Departure from Munich

Just finishing up breakfast and about to depart for the 45 minute trip to the Munich airport. The Advocat Hotel has a wonderful breakfast buffet as you see. I found the small shop of the company that actually made Marlow's leather pants and was succesful in getting suspenders that I hope he will like. And I'm very happy that I didn't leave the opera last night at intermission. The 2nd half was wonderful! I certainly got my 13 euros worth of entertainment!

See you all back home. Xoxo
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Monday Morning - Munich

Today I am shopping for suspenders for Marlow's lederhosen and will be going to the opera this evening. In between I have a short list of sites to visit. Most museums seem to be closed on Monday so that made it a bit easier to allocate my limited time here.
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The Final Train!

After three days of constant train travel I feel overloaded with visual stimuli - as if I've been watching a three-day long silent movie - and listening to the audience speaking through the entire film but not understanding a word they're speaking!

Since this trip is outside of Switzerland, I had to purchase the ticket and I decided to treat myself to a first class ticket. It is quiet and comfortable! And I don't have to change trains again!

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Sunday

Here is a view looking south from Interlaken towards the Jungfrau region. As yu can see, it is still overcast so the Alps are not visible. It is only 9 am so hopefully the clouds will lift soon!
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Sunday - Visp to Zurich then Zurich to Munich

This is the route of the scenic train route I will take on Sunday morning. It actually consists of four different trains. I start in Visp where I will again take the train under the Alps to Spiez. There I will change to a train to Interlaken. And then another change in Interlaken to the train to Lucern followed by a train to Zurich. The final train will take me from Zurich to Munich with no change in trains! I get to Munich about 5:30 p.m. if all goes well! I am leaving Visp on a train at 8:00 a.m.


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Maps of Saturday travel

Saturday Morning following the "Glacier Express" route - Chur to Visp takes about five hours.



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Saturday Afternoon from Visp to Montreux (1.5 hour on fast train) then Golden Pass train route from Montreux to Spiez. The route from Spiez back to Visp was in a tunnel under the Alps.



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Photos from Saturday

Make your own muesli at breakfast - starting with grinding your own blend of oats, rye and wheat!
Glacier Express train from Chur to Visp via Andermatt
Near the Olberalp Pass 6,670 ft.

The route of the Golden Pass train from Montreaux to Gstaad

The Golden Pass refers to a valley running along the northern side of the alps from Montreux in the West to Lucern in the East. It is remarkable because of its narrow track and how it snakes along hanging to the side of the mountains. It doesn't reach nearly the altitude of the other trains I've taken - maybe 3,000 feet. There was plenty of snow though, and we passed by a few ski resorts. Most notably Gstaad.

The train runs on one set of tracks that it shares with trains coming from the other direction. Every so often it pauses at a turn out spot for the oncoming train to pass by. It amazes me that the trains are so well scheduled that you barely have to wait for the train to pass. This line is also noted for some of the historical cars that they run. Although my train didn't have such a car, we passed several. One formal dining car was set for dinner. For a moment I considered hoping off the train and returning in the dining car but didn't want to retrace the distance I'd already traveled. Another car was wood-paneled and had nice period lighting and upolstery. And they have plenty of panorama cars with large windows.

In places the train seems to stop in the front yard of a home as it passes through small villages. It felt almost like we were walking by. You could make eye contact with people working in their yards, pruning their grape vines or walking the dog.

This would be a particularly nice trip in the summer. But for today it was nice to see a different scale than the majestic alps and glaciers in the higher elevations of the other train trips.

The weather has been really mild. I barely need the heavy ski jacket. I think it was close to 55 in Visp and Montreux this afternoon. Though tonight it is now in the low 40s.

Saturday Afternoon - Lake Geneva and Gstaad

I originally planned on taking the train to Zermatt this afternoon. But I've already seen a lot of the magnificent alps so I decided to take advantage of the flexibility that a train pass provides. So I'm en route to Gstaad via Montreux (above photo of Lake Geneva) and then back to Visp for the night. I'm riding on the "Golden Pass" line from Montreux to Speiz that crosses the northern alps. It's almost 5pm but I'm hoping there will be at least another two hours of day light.
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Saturday

Today I'm travelling West across the alps towards Zermatt taking a variety of trains. We just passed through Andermatt, (close by where this photo was taken) where I spent a week after high school participating in a mountain climbing class.
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The Bernina Express

Afternoon in the Alps

Near Bergun/Bravuogn
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Lunch in Poschiavo

Poschiavo is almost on the border with Italy and they speak italian here. I had a quick lunch of asperagus with dried beef and walnuts and olive oil. It was just perfect. All local ingredients (except for the olive oil I imagine). There is a wonderful warm gentle breeze between the mountains from the south and it must be 50 or warmer. But we are now only at 3,000 feet.
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7,000 feet Near the Bernina Pass

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Patches of Blue Sky

Looks like a good day for the journey! The train just departed. ......
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Bernina Express Route - March 13

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Day One

I finally arrived in Chur, my first destination, right on time about 2:30 this afternoon.  The hotel is about three blocks from the train station.  It was lightly snowing as I walked through “town” to the hotel.  I was pretty beat and wanted to get into bed so I didn’t stop but I look forward to a more leisurely visit.  Especially to the chocolatier.  The hotel room is very small (quaint) and a single bed ‘cuz I guess that’s what I ordered.  It’s fine.  Very clean.  A lot of knotty pine.  I got the internet working and called Mom to wish her a happy birthday.  It was still a bit too early to call Marlow but I decided to try to get to sleep.  So I slept until 6 pm when the church bells next door woke me.  I plan to go down to dinner at the hotel this evening.

The train travel today was quite varied.  In the longest train from Munich I had a six-seat compartment generally to myself.  I boarded the train in Munich at 8:45 about 30 minutes before departure and was able to sprawl out and even get a bit of rest. After about 1.5 hours from Munich the train started climbing towards the Alps.  And as we reached higher elevations the snow started to appear (see photo above).  And there was a lot of snow.  In places the snow looked to be about three-feet high on the roofs of the chalets we passed.  The train also slowed down a bit.  But these were not really very high mountains.  We passed cross country skiers and cows.  It was pretty overcast for the entire trip so I couldn’t see any majestic peaks in the distance.  The first train then descended quickly to Lindau which is on the Bodensee and at the German Austrian Swiss border.  

The next train was a swiss train that really is a commuting train of sorts that runs along the lake (Bodensee) from Lindau in Germany, through a few towns in Austria and finally arrived after 30 minutes in St. Margrethen where I changed to the third train.  After another hour on the train I arrived in Chur.  The swiss trains were newer and cleaner than the german train and had huge windows.  


The weather report seems to say that tomorrow will be partially sunny.

Day One - Munich to Chur CH

Train station near Oberstaufen Germany
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The Trip (click on "view larger map" for more detail

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View over Lake Michigan in February from Mom & Dad's place in Glen Arbor

This is a test of my ability to post photos via e-mail.

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