Stille St. Moritz

So here we are, the first time I have ever been to Italy. The first time I have seen Italian drivers in their natural environment. They are CRAZY!! They pull out in front of oncoming traffic, overtake on blind bends, overtake inside tunnels with DOUBLE WHITE LINES!!!




It was just unbelievable. In fact, when I was ...

Thedrive from Davos down to the Stelvio Pass was pretty good, and we stopped a few times to take it all in, and to let the engine cool down a bit, as it was working fairly hard.


We took a small road from Santa Maria, and that was really good, with some tight U bends, and magnificent views. This road took us across the Swiss/Italian border.


And then we joined the ...

... transportation around the city and rail and cable car passes up the mountains during our stay. We didn't argue. The next morning we woke up to a surprise , SNOW. All roof tops were covered, see pics. It was very pretty, but messed up our idea of taking the train up the mountains. The ceiling was about 300 feet above the surface. We had breakfast (another great continental one) the women running the place told us to give it an hour or 2 and see how it clears up. When double ...

... town from what seemed a great height on spiral of track. Andermatt gave us the impression of a nearly new military encampment. Well, that was what it looked like without snow!
After Andermatt came Realp where if one knew about it at the time we would have wished to transfer to the Furka Bergstrecke Railway which has its terminas just outside the town and in view of the Bassistunnel ...

... I could imagine it being a very lively place in the ski season. The day we chose to visit was ghastly! The rain causing a very low mist over the scenery. The cable-car wasn't doing much business that day either and our planned walk into red squirrel country up above the town didn't seem to beckon us! After a light refreshment in the nearest cafe we climbed aboard the same train we had arrived on and made the very slow descent back to Chur!

... An early start on the Glacier Express, climbing up over the mountains and don into the Vallais and Brig lay ahead of us. We went to bed with the strains of the yodelling choir in the Hotel across the road obviously enjoying the hospitallity of that hostelry!

... the lake high up above Chur. We were in the clouds! It rained quite profusely! Our planned walk into the forest above this wee town curtailed by lack of visibility. A lunch snack at the nearest restaurant and the next train down was our only reasonable option. After a very short wait we boarded what I think was the same carriage we had come up in, then off down the fairly steep descent to the streets of Chur. At the City Gate ...

... Boxing Day Racing etc.. During late June it proved somewhat damp for us! It rained on us, but then it seems to rain in the early evening in the mountains!
The return route following the Engadine river as pleasant an experience as the rest of the day trip to Poschiavo.

8/31/99 Tuesday

Davos to St. MoritzWe woke up this morning to a beautiful, clear, cool morning. We didn't have any large clouds hovering over the mountains like we have had. (NOTE: Today we are off to the winter playground of the rich and famous…St. Moritz, via the Glacier Express. I am really looking forward to this trip.) We have been on the road for about 1/2 hour and the view is "to die for". We are not taking the motorway, instead the mountain roads that wind through ...

... finished our walk this morning the weather turned cloudier and cooler. We came back upstairs to our room for a little rest. I can’t believe that I’m still tired, even after being outside and walking around, so I lay down for about an hour. After our little break, we headed out (once more) to tackle the mountain behind the hotel. Just to get to the paths up to the mountain, I was huffing and puffing (have to note here that Bev took advantage of each rest stop ...