Fri Jun 19, 2017
Today we boarded the Glacier Express for our much-anticipated journey from Zermatt to St. Moritz. St. Moritz is an international destination resort town that claims to have more than 300 days of sunshine per year. Unfortunately this was not one of those days, but we enjoyed it anyway. Because we wanted to see the only Swiss National Park, we stayed in Zuos, which is halfway between St. Moritz and the park.
Boarding the Glacier Express
The train ride was wonderful and the scenery spectacular…but very long. I guess when one talks about Glacial speed, it is very, very, very, slow. So Express Glacial speed must mean relatively fast. In reality, it was slow going, but gave us the time to actually ‘see’ the views. It was an 8 ½ hour journey, with stops for smokers to get their ‘fix’, and in several cases, to wait for other trains to clear single track sections. As advertised, we saw many glaciers – both large and small. The people and services were great. The chef on board prepared a tasty hot lunch of veal, spatzle, and vegetables.
I’ve included only a few photos in this blog. We took more than 100 photos, but the reflections from the train windows make most unusable. After several different attempts to avoid glare and reflections, we abandoned further photography to just enjoy the scenery. It is just very difficult to capture the beauty and scope of the area with a camera.
Looking for milk cows.
Scenery along the way.
You can see the last few cars of our train snaking through the mountains.
Snow at one of the high passes.
Our hotel in Zuos was definitely interesting. It is an old (several hundred year old] castle, situated on top of a hill, and recently renovated on the inside – and very eclectic. It is a hangout and gathering place for many modern artists. The rooms are sparsely decorated, with unusual coloring schemes and furniture. The hallways are covered with modern art. They even have a selection of art hanging on one of the walls in the lobby, next to a board asking viewers to critique each piece. At the same time the dining room is decorated in dark, carved wood panels more typical of the 18th century. They use mirrors throughout the rooms and public areas to provide interesting perspectives and lighting effects. Gregory jumped several times, thinking someone was coming at him, only to realize it was his own reflection.
Art in the hallway.
I lost my head.
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