Monday, August 27, 2018

Glacier Express : I did better than that !

Glacier express way was in the must do in my list. I have been calling the SBB office before my travel to Swiss to check the reservation. They told me that is very much booked and if I get lucky I would get a seat. I was hoping for that and everytime I see that train crosses me made me happy.


Anyway, I tried so hard to get single reservation on 10th Aug. I was very early to Zermatt agian and checked with the SBB guy, he told me its available only in the train starts quite late on that day. It sounded useless to me. But he was very nice to me and he suggested, if I had time there is a better way to do that using my SBB pass. (FYI ; to travel in the Glacier express I had to pay supplement for the reservation). I was intrigued and he gave me a great plan. So his plan was that I follow the same path of glacier express but with different trains. It was a brilliant suggestion and I had enough time and energy and was very eager to do this.

Almost 10 h of mountain travels, I would not say NO. That is the first place I came to Switzerland to enjoy the landscapes.So on this day I was in the train mostly enjoyed the mountains quiteness and the fresh breeze was very enchanting.


This was one of my trains. I had to say it is very beautiful! Same panaromic windows! I am wondering why people choose Glacier express, may be the publicity. I was about to but as always I got lucky to try another thing. Thanks to that SBB guy!









 This was my food sometimes ... of course with milk ( I love milk and I was drunk always!)


 If I had taken Galcier express I think I would have not enjoyed this much. Because that train is completely packed and you cant move into other side of the train and move around inside train. All the trains I took on my way to St Moritz, very few people were there and the ticket controller were so kind and they discussed and explained about the mountains so I had free touristic guide too and I kind of had the feeling I owned the train! It felt good! Also I happened to visit lot of small towns on my way! For me it was a great DEAL!








 I was very surprised that even at that height, the mountains grass were trimed . I have no idea how do they do it.
 (I personally have lot of questions to swiss people. I get to know all answers sooner or later.)




Even it was bit cold, people let me open the window and enjoyed the great view. I was very grateful to them!










 I wish evertime for people who loves nature should go through this path and have felt the connection between me and nature as I did!









The journey was poetic!










 So around 5 pm I arrived St.Moritz. It is another small town with beautiful lake and seemed nice to explore. So St Moritz is on the east side of the Switerland. I was happy that I am an Indian and I found 10 h traveling is not longer and also I am a daughter of a lorry driver, since my childhood I enjoyed traveling. So all these helped me a lot to enjoy this magical journey!







 These flowers caught my eyes, they kept this in the middle of the highway. It was funny and beautiful!


 So first building I visited was the five star palace hotel.
https://www.badruttspalace.com/en/since-1896 (signature lake room with balcony costs 800 CHF).

 Just wanted to inform people who doeasnt know (I was unaware) why switzerland is refered as CH, it is derived from latin word, Confoederatio Helvetica. So now you know what CHF is, swiss franc.


 This building was very beautiful and I was eager to get isnide and see how does it look like. So I asked the security and he was pleased to show me around. I think its worth staying there. So anyone interested book in this! I was not interested in this and I tell you where I stayed sooner that night, then you would know what I was upto.

Other buiding was pretty too. It is from Hermes (French high fashion luxury goods manufacturer established in 1837, friend of mine (In Paris) who is a manager of this. So I took these pictures to show him.

 Please check their site (https://www.hermes.com/fr/fr/), you would know what I am talking about.

  Isn't beautiful?


 Do not ask me the price of this dress. I liked it though.


 St. Moritz has twice hosted the Winter Olympics (1928 and 1948). So I was happy to be a part of this!
  As I mentioned, its a very small town so I got back to lake sooner and had fun walking around.
 

 View of the palace hotel!



 Interesting bird. First time for me.









 After a promenade, I went to catch the train and my plan was to go to German part of swiss. So traveling from east to north, another long trip. I was prepared my mind for this, and I got the first train to go to Chur. It is a big city and a hub for reaching several part of Switzerland.

I supposed to catch the train to Zurich but somehow in few seconds I missed the last train to Zurich. So I got stuck in this city and I was happy about it. I forgot to mention, meanwhile, I got permission /invitation to stay with my Zurich friends on the following day. They were excited that I am going there on a party day, 11th Aug. I was not so into it but I agreed and I had to. 

Now back to CHUR.

As I mentioned in my first post, I wanted to get some feeling of homeless people.  Oh my god, I had to admit, how careful I was before packing my bag. I thought I am easy and I am not attached to materials, that is not true. I had lot of Food, small pillow, good blanket, two phones, external battery, lot of money in cash, bank card, I even took some cheques. It is crazy but even with all of these it was challenging to stay in street for couple of hours. We complaint too much and forgot to appreciate what we have. One night that too couple of hours to stay in the street in summer evening, I had to say it was not easy and it got cold. Please picture people living in streets in winter time. I have to respect their determination! I am very sorry for those!

So I took the challenge and rest a bit and I explored the city early morning. I think it was about 4 am. Almost no one except me with my luggage. I felt sometime bad about the noise from my suitcase.

I liked the old town, it looked cute!






 It is a river, you dont see it because it is too DARK ;-).


 Of course, a water fountains.

 After had a very interesting day and night, I started my next journey to Konstanz ( German part close to Swiss).

FYI : If anyone want to use night time in traveling or if in case you havn't reserved place to stay, I have a suggestion for you. It works if you have a SBB pass. I found that Zurich, Bern and Luzern, almost have 24 h train service. So you can take train few times and relax! It was my plan but I could not succeed because once I missed last train to Zurich and other times I was invited to people place!