Back from Switzerland yesterday after an amazing week. The picture was in fact taken in Italy – at Tirano, our furthest point south, after crossing the Bernina Pass on a one-day excursion. Just time for a truly average pizza, then back again. The people with Dot are Glenda and Peter, with whom we spent a lot of our time. They live near Chelmsford. We had a really good time together.
We spent the first Saturday night at a Travelodge in King’s Cross, which was not bad. We travelled there by taxi, and the driver very helpfully found the right place for us instead of the one I would probably have ended up at. Walked down to St Pancras, had a glass of champagne in the famous bar, and then a meal at an Italian restaurant. Very early start the next day, though once we had reached St Pancras at 6.45 and handed in our Eurostar tickets, we had to hang around till about 9 before boarding. The train left at 9.20. Clocks forward an hour for the Continent. At Paris we walked form the Gare du Nord to the Gare d’Est, where we had a snack, as did a large number of very tame sparrows. The tour manager was Paul Irving, a former geography teacher froom Newcastle but without a Geordie accent. He proved to be first-class, going out of his way to be helpful. At Paris he guarded our suitcases while we got snacks, and he did this on other occasions too. We got to know Glenda and Peter from Essex, and we struck up a friendship with them through the holiday: we had most of our meals together, and the four of us went to Zermatt on our own one-day excursion later. From Paris by TGV to Mulhouse: not terribly exciting scenery, but an impressive train, more comfortable than Eurostar. Got into Mulhouse at tea time and had a very good meal in the hotel; had some trouble with my usual problem, but used a second catheter to solve it, and after that the holiday was trouble-free in that as in all other areas.
On the Monday we set the alarm an hour too late but still made both breakfast and the local train to Basel. A dull and chilly start quickly warmed and brightened up as we travelled from Basel to Chur on a double-decker train, arriving early afternoon. After booking into a delightful room in the Drei Koenige Hotel in the old town, we strolled round and had a wonderful cake each at a cafe. Then walked up the mountainside for a view of the town. Evening meal at the hotel – Rostli – and an early night followed.
Tuesday was an amazing day on the Bernina Express. The weather was not promising, and by Pontresina it had started snowing. But this gave us some fantastic views, contrasted with when we came back, when the sun shone brightly and a lot of the snow had melted. Finished off the day with a meal at a Greek restaurant. The following day was bright and warm for the journey on the Glacier Express across the Gotthard pass to Sierre, passing close by the cable car to Bettmeralp, where we spent a fortnight in 1971. From Sierre we transferred by coach to Crans Montana – the Mont Paisible Hotel, which was very impressive. Sadly we didn’t get a room with a view, but it was still excellent, and the restaurant was first-class.
Every day was good, but the next two were absolutely stunning. On the Thursday we went by coach to Chamonix (because there were engineering works on the railway), and from Chamonix up by cable car to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi at 3842 metres (12,605 feet), comfortably higher than anywhere I’ve been on land before. (Even our hotel was higher than Ben Nevis!) The views from the summit were absolutely brilliant, and we took the lift to the very top. Dot felt a bit dizzy with the altitude, and so did I for a moment, but we were surprisingly OK generally. On the way down I managed to get a picture from the cable car of a Brocken spectre (shadow of cable car projected on to cloud and sourrounded by a halo-rainbow) which just about put the icing on the cake. Back in Chamonix we had a meal and then looked round the town, buying one or two things. At the hotel we made the mistake of ordering Chateaubriand for two, and after finishing a first plate we received another! A little bit de trop.
Friday was even brighter and just as warm. Glenda, Peter and the two of us took on a trip to Zermatt on our own. No-one else was interested, despite urging by Paul. We left just before 10 and took the funicular to Sierre, where we got a train for Visp, changing there for Zermatt. Lovely rail journey to Zermatt followed by something even better – a cog railway ride up to Gornergrat, which was over 10,000 feet. On this we had a “wow” moment even more striking than seeing Mont Blanc from Chamonix. We had been trying to make out which of many mountains might be the Matterhorn when we rounded a curve, and there it was – massive, clear and totally unmistakeable: a truly remarkable mountain and looking quite unclimbable. At Gornergrat we had cheese fondu and beer and would have liked more time, because the view was fantastic. But we had to catch the connections back to our hotel – all carefully worked out for us by Paul. And it went like clockwork. The walk from the funicular was hard going, but we made it in good spirits and even manage a reasonable meal – taking care to avoid anything excessive like Chateaubriand.
Very early start homewards on the Saturday, with the coach leaving the hotel at 7.35am and taking us to Sierre. Connection to Brig, from where we got a tilty train to Basel, which was very, very quick. I suspect it also left us feeling a bit ill, but maybe we were just exhausted. We got to Mulhouse just after lunchtime and walked into the town, deciding to have lunch at the the Auberge du Vieux Mulhouse, which we discovered later has quite an enviable reputation. I had some nice duck, but Glenda got something which claimed to be rabbit but was largely uneatable. Afterwards we had a drink with some other Treyn people in the main square and then looked at an interesting exhibition – The Word in Art – in the big church there. A choir and orchestra were practising for a performance later, and Glenda and Peter went back for it, but Dot and I were feeling totally whacked out. My head was going round, and we both had a bath and lay down for a while. Had a light evening meal in the hotel with Glenda and Peter, then another early night.
The final Sunday was again bright and warm, only getting very cloudy and threatening rain as we approached Norwich. We left Mulhouse at 8.28 on the TGV and were through Paris like a breeze, the Eurostar arriving at St Pancras at 2.40. We shared a taxi with Glenda and Peter and parted from them on the concourse at Liverpool Street, catching the 15.30 to Norwich – which, needless to say, was late leaving (though it arrived on time). We arrived home just after 5.30pm.
We spent Monday catching up. I played chess against Yarmouth in the evening and drew with Kevin Shaw on Board 4 in a not-very-interesting game. Today has been rain all the way, with more catching up. Tim Mace, our house-sitter, called in to return the key on his way to London!