Glacier Express - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

davidmash · #1 01-11-2022, 03:24 PM

This is on our list of things to do when we go to Europe (hopefully) end of this year. I have VC approved for 12/23-1/9. We plan on going to Italy and Switzerland. I have been wanting to go on this train since I heard about it years ago. I hope this Covid BS subsides to the point when we can travel wit out fear of being stuck somewhere or canceled last minute.

https://www.thetravel.com/most-scenic-train-ride-in-the-world-glacier-express/

t walgamuth · #2 01-12-2022, 09:56 PM

Looks like fun!

Air&Road · #3 01-13-2022, 07:55 AM

We had tickets for Europe for May 2020 and ended up kicking the can down the road. We want to use the tickets this Spring, but I don’t think the Covid mess will allow it then. Maybe in the fall like yours.

The Swiss and Austrian Alps are some of my favorite places. I went to Italy and Switzerland a lot in the early 2000’s. Switzerland is much preferable to most of Italy for me, but we’re all different so you may find the opposite. St. Moritz is my favorite place in Switzerland. Driving from Lichtenstein to St. Moritz and then into Italy toward Milan is magnificent, but there are many other breathtaking routes.

For me, driving on open sections of the Autobahn on weekends is real sport. I learned my cross country driving skills on the Autobahn as a young man. If you want to do it, make sure you study the rules and procedures or you’ll be a hazard to everyone including yourself. In these days the trucks plug up the Autobahn on weekdays, but they park on the weekends. Find the open sections and plan your travel on the weekend. That is, of course, assuming you want to include that in your agenda. If you live to drive fast, it’s an experience you won’t forget.

Enjoy the trip, but be safe.

davidmash · #4 01-13-2022, 11:13 AM

Actually, when I was a kid, we went to a small town names Pontersina in CH which is only 8 km from St Moritz. St Moritz is more of a hang out for out siders...Pontersina seems to be where the locals hang out. We always stayed at the Hotel Rosatsch when we stayed there.

The plan was/might be...Italy, probably Rome again and then train up to Zermatt to see the Matterhorn, then glacier Express to St Moritz...hang out there for several days and then train/plane to where ever we can get a flight back home to.

Using milage form the flights so that may prove challenging depending upon how stingy AA is with seat allocation.

vwnate1 · #5 01-15-2022, 09:11 PM

That looks great .

I'd be waiting a while yet though, here in So. Cal. the new cases are once again overwhelming the hospitals and you know many simply like to pretend they're fine and hop an airline....

I've been trying to get my Sweet to travel America by rail but not right now dammit .

Air&Road · #6 01-16-2022, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidmash

Actually, when I was a kid, we went to a small town names Pontersina in CH which is only 8 km from St Moritz. St Moritz is more of a hang out for out siders...Pontersina seems to be where the locals hang out. We always stayed at the Hotel Rosatsch when we stayed there.

The plan was/might be...Italy, probably Rome again and then train up to Zermatt to see the Matterhorn, then glacier Express to St Moritz...hang out there for several days and then train/plane to where ever we can get a flight back home to.

Using milage form the flights so that may prove challenging depending upon how stingy AA is with seat allocation.

I had written a response right after you wrote this but somehow it didn’t get posted.

Sounds like you understand why I am so Smitten with the St. Moritz area. I stayed in an old Hotel a few klicks from St.Moritz that might have been the small community you spoke of. I like it there better than the newer part of St. Moritz.

Don’t know if it would be a viable alternative now, but in the early 2000’s when I was working a lot in Europe I flew non stop to and from Zurich a number of times. I would fully expect that they still offer such flights and it’s not that far from St. Moritz to Zurich. Nice airport too. The train station is right down the escalator from the airline ticket counters.

There is an enclosed skyway type walkway between the parking garage and the terminal. Almost every time I was there, a guy was playing a harp for change. The music reverberated wonderfully through the hallway.

t walgamuth · #7 01-16-2022, 05:26 PM

I always give street performers $. I appreciate their courage.

Paulg1 · #8 01-18-2022, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

I always give street performers $. I appreciate their courage.

There were some “musicians” in Playa del Carmen I once gave money to stop playing.

maxson · #9 01-18-2022, 10:08 AM

This place is really beautiful. I hope I can visit it one day.

ShowBox Tutuapp Mobdro

davidmash · #10 01-18-2022, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

I always give street performers $. I appreciate their courage.

All through out Europe I have always encountered a ton of musicians on the street or in the undergrounds. I usually will stop and listen and give some money. I just appreciate that they bring a bit of beauty to the world.

Air&Road · #11 01-19-2022, 07:43 AM

I too enjoy the street musicians. I’ve tossed money in more than one open instrument case.

The most unusual I ever saw/heard was a Father/Son duet across the street from Gherardeli’s chocolate factory in San Francisco ca. 1979. The son was playing guitar and the Father had a homemade case that contained a selection of handsaws. He chose different saws for different numbers and played them with a violin bow. From a distance when I first heard them, I thought I was hearing a woman’s singing voice.

Thanks to modern technology you no longer have to be lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to enjoy such entertainment. This was just the first YouTube I came across:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKugtVQiwtI

The above is a wonderful street performance, but not early what I think of as street music. Somehow it is different when the people seem to be needing the money in the instrument case. Below is a series recoded in Prague. My wife and I went to Prague a few years ago. It is said to be the most beautiful city. That’s an opinion that I understand how it could be such a choice.

We went to Prague specifically for the music, but not the street music. The street music was an added bonus here and there. A bucket list item of mine was to see the Estates Theater in Prague. It has been largely untouched since it was built in the 1700’s. Only maintained, not remodeled. Mozart conducted the premier performance of Don Giovanni, possibly the most popular opera ever, in that theater. The dimensions and acoustics have to do with how the piece sounds. The times of rests between notes is effected by the performance hall. My bucket list item was to just be able to walk around in the hall and just be there. As it turned out, I not only got to go inside, but I also saw a performance of Don Giovanni. It was a fabulous experience. We also went to Vienna on that trip. In both cities we heard classical music every night and Vienna has nothing on Prague.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTgJF9PXMDc

sno_duc · #12 01-25-2022, 07:13 AM

Depending on how much time you're going to spend in Switzerland.
https://www.swiss-pass.ch/swiss-half-fare-card/
Last time we used them, 100 francs each, covered that expense in a couple of train rides.
With the Pass you get half price on basically all public transport (trains, cable cars, boats....)
One town we keep going back to is Murren.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCrren
Only way in and out of the village is cable car, no private vehicles. Very quiet.
Because we had half fare passes, we would do things like have lunch in Interlaken.

In the train stations look for the "Drinks of the World" shop, micro-brews from everywhere.

davidmash · #13 01-25-2022, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sno_duc

Depending on how much time you're going to spend in Switzerland.
https://www.swiss-pass.ch/swiss-half-fare-card/
Last time we used them, 100 francs each, covered that expense in a couple of train rides.
With the Pass you get half price on basically all public transport (trains, cable cars, boats....)
One town we keep going back to is Murren.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCrren
Only way in and out of the village is cable car, no private vehicles. Very quiet.
Because we had half fare passes, we would do things like have lunch in Interlaken.

In the train stations look for the "Drinks of the World" shop, micro-brews from everywhere.

Once it gets closer to departure and we think we will actually be going (the trips have been canceled the last two years due to Covid) then we will start better planning.

On our last trip, we went to Rome and Paris. When we got there, we stayed put. We walked Rome everyday (never stepped foot on public or private transportation because there was just so much to see on foot.

In Paris we took the underground two or three times. We enjoyed walking and there was so much to see by foot.

Switzerland may be different. Not sure if we are going to go to one town (Pontresina) and just relax or do a train from Zermat to Tirano and stop at cities over night. If we do that, a Eurail pass of some sort may be in order.

Hopefully this Covid crap gets under control. We have 500k frequent flied miles with AA burning a hole in our pocket.