Monday, June 28, 2010

Graubunden Railriding

Put down that computer. Stop making cancellation calls. No more furniture pick up. Forget about all the junk strewn around the house and...

GO EXPLORE MORE SWITZERLAND!

You hear people say it often, but once you get in that moving mode, head down - blinders on, you forget why you came here in the first place -- to see as much of Europe as possible before having to go back to real life. Luckily, my husband has no problem putting all the dirty work aside to take off and play in the mountains for a day.

This past weekend was absolutely the best...but our trip on Sunday takes the cake. Imagine cruising through the greenest valleys, with mega amounts of wildflowers,  alongside ice-blue colored rivers, with mountains lining the fields that shoot straight out and up for miles, with the bluest sky, fluffy clouds, all while you are riding in an open-air train.

There is a RailRider train that heads out of Chur every Sunday from now until the end of August. It takes you through the Graubunden area in East Switzerland. Basically there are three extra compartments attached to the regular train without tops. It kicks the Glacier Express to the curb. Who wants to sit behind windows, that just gives you glare when trying to take pictures, when you could have this? And, crazy enough there was barely anyone doing this.

Things to note. The website talks about needing reservations ahead of time, but we are idiots and couldn't figure out how to do this. Maybe we lucked out that no one was there, but all we had to do was buy a regular ticket from Chur to Preda and then you pay the extra CHF 10 when you get on the train. You may want to bring a hoodie because it gets a little chilly when going through the tunnels. And, if anyone is scared of the dark...be aware that you will go through some tunnels where you can't see anything. It is so pitched black you can't see the person sitting in front of you.

Now, the main reasons we went were to see these crazy huge aquifers and the fact that Josh still hadn't been out to this intensely beautiful area of Switzerland. It did not disappoint. Once we got to Preda we double-back on foot to the town of Bergün. You walk in and out of forests, over and around waterfalls, and along the foot of these aquifers. We definitely went the right way on this hike. It was pretty much all downhill from Preda to Bergün. It probably would have been a much different experience if we had gone the other way. I was wondering why the guy was huffing and puffing coming the opposite direction when we first started on the trail. We figured it out quickly.

After a couple of hours walking and a couple thousands pictures, we grabbed a needed bite to eat at the first place we saw. Took in the views and then headed to the Bahnhof to make our way back to the city.


"Stella"r day trip!

9 comments:

  1. Nice blog. Very nice. Glad to be here.

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  3. Great shots! And thanks for sharing templates on Blogger! Have a good summer.

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  4. just started reading all about you after using your template on blogger - very cool life you have - love all your inspiring fotos - and your templates - you must love your job - I am a PE teacher/artist from Scotland - www.michaelmurphysart.blogspot.com.

    Will keep in touch with your world.

    Michael

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  5. Just wanted to say thanks for the nice comments. Glad you are enjoying the pics and content.

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