So after my broken night (see previous post) I woke again at 7. My fault this time – I had set the alarm clock so that I would be up and about to make the most of a free day. However, I have to say that an extra hour or two would have been nice…
My plans revolved around getting to a church service this evening. However, when I checked the church website this morning (http://www.regiovineyard.ch/) the website was down so I was unable to check the time and place for their service. I remembered it was 6:30 (wrong!) and I thought I knew pretty much where it was.
I had also decided to have an epic train journey today, and had carefully mapped out all of the routes and times to ensure I would be back in time to get to the aforementioned church.
The route I had planned was to go South to Göschenen then up into the Alps at a town called Andermatt. I would then catch the Glacier Express North East to Chur (pronounced Koor) and then back North West to Zurich via Sargans and Ziegelbrücke. There were plenty of options, if I decided to stop off for a while and enjoy some place, and then carry on. All went brilliantly until I got to Andermatt!
I have to say that the scenery en route was breathtaking! We were travelling through the Alpine foothills amidst lakes, gorges, snow topped peaks, mountain waterfalls, and the occasional glimpse of Julie Andrews dancing her way through the pastures singing “the hills are alive with the sound of music!”
They say that Göschenen is pretty high up in the mountains already – I think about 1000m. So the train track follows a strange route on the map – not so obvious when you’re travelling along I have to say. Göschenen is the doorway to a long (17km) railway tunnel under the alps which pops out the other side at Airolo. The train track then descends from here and continues it’s way South towards Lugano and Italy. Apparently, they are building another tunnel at a lower altitude which will be 58km long! Because this will remove the need for a climb and a descent, this will apparently cut an hour off the journey time from Zurich to Milan! Wow!
Anyway, back to my journey. The first shock of the day was that my General Abandonment pass does not allow me free passage on the Glacier Express trains – I would have to pay a surcharge. Only CHF15, but I decided at this point to re-think my plans.
Duncan had told me about the Post Bus over the Alps from Andermatt to Airolo and this sounded pretty appealing. When I got to Airolo I would re-think and could either go further on by train or bus, or return to Zurich by train. The Post Buses are all part of the Swiss transport network, and are therefore included for free on my GA pass – or so I believed. I waited about 40 minutes for the bus departure time – only three a day. The driver looked at my GA and told me I would have to pay a surcharge of CHF10 to get to Airolo. I am SURE he was pulling a fast one on an unsuspecting tourist, and I plan to write to the Swiss transport authorities to complain, but my German is not good enough to argue with him, so I gracefully declined and went back to the train station to re-think (again!)
I decided to go back to Göschenen and catch the next train through the tunnel to Airolo. See how the time was doing and either go further or head back. I had to wait quite a while at Göschenen, but the tunnel crossing to Airolo was very short, and I decided to venture further south.
More stunning scenery along the way and I eventually finished up at Bellinzona where I enjoyed a ham omelette in sweltering heat and then caught the next express train back to Zurich, packed with tourists on the Italian – Swiss leg of their European tour. I arrived back in Zurich at 16:51, just missing the 16:50 train out to my apartment in Kloten. Had to wait for the next one at 17:20, and arrived back in the flat around 18:00.
You may remember that I was planning to attend a church service at 18:30, still just do-able, if I was able to get on their website and check the location. However, I found that the service actually starts at 18:00, so I will have to defer this for another week.
I am completely in awe of the engineers who have built Switzerland’s network of roads and railways. It’s not uncommon to find a bridge crossing a wide ravine, only to then plunge into a seemingly endless tunnel on the opposite side. The natural beauty of this country is also breathtaking. I am just not used to seeing mountains at close range, and even some Americans were pretty impressed by some of the views from the train.