SUNGRL

After a late night or should I say early morning there was minimal movement in the house until about 10am.  Beth and Shaun had stayed over as they live an hour and a half away in the Jura.  We had a lovely and typical Swiss breakfast – warm Zopf which is a braided loaf of bread, lots of different cheeses and cold meat.  We also enjoyed Elvis’s Mum’s homemade yoghurt and Bosnian honey.  Perfect : )

The plan was to go snow shoeing above Burglen which is next to Altdorf.  Steve decided his snow shoeing career was over for now so he stayed home.  There was a lot of low cloud but according to the webcam at the top of the Ruogig Gondola where we were heading it was a picture perfect day so off we went.

We had to catch two gondola’s up – the first one only seated four so we had to go in two lots.  The second gondola took six so we could all emerge out of the see fog into the glorious sunshine together.  It was magical.  I knew then that I truly am the SUNGRL – my heart sang as I felt that warm sunshine on my back : )

We got kitted up and off we went – it was a popular spot so the tracks had already been made.  It is still a good work out though.  We had about 2 hours of sunlight left so we did a loop up the valley and back down.  Shaun encouraged me to go into the deep snow and cut a path – it was so much fun.  I then fell over and could not get up so it was Karin and Shaun to the rescue.  We stopped for a drink near the top and I was so hot I stripped down to my singlet.  It didn’t take long for the sweat to get cold though so it was a short sharp cover up again – not before the odd pose though : )  On the way down we had some fun off trail running down in the soft snow – I also fell on my knees at one stage but managed to get myself upright again.

It was rush hour on the gondolas when we got back about 4.15pm so we had to wait a little while before we could descend.  It was nice to see the sun glow behind the mountains but this also meant we got chilly pretty fast.

Thanks to Paparazzi Elvis the pictures say it all…..

We got back home about 6pm and farewelled Beth and Shaun who were heading home to the Jura. Our day was not over yet though – it was a quick change around of clothes and we were off sledging by moonlight. Steve had had all day to prepare himself.

We drove about half an hour to Melchsee Frutt in the next canton of Opwalden. It is a ski resort. The carpark is about 1,000 metres up and you then catch a gondola up to approximately 2,000 metres. There are hotels and restaurants up there. We had dinner at Hotel Posthuis which was a bustling metropolis on New Years night. Karin, Elvis and I opted for the fondue – when in Switzerland and all. Steve had a schnitzel. We hadn’t had lunch so the bread and hot runny cheese went down a treat although I didn’t know when to stop so I think I will be off cheese for a while now : (

We had bought the sledges up with us on the gondola and parked them in the sledge parking lot outside the restaurant. We got kitted up and ready for our adventure. Elvis gave us some wise words of advice and off we went – we were sledging back down to the carpark, effectively 1,000 metres. The trail winds itself down the valley and is well prepared. We took a little bit to get used to steering and stopping but it was so much fun. We had lamps but we didn’t use them as the moonlight was perfect and our eyes adjusted accordingly. We had a number of stops down the valley just to take in the breathtaking scenery and stillness of the night. No words or pictures can describe it – the images are securely locked in my memory.

There was a group of about 6 young people hooning down the trail so we let them pass. They had lamps on – wussies! Anyway we came across them a bit further down and two of them had failed sledging 101’s first rule – don’t let go of the rope on the sledge! If you fall off, the sledge will invariably keep going – they had to climb down the side of the trail into the abyss to retrieve their sledges. They soon caught us up again and we let them pass – it was too perfect a night to share it with them.

It took us about an hour to get down – it was fantastic and if it hadn’t been 10pm which is when the trail closes I would have done it all again as would Steve who also had a ball. We then drove home to begin the task of packing for our journey home……

On the 31st Elvis went skiing with his friend Christophe and Karin & I went to Altdorf to get some more supplies for New Years Eve.  It had stopped snowing but remained cold.  Karin and I decided to build a snow bar next to Mr Mi for the evening’s celebrations.

In between shopping and building the ice bar we went snow shoeing to the local farmers to buy some eggs and cheese. Steve joined us this time and quite enjoyed himself.

Originally there were going to be seven of us for dinner but that became nine after Christophe and his friend Tino decided to join us as well.  Beth and Shaun who we had met before were also coming as well as Elvis’s brother Manuel.

Steve cooked a big piece of lamb on the BBQ – 1.5 kilograms.  The Swiss don’t eat a lot of meat so they were in awe of this piece of lamb – just another Wednesday night for us Kiwi’s.  Karin made potato salad and we also had beans and carrots.  Beth had made the starters which included artichokes marinated in wild basil pesto – very nice.  In between the main and dessert some of us went for a walk down to the lake and up to the church – the fresh air was welcome after a cocktail of mulled wine, champagne, sauvignon blanc and red wine.  When we got back we enjoyed orange Tiramisu made by Karin which was delicious.

We all rugged up and went out to the snow bar about 11.50pm to do the countdown into 2015.  We had put the French champagne on snow so it was the perfect temperature for our New Year’s toast.  There were fireworks going on in the surrounding villages and they looked very pretty as they soared above the lake.

We lasted about half an hour outside before retreating into the warmth to drink and chat some more.  We eventually finished up about 2.30am!  It was great to share New Years Eve with Karin & Elvis and their friends : )

Steve had obviously had too much to drink as he thought the moon was a shooting star!

Happy New Year everyone – may 2015 be all you want it to be.

On returning from our Glacier Express experience Steve had planned on cooking lamb on the BBQ. He hadn’t factored in that it would snow while we were away so off he went into the cold to cook our dinner : )

The next day we woke to quite a good snow covering. Being a snow virgin the first thing that Steve wanted to test out was how long it took to get beer and wine cold in the snow.

Next up on the agenda was building a snowman. I have only ever built one snowman in my life and that was back at the end of 1996 in Germany with my step sister Carey. I don’t remember the exact technique we used back then but it probably wasn’t up to Swiss standards : ) Karin showed us the Swiss technique of starting with a ball and then rolling it through the snow compacting it as you go. The ball gets bigger and bigger. We ended up with three rather large balls so decided our snowman was going to be tall. Karin made a smaller ball for the head. We then assembled the 4 balls and dressed the snowman appropriately. The hat we put on him was from Migros so we named him Mr Mi. By this stage Steve was inside with Elvis who had been documenting the building of Mr Mi on his camera. The boys thought Mr Mi was on a slight lean so we had to do some remedial work to make sure he was standing tall.

If you are dressed appropriately it is amazing how long you can stay out in the snow. After building Mr Mi, Karin & I went snow shoeing – another first for me. Karin said there probably wasn’t quite enough snow to make it really fun but it was still enjoyable.

That evening Karin & Elvis had a surprise planned for us in Lucerne. By this stage it was snowing again so we had to take it slowly in the car. We had a wander around Lucerne before going for some dinner. Lucerne is a pretty place anyway but with the snow and the lights it was quite magical. The surprise that they had planned was going to see Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides in the Culture and Congress Centre. What made this special was that the movie was accompanied by The 21st Century Symphony Orchestra which is a 90 piece orchestra and a choir. You hear the actors speaking but all the music and singing is performed by the orchestra and the choir. The movie was in English with German subtitles. It was a unique experience and to start with you didn’t know where to look. The live music and singing were fantastic.

The Culture and Congress Centre in Lucerne (or KKL for Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern) is a multi-functional building with a concert hall that is esteemed for its high-profile acoustics. It was built according to the plans of the architect Jean Nouvel and was inaugurated in 1998 with a concert by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Claudio Abbado.

We woke up on the 29th to find Mr Mi doing the limbo – we couldn’t believe that he was actually still standing. Karin & I went for our morning walk and when we came back Mr Mi was really getting into Limbo mode. We decided he needed some remedial work – in fact, we had to amputate.

After breakfast we went to the Landerpark which is a shopping centre. While we were there it started snowing quite heavily. We were supposed to be driving to Karin’s brother’s place about an hour and a half away for dinner.We decided it would be safer to take the train – we had to change trains a few times so the journey took about two and a half hours but it was definitely the safer option. We walked from the train station to Michael & Aileen’s apartment along the river bank in the snow – it was a bit chilly but nice to be at one with nature. Aileen prepared Arrabbiata sauce and pasta for dinner which was perfect. We sat in their winter garden which is like a conservatory – luckily they had heating : ) It was very cool looking out at the snow covered lawn and when I say covered I mean by about half a metre of snow. As the evening progressed the snow covering continued to grow. Michael drove us to the train station at the end of the evening – the roads were covered with snow which made for fun driving. We got back to the train station in Fluelen just before 1am and had to de snow Elvis’s car so we could drive home. We couldn’t get up the driveway when we got home so Elvis parked the car at the lake.

After our night out in Lucerne we had ended up pushing the car up the driveway and after coming back from the Landerpark we had only managed to push it half way up to a parking spot there. However, there was no way we could push it up that night. You can see from the two letterbox photos and Mr Mi how much snow we had had.

Due to our late night and the amount of snow on the ground we had a very quiet day on the 30th baking cookies. That evening we watched the movie The Hundred Foot Journey which was excellent.
 

Below are some images from Karin & Elvis’s house as taken by Elvis.

After exploring St. Moritz on Boxing Day we stayed in Zouz so we could get up early and catch the Glacier Express – it departed St. Moritz at 9.02am on Saturday the 27th December. There was a high level of excited anticipation. Karin & Elvis had never done the Glacier Express either so it was cool to be sharing this experience with them.

It was lightly snowing to start with and due to earlier snow the landscapes were very picturesque. It was certainly living up to expectation and we were committing the scenery to memory as it was very hard to capture it in pictures. The panoramic carriages are very comfortable and our carriage wasn’t that full to start with so we spread out a bit. They provide headphones for intermittent commentary about the different places you are passing through which is really interesting.

The first section from St.Moritz to Chur passes through the Landwasser Viaduct and the train descends from 1,775 metres above sea level to Chur which is the lowest point on the Glacier Express at 585 metres. We passed through the Domleschg Valley which is strategically positioned on the route to three main Alpine passes: the Splügen Pass, the San Bernardino Pass and the Julier Pass. To control this route, castles were built, making the Domleschg one of the Swiss regions richest in castles. It was an important trading route in the middle ages and we saw a few castle remains as we passed through.

After leaving Chur where a few more people joined the train we started the climb up the Rhine Valley to the Oberalp Pass which is the highest point on the Glacier Express at 2.033 metres. The landscape looks very dramatic in the Rhine gorge between Reichenau and Ilanz, where the river is carved deep into the white rocks. This region is also referred to as the ‘Swiss Grand Canyon’. It was snowing as we climbed up the Rhine Valley and it was completely white outside – we saw a few hardy souls out skiing. We then descended down to Andermatt where we got off the train.

The Glacier Express carries on to Zermatt which is where the Matterhorn is but apparently the section from Andermatt to Zermatt is not as interesting and we wanted to get back to Bouchs that evening.

Andermatt serves as a crossroads between southern Switzerland and the North as well as between eastern Switzerland i.e. Graubünden/Grisons and Western Switzerland, i.e. Valais, Bern and the Swiss Romande. The town is thus connected by four Alpine passes: the Oberalp Pass (6,706 ft; 2,044 m.) to the East, the St. Gotthard Pass (6,909 ft; 2,106 m.) to the South, the Furka Pass (7,992 ft; 2,436 m.) to the West, as well as the Göschenertal Pass (4,652 ft; 1,418 m.) to the North. The Schöllenen Gorge in the Reuss Valley between Andermatt and Göschenen is the location of the infamous Devil’s Bridge.

By the turn of the 21st century, as an alternative to the expensive skiing resorts in the Grisons (Graubünden) at St Moritz and Gstaad, Andermatt’s fortunes again revived and the town has seen considerable expansion and is currently undergoing much speculative building. We decided to have a drink at one of the newest hotels in Andermatt – The Chedi. It was very nice and had an indoor pool that people were lying around which seemed strange given it was snowing outside.

After our little taste of luxury we walked back to the train station to catch another train back to Buochs. We arrived home about 6pm to snow – our white Christmas had finally arrived : )

The Glacier Express
The Glacier Express is an express train connecting railway stations of the two major mountain resorts of St. Moritz and Zermatt in the Swiss Alps. The train is operated jointly by the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn (MGB) and Rhaetian Railway (RhB). For much of its journey, it also passes along and through the World Heritage Site known as the Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes.

The train is not an “express” in the sense of being a high-speed train, but rather, in the sense that it provides a one-seat ride for a long duration travel. In fact it has the reputation of being the slowest express train in the world.[1] As St. Moritz and Zermatt are home to two well-known mountains, the Glacier Express is also said to travel from Piz Bernina to Matterhorn.

The Glacier Express first ran in 1930. Initially, it was operated by three railway companies: the Brig–Visp–Zermatt Bahn (BVZ), the Furka Oberalp Bahn, and the RhB. Since 2003, the train has been operated by RhB and a newly established company, the MGB, which arose from a merger between the BVZ and the FO.

The trip on the Glacier Express is a 7½ hour railway journey across 291 bridges, through 91 tunnels and across the Oberalp Pass on the highest point at 2,033 m (6,670 ft) in altitude. The entire line is metre gauge (narrow gauge railway), and large portions of it use a rack-and-pinion system both for ascending steep grades and to control the descent of the train on the back side of those grades.

The completion of the final portion of the FO in 1926 opened up the Cantons of Valais and Graubünden to further tourist development. In particular, a pathway was laid for the introduction of Kurswagen (through coaches) between Brig and Chur, and between Brig and St. Moritz.

In early June 1930, the then Visp–Zermatt Bahn was extended to Brig by the opening of a metre gauge line along the Rhone Valley between Visp and Brig. For the first time, it was feasible to operate through coaches all the way from Zermatt to St. Moritz and return. On 25 June 1930, the first train of such coaches set out from Zermatt to St. Moritz, under the name Glacier Express. The new train’s name honoured the Rhone Glacier, which is near Gletsch, on the Furka Pass.

Until 1982, the Glacier Express operated only in the summer months, because the Furka Pass and the Oberalp Pass were both snowed over in winter. Initially, the train was made up of first to third class salon and passenger coaches, supplied by all three of the participating railway companies. Between Chur and Disentis/Mustér, passengers could enjoy a hot lunch in a Mitropa dining car. From 1933, the Glacier Express through coaches were attached to normal passenger trains between Brig and Zermatt.

In the earliest years of the Glacier Express, electric locomotives were used to haul the Glacier Express on the BVZ and the RhB, but steam locomotives were used on the FO. That changed in 1941-1942, when overhead catenary was installed on the FO, enabling completely electric operation for the full length of the route. However, no through trains were operated between 1943 and 1946, due to World War II.

Upon the resumption of daily through trains in 1948, the dining car service was extended from Disentis/Mustér to the top of the Oberalp Pass. Between the 1950s and the 1970s, both the BVZ and the RhB introduced new locomotive classes that, when attached to the Glacier Express, enabled reductions in schedule times. Meanwhile, the dining car service was extended further, to Andermatt.

In 1981 a Glacier Express era came to an end, with the final closure for the winter of the FO line over the Furka Pass and through the Furka Summit Tunnel, between Oberwald and Gletsch. In June 1982, that FO line was replaced by the newly opened Furka Base Tunnel. As a consequence, the Glacier Express not only became disconnected from its namesake Rhone Glacier, but also could now, for the first time, be operated on a year round basis.

At that time, the BVZ, FO and RhB took the opportunity to relaunch the Glacier Express as a tourist attraction. Promotional material focused on the train’s status as “the slowest express train in the world”, covering 291 km or 181 mi, 91 tunnels, and over 291 bridges. A special promotional wine glass on a sloping base emphasised the steepness of some parts of the route. Passenger numbers rose from 20,000 in 1982 to over 53000 in 1983, and to just over 80,000 in 1984.

In 1985 the Glacier Express timetable was completely revised. Between 1986 and 1993, the BVZ and the FO invested nearly 40 million Swiss Francs in constructing 18 new first class panorama cars for the train. By 2005 more than 250,000 passengers were travelling on the Glacier Express each year.

In 2006 a few scenes of the documentary film The Alps were shot inside the train, and further new panorama cars were added to the Glacier Express passenger car fleet. On 7 July 2008, the Albula Railway and the Bernina Railway were jointly recorded in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, under the name Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes. Currently, the Glacier Express is especially popular with tourists from Germany, Japan, and, increasingly, India.

On 23 July 2010 a Glacier Express train derailed near Fiesch on the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn line. One passenger was killed and 42 were injured. The accident was blamed on human error.

On the 13th August 2014 a landslide hit the Glacier Express in a deep wooded valley between Tiefencastel and Solis. Five people were seriously injured and another six sustained slight injuries.

Despite these two incidences accidents are rare on the Swiss rail network.