Trains, buses, tunnels and a traffic jam

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I thought today wasn't going to be worth writing up as it was to be a travel day but it wasn't quite as straight forward as expected.

We left Haetzingen at 9am and changed trains at the bottom of the valley at Ziegelbrucke, then onto Sargans. This was a reminder to us of where we started our Alpine Pass Route trail across Switzerland some 10 years ago. At Sargans we changed to the Budapest Express train but could only go to Bludenz as the railway was closed for many kilometers due to works being done over the past few months. Here, everyone had to alight from the train and get onto a number of buses to take us through to Otztal. To this point we have left Switzerland, gone through Liechtenstein and into Austria.

The bus kept to the motorway which seemed to be tunnels, tunnels and more tunnels. The Arlberg Tunnel was 15kms long! Oh for that infrastructure in NZ. Imagine, a tunnel straight through to Takaka or another through the Whangamoas and so many other places that would make our roads more acceptable. Dream on! Ah well, this is Europe with squillions of people to fund roads and maybe our quieter life, albeit with shitty roads is better in the long run.

Out of the tunnels we ran into a huge traffic jam. I'm not sure what that was about but we were directed off the motorway, onto a secondary road, through a town and eventually back onto the motorway to eventually arrive at Otztal railway station to get back onto a train again to Innsbruck. It has rained all day and it looks like it will continue for the next few days. Here's hoping that it will rain itself out by Sunday when we start biking.

Our hotel is very nice and by the river and funicular. To unwind we took a walk along the river and eventually through streets of gracious old homes in tree lined streets. We discovered that we were near the Hof Gardens and what a discovery they were. The gardens cover many acres and are filled with large trees, flower beds and many paths to walk along. It was really lovely despite the drizzly weather.

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Photos

One of many tunnels
The 15km long Arlberg tunnel which was one of many along the route from Liechenstein to Innsbruck.