St. Moritz

It was an early start this morning (7 am). We ate breakfast at the Hotel Lauginella (excellent sausages), and then stopped by a sporting goods store to buy Pam some warm winter gear – we underestimated how cold it was going to be up here in the mountains (2C)! After Pam picked out a lovely matching blue sweater/hat number, we left for Plaza de Scoula to catch the tram up the mountain to Chantarella. The tram to Chantarella is a short 5 minute ride, but we accidentally got on a connecting tram heading further up the mountain on the direction from our non-English speaking tram conductor. Something obviously got lost in translation. Anyway, we ended up going to Carviglio (2,486m), which is about halfway between St. Moritz (1,856m) and the summit of the Piz Noir (3,057m).

When we finally got off the tram, Pam and I realized we were the only ones not wearing ski boots! After a nice cup of hot chocolate, we took some photos of the skiers gracefully weaving their way down the mountain amid the gently falling snow. It was damn cold up there, but amazing nonetheless! Before taking the tram back down to Chantarella (2,005m), I commented to Pam that it would be a dream of mine to come back and actually ski down the mountain from the top of Piz Nair some day.

Chantarella provided some spectacular views overlooking St. Moritz and the frozen lake that shares its name. We took a carriage ride to a nearby restaurant for some coffee before heading to the train station for our journey back to Bern via Chur and Zurich. The ride from St. Moritz to Chur actually retraced the Glacier Express route from the day before. I couldn’t resist taking more pictures and video of the rugged landscape in the Upper Engadine region in southwestern Switzerland. The trek from Chur and Zurich also provided for some scenic views.