My father and I just got back from Europe. We were gone about a week. We traveled by train from Frankfurt airport to Zurich. Then we took a one day trip on the Golden Panorama express from Montreux to Spiez in Switzerland. The next day we took the Glacier Express between Brig and Chur. We used Zurich as a home base for these trips. Then we traveld to Pisa, Italy via Milan, Italy. After a day trip to Florence from Pisa, we returned by rail to Interlanken, Switzerland where we rode the train up to the top of the Junfrau (I think I spelled it right) Then we returned by train to Frankfurt so we could fly home on Easter Sunday. United upgraded us to Business class on the return trip.
European transportation, as I have said before, is a model of efficiency. We landed in Frankfurt at about 1:10 pm about 30 minutes late. We were holding reservations on an Intercity Express departing at 1:54 pm. No worries whatsoever. We were through immigrations, baggage clain, customs, and validatied our rail passes with time to spare. Without working up a sweat, we were on the platform with 10 minutes to spare.
The ICE train pulled in on time, and we claimed our reserved seats. We had seats assigned to us by computer. We knew the car number, and we referred to a bulletin board on the platform which told us exacly where our car would be in the consist, and then told us to stand in "sektor A" on the platform. This was sophisticated, painless, and enjoyable. No amjerks to perversely assign you to aisle seats at opposite ends of the car.
The conductor checked our passes, and we walked up to the diner. We seated ourselves across from a business man. Within a few minutes the waiter arrived and cheerfully gave us the menus. No scoldings about seating ourselves. I order eggs with smoked salmon, and my Dad had no problems finding something that pleased him. Within 10 minutes, I was eating my eggs (which must have been cooked on board because they were very good) and smoked salmon. The train was rolling along at a pace well over 100 mph. As I finished my meal, we rolled through a flyover without slowing down. What a way to run a railroad! The rest of the trip to Basel, about 2 hours away was spent listening to my Ipod and napping.l We arrived Basel on time, and switched to another train. The layover was about 10 minutes, and was stress free. 50 minutes later, and 5hours after getting of the plane, we were checking into our hotel in Zurich. We had a pleasant dinner, and went to bed.
The next morning, we started the day at 8 a.m. We rode a combination of trains to arrive into Montreux at 10:45 a.m. Swiss rail's website has the capability to download schedules onto pslm pilots. My palm pilot phone had the appropriate time tables downloaded, so we could easily plot our day. I even had a schedule with each stop so I could use the phone to track our progress. This was awesome. No paging through the cumbersome Thomas Cook timetable to find the correct schedule. We traveled from Zurich to Biel to Lausanne. We had a 5 minute connection in each city, and there were no missed connections. Lakes, vineyards, forests, and exotic architecture provided a fascinating view out the window.
After lunch in Montreux, we boarded the Panorama express. After zig zagging up the mountains through tunnels, we entered a valley. Words cannot describe the fantastic scenery. See the pics. There are over 300 of them for the whole trip. http://steve4031.smugmug.com/gallery/458619
We were back into Zurich by 6 pm. We had dinner, and another good nigths sleep. We started the next morning at 8 am too. This time we went to Brig with a connection in Bern. Swiss rail has hourly, or half hourly service on most of its routes. The connections are easy, and can be made nearly at any time during the day. If you do not have a fancy phone, or do not like reading the cooks timetable, the swiss rail people provide timely information with the most direct routing every time.
The Glacier Express, which runs along the top of the Alps, is another fantastic ride. Again, look at the pictures. We had lunch in the diner as the train zig zagged up a mountain out of Andermatt. The swtiched the diner in at Andermatt, a process that took only 10 minutes. The diner had traveled from Chur to Andermatt on one train, and now would travel back on ours. The crew was ready to serve as soon as we walked in. Amazing. The lunch was aobut 60 euros for the two of us, but it was quite good. The view was spectaclar. At chur, we had about a 20 minute wait, and then a scenic hour long ride to Zurich.
The next day, we rode over the alps on the Gothard route to Milan, and then on to Pisa. This is a classic rail trip, that is seems more spectacular becuase their is hourly train service over this dramatic crossing of the Alps. At Wassen, the tracks do a series of revers curves to gain elevation. Observant passengers get a sense of deja vu seeing the same church from three different vantage points at three different levels. Lunch was served at 12 noon. The italian waiters were not fluent in English, and somewhat half-heartedly explained the menu. However, the pasta and main course was delicious, and worth the extra effor of dealing with the waiter.
4 hours after leaving Zurich, we arrived Milan. The station is always busy, and somewhat confusing. However we had about a 30 minute lay over. So things worked out ok. The train from Milan to Pisa is called an Intercity Plus. It is supposed to have refurbished cars. They may have been, but they seemed to have experienced significant wear and tear. However the seats were comfortable, and the windows big, if somewhat dirty. It was clould out, and despite a scenic run along the Mediterranean ocean, I didnot take any photos. I got all of it on the return run. We arrived Pisa at about 6 pm, 4 hours after leaving Milan.
I will do part 2 tomorrow. Here is the same link for my pictures repeated.
http://steve4031.smugmug.com/gallery/458619
Enjoy.
European transportation, as I have said before, is a model of efficiency. We landed in Frankfurt at about 1:10 pm about 30 minutes late. We were holding reservations on an Intercity Express departing at 1:54 pm. No worries whatsoever. We were through immigrations, baggage clain, customs, and validatied our rail passes with time to spare. Without working up a sweat, we were on the platform with 10 minutes to spare.
The ICE train pulled in on time, and we claimed our reserved seats. We had seats assigned to us by computer. We knew the car number, and we referred to a bulletin board on the platform which told us exacly where our car would be in the consist, and then told us to stand in "sektor A" on the platform. This was sophisticated, painless, and enjoyable. No amjerks to perversely assign you to aisle seats at opposite ends of the car.
The conductor checked our passes, and we walked up to the diner. We seated ourselves across from a business man. Within a few minutes the waiter arrived and cheerfully gave us the menus. No scoldings about seating ourselves. I order eggs with smoked salmon, and my Dad had no problems finding something that pleased him. Within 10 minutes, I was eating my eggs (which must have been cooked on board because they were very good) and smoked salmon. The train was rolling along at a pace well over 100 mph. As I finished my meal, we rolled through a flyover without slowing down. What a way to run a railroad! The rest of the trip to Basel, about 2 hours away was spent listening to my Ipod and napping.l We arrived Basel on time, and switched to another train. The layover was about 10 minutes, and was stress free. 50 minutes later, and 5hours after getting of the plane, we were checking into our hotel in Zurich. We had a pleasant dinner, and went to bed.
The next morning, we started the day at 8 a.m. We rode a combination of trains to arrive into Montreux at 10:45 a.m. Swiss rail's website has the capability to download schedules onto pslm pilots. My palm pilot phone had the appropriate time tables downloaded, so we could easily plot our day. I even had a schedule with each stop so I could use the phone to track our progress. This was awesome. No paging through the cumbersome Thomas Cook timetable to find the correct schedule. We traveled from Zurich to Biel to Lausanne. We had a 5 minute connection in each city, and there were no missed connections. Lakes, vineyards, forests, and exotic architecture provided a fascinating view out the window.
After lunch in Montreux, we boarded the Panorama express. After zig zagging up the mountains through tunnels, we entered a valley. Words cannot describe the fantastic scenery. See the pics. There are over 300 of them for the whole trip. http://steve4031.smugmug.com/gallery/458619
We were back into Zurich by 6 pm. We had dinner, and another good nigths sleep. We started the next morning at 8 am too. This time we went to Brig with a connection in Bern. Swiss rail has hourly, or half hourly service on most of its routes. The connections are easy, and can be made nearly at any time during the day. If you do not have a fancy phone, or do not like reading the cooks timetable, the swiss rail people provide timely information with the most direct routing every time.
The Glacier Express, which runs along the top of the Alps, is another fantastic ride. Again, look at the pictures. We had lunch in the diner as the train zig zagged up a mountain out of Andermatt. The swtiched the diner in at Andermatt, a process that took only 10 minutes. The diner had traveled from Chur to Andermatt on one train, and now would travel back on ours. The crew was ready to serve as soon as we walked in. Amazing. The lunch was aobut 60 euros for the two of us, but it was quite good. The view was spectaclar. At chur, we had about a 20 minute wait, and then a scenic hour long ride to Zurich.
The next day, we rode over the alps on the Gothard route to Milan, and then on to Pisa. This is a classic rail trip, that is seems more spectacular becuase their is hourly train service over this dramatic crossing of the Alps. At Wassen, the tracks do a series of revers curves to gain elevation. Observant passengers get a sense of deja vu seeing the same church from three different vantage points at three different levels. Lunch was served at 12 noon. The italian waiters were not fluent in English, and somewhat half-heartedly explained the menu. However, the pasta and main course was delicious, and worth the extra effor of dealing with the waiter.
4 hours after leaving Zurich, we arrived Milan. The station is always busy, and somewhat confusing. However we had about a 30 minute lay over. So things worked out ok. The train from Milan to Pisa is called an Intercity Plus. It is supposed to have refurbished cars. They may have been, but they seemed to have experienced significant wear and tear. However the seats were comfortable, and the windows big, if somewhat dirty. It was clould out, and despite a scenic run along the Mediterranean ocean, I didnot take any photos. I got all of it on the return run. We arrived Pisa at about 6 pm, 4 hours after leaving Milan.
I will do part 2 tomorrow. Here is the same link for my pictures repeated.
http://steve4031.smugmug.com/gallery/458619
Enjoy.
