After 30+ years I found myself in Switzerland, one of my stomping grounds when I lived in Germany. I really had no intention of traveling this fall but had a serious case of FOMO when my new friends from Texas had an 8 week trip planned around Europe with lots and lots of trains. I sort of invited myself to join them and they graciously accepted my intrusion. The first leg was with Road Scholar and included 10 days circling the country via train. The clean, quiet, timely efficiency of Swiss rail is a joy to partake in. If the train is supposed to leave at 9:27 it leaves exactly at 9:27 with or without you and when those doors shut the train rolls on. Fortunately the group of 23 were very timely and we never missed a connection. The trip was entirely on public transportation, including Trains, Trams, Boats, Funiculars, Gondolas, Subways and a couple of city Buses.
We started in Zurich, traveled to Appenzell and St Gallen. Appenzell felt like Heidi would appear at any moment, herding her goats in the Mountains. I didn’t see any goats that day, but lots of beautiful Swiss Cows calmly grazing on the mountainside. I can highly recommend the cheese from Appenzell, like Swiss cheese but much better. Road Scholar’s itinerary is a masterpiece in logistics. One day we took 4 different trains with amazing precision, stopping for site seeing, lunch and shopping along the way. This kind of trip planning is the joyful part of being part of a group as I had no responsibilities figuring out the train schedules. The trip was a good combination of old town cobblestone tromping, lakes and of course plenty of mountains.
We got to ride the Glacier Express from Chur to Brig. The train is one of the most famous in the World and extremely popular with tourists. We were lucky again with perfect weather and views. I forgot to mention one of the best aspects of the trip. We didn’t have to drag our suitcases on all those public conveyances – each morning we departing a hotel for the train, a van picked up our luggage and like magic it appeared when we did at the next hotel. This was truly a joyful part of the experience.
Visiting the Aletsch Glacier was my favorite day of the trip. The weather was perfect. The air was fresh and the Mountain View’s were 360. I also think this was my first visit to this location so certainly a treat. It was one of those places the pictures only capture a tiny piece of the experience. The glacier is visibly shrinking each year so I’m happy I got to appreciate it while it’s still in its glory. There’s something about mountains that bring a peace to my soul and this day was a perfect precious memory. The only thing missing were Mountain Goats but there were plenty of humans scampering over the rocks, clipping in as if they were goats.
Really – fresh hot fries from a vending machine in Zermatt. Certainly a sign things have changed since my last visit. The machine was broken or I might have been tempted to try but I’m glad there’s no such machine near my house, can you imagine the temptation!
Today I’m departing Basel and heading north to Oslo, Norway and then on to Longyearbyen Norway to catch a Hurtigruten Ship. The ship heads to Svalbad so perhaps Polar Bears and dare I mention Narwhals are in my future. Certainly if I even see the shadow of a Narwhal I will do an emergency Blog post but, I’m not holding my breath. Next post Norway.
WanderlustandWhimSea 