in point.
For future reference: if you like hot chocolate, you will LOVE it with a dash (or healthy serving) of amaretto.
Final stop: St. Mortiz, home of the first and now ritziest ski resort in the Alps. For this reason, we decided not to spend the night here and took the train back to Chur (pronounced "huuuuuuur"), but not before an unexpected jog along a frozen lake in -1o degree Celsius. You know how rail travel is so awesome in Europe because the train station is always in the middle of the city? Apparently, not in St. Moritz. Hungry and too cheap to buy food on the train, we asked a conductor how far the Coop would be. "Ten, maybe fifteen minutes that way," he pointed. So we shuffled along in the freezing cold and realized that it had taken us over twenty minutes to get to the grocery store. The problem? Our train was leaving in twenty minutes and we hadn't even bought food yet. We booked it and made it back with time to spare, but only because we were running, icicles forming on our sweating foreheads.
Sadly, once we got to Huuuuuuur, we had to say goodbye to newest friends, Ivan and Leandro. But we exchanged contact info and are already planning our next trip to Sao Paolo. At least we know that the snow will not follow us there. (But I may keep my fingers crossed just in case.)
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