St. Moritz, Switzerland - Zurich & Train through Germany

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Upon leaving Zermatt aboard the famous Glacier Express, we were dogged with more crappy weather but were comfortably nested inside the train car with large panoramic windows, sadly with little but drab scenery to view. All in all, the views were still pretty spectacular and the train ride enjoyable as we chugged up and down the Swiss mountainside, through numerous tunnels, and across many bridges. During one of the stops we were entertained by a local Swiss dance group performing right on the train platform 😊 We also took a closer look at the vending machines that populate the train stations and marveled at what you can buy from them, including cigarettes, lighters, and pregnancy tests.....haha Regardless of weather, Switzerland is simply a gorgeous country!

A few hours later we arrived in St. Moritz, the "Aspen" of Switzerland where the rich and famous of the world come to play in the winter time. We were here between seasons, the skiers having just left and still to cold and gloomy for the summer visitors so most all of the ritzy shops, like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, and Jimmy Choo were all closed....which was a great relief to Larry and I! We spent a relaxing evening in St. Moritz and had a wonderful conversation with the hotel staff, who weren't very busy, obviously, before boarding the train back to Zurich.

Once back in Zurich we returned to the hotel we had stayed at the week prior and retrieved all the extra junk we've accumulated that we didn't need to drag along through Switzerland. For dinner we dined at a restaurant that Larry & Lisa had visited the first round and praised greatly. Barb and I had the Brat with "Swiss style" hashbrowns. YUM YUM.

The next morning we dashed to the train station to catch our day long ride to Hamburg. One thing we remembered from our last visit to Zurich is that the trolley trains don't stop for ANYONE! There are many crosswalks that connect the streets which are often at odd angles and the car traffic "usually" stops for you, but watch those trolleys!

We boarded the ICE high speed train for Hamburg and aside from having to change trains just before we crossed the border (which we were not informed of until we had to pack and run), the trip was enjoyable. We sat across the aisle from an older German man that boarded the train with 2 pieces of luggage and a brief case. He was upset about his seat assignment and wanted to move to the next seat forward (which afforded him a better view). The Conductor was very stern with him (from our limited understanding of German) but he moved to the other seat after the Conductor left (we've done this before too..haha). Unfortunately he left his briefcase in the aisle next to his old seat and sometime during the trip someone swiped it! The train stopped 3 or 4 times during the 5 hour trip and people came and went so we weren't able to determine when it was taken or who could have done it. He was devastated and the entire rest of the journey was spent with train crew interviewing him (and us) about what had happened.



Thanks again to Lisa for many of the photos as I'm still having trouble getting my photos from camera to computer successfully 😞

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