Rail Tour Through the Alps

(Note: Clicking on any image in this travelogue will bring up a full screen version of the image.)

Saturday, September 3
The Glacier Express: Zermatt to St. Moritz

For the sharp-eyed amongst you who notice that the Google Map image above indicates that the route shown is by automobile, this is because Google is incapable of displaying multiple route points on a rail journey. However the rail route and road route are almost identical, so I cheated.

I learned from previous experience, and packed my bags the previous night, and had them out in plenty of time to be picked up by the porter. There was time for a leisurely, if unsatisfying breakfast, and we all convened in front of the Hotel Alex to bid it a fond farewell, and walk to the railroad station. Today was to be spent almost entirely on the train riding the Glacier Express, which ranks close to the top in list of the world class scenic rail journeys. The altitude map gives a good idea of the ups and downs of the journey. The dotted section between Oberwald and Realp is a 19 mile long tunnel. (Not particularly scenic, but impressive.) The train took a side route from Filisur to Davos, and then back again to Filisur and on to journey's end at St. Moritz.

For most of the way, both the tracks and the road followed the headwaters of the Rhône. It's odd that, while this was probably the most impressive and scenic leg of the journey, it results in the shortest page in this travelogue. The endless parade of mountain and river and picturesque village and bridge and tunnel past one's window is unceasingly fascinating. But an endless parade of photographs of that same scenery is not. And there's not much to write about each of the photographs either. So I'll just give you a sampling, and let you browse through the pretty pictures. (Note: some of the photos seem to have a hazy cast to them. Those were taken through the train window, and show a bit of reflection of the inside of the carriage.)

One of the things that drew me to this trip was the profusion of bridges, tunnels, viaducts, trestles, and other feats of railroad engineering we would encounter. And the Glacier Express had enough to satisfy anyone. A remarkable thing to consider is that most of the right-of-way was built over a hundred years ago. All those stone bridges and viaducts are 19th Century technology. (Photos 18, 19, and 20, and those in the background of #5 and 17.) And they're still in service today, virtually unchanged from the day they were first opened. I would guess that the electric locomotives of today are not as heavy as the older steam engines, and probably deliver power to the rails more smoothly than the old ones as well. The bridges in Photo #11 and the foreground of #13 are of more modern steel and pre-stressed concrete construction. We stopped for a few minutes at Oberalppass, the highest point in the journey, to stretch our legs and admire the view. Photo #19 is the archetypical image of Alpine rail travel. The shot was taken from the train itself, and I used it for the "cover photo" of the travelogue in my Blog. Note that the viaduct in Photo #20 is not part of the same structure as that shown in Photos #18 and 19, but seems obviously designed and constructed at the same time by the same engineer and crew.

Our group was supposed to have reserved a car of our own. But somehow a family of four, including one infant that screamed incessantly for the entire trip got assigned seats with us. There was much grumbling from our party. But truth be told, there were times I couldn't hear the baby over the racket produced by some of our own group. (Can we use our indoor voices, please, Mrs. Muehlberger?) Eventually Jenny and I and one or two others of our party escaped to the relative peace and quiet of the next car back.

Our faithful Giancarlo was waiting for us with the bus upon our arrival in St. Moritz at dusk. The Hotel Steffani was not all that far from the station, but it was significantly uphill, and the short bus ride was appreciated. We got ourselves settled in our room, and set out to hunt down some dinner. The difference between St. Moritz and Zermatt could not have been more striking. Where Zermatt was ancient and charming, St. Moritz was trendy and glitzy. We strolled past the closed up shops with brightly lit windows displaying watches and jewelry and the latest fashions draped over sneering mannequins (womannequins?) who wouldn't give you the time of day even if they were wearing one of those expensive watches. I once again scratched my head wondering why anyone would spend valuable vacation time on a task so odious as shopping. We eventually settled on an Italian restaurant that made a pretty good pizza, which I figured deserved to be eaten with knife and fork, if only because of the price.

Jenny wanted to wander back down the hill to look at the lakeside. But we chose a route that diverted us well away from the center of town, and by the time we reached the lake there wasn't much to see but dark water. So we trekked back up to the Hotel Steffani, and hit the rack.