Bernina Express

Bridges. Tunnels.  Snow.

We decided to take a trip on one of Switzerland's iconic train routes this past weekend.  Called the Bernina Express, it runs from Chur, Switzerland over the Alps to Tirano, Italy via St. Moritz.  The route, created between 1898-1910, crosses 196 bridges and goes through 55 tunnels.

We started our journey Friday evening with a short train trip to Chur.  The weather was nice all week, but as the weekend approached the rain set in.  By the time we arrived in Chur it was pouring rain, and by the time we finished dinner the rain turned to snow.  We woke up early Saturday to a solid dusting of snow!

We departed Chur Saturday morning.  The train had panoramic windows that curved into the ceiling and the food cart had a big stuffed mountain goat on the end of it (it's the mascot of the Bernina express - awesome!).

The snow made for a pretty trip into Italy.  The trees were freshly flocked and the Alps were all white with snow (unfortunately the mountain lakes were frozen over, so it was one big white landscape).  As we descended the Southern side the white turned to green and Italy came into view.

 

We had some time before our train back to St. Moritz so we had a lovely lunch in a small cafe in Tirano, Italy - a true Italian lunch with panini, pasta with fresh asparagus, wine, chocolate cake and cappuccinos (all for the price of one entree in Switzerland).  Love the Euro!

Bobo's pub in Tirano!

We made it to St Moritz in late afternoon.  After checking in we took a walk around town.  It was cold, and unfortunately in between seasons (ski season had just ended and summer season doesn't start until May/June).  As such, it was a ghost town.  Most of the stores were closed (there were a lot of high-end designer stores) and many of the restaurants were closed as well.  We managed to find a cute wine bar for drinks before heading back to our hotel for dinner. 

We're not sure what the jet-set eat, but on the menu were steaks of kangaroo and horse.  ???

The trip back to Chur on Sunday was sunnier than on Saturday and provided for some good pictures by opening the windows and hanging out (watch out for the tunnels).