<strong>Switzerland by Train by Mona Risk</strong>.

I'm back from a lovely, so relaxing vacation.

We flew to Geneva, took an orientation tour with a tourist bus and then walked and walked for two days, around the Lac Lemans, in the old city, and in the commercial downtown. When we got tired we stopped for cappuccino and delicious gateaux in one of the salons de thé, (literally a tea saloon). Two days later, we took the train to Zermatt, a ski resort that boasts of the famous Klein Matterhorn, the highest mountain in Switzerland. Just sitting in the train, watching the scenery or reading became my favorite pastime during those ten days. Zermatt is a charming mountain village that looks like a postcard. See attached picture.


From Zermatt we boarded another train called the Glacier Express. Apparently it’s the slowest express train in Europe. It stops almost every fifteen minutes at one of the little towns. We spent eight hours in this train, an unforgettable picnic. While watching the panoramic view of mountains, glaciers, water-falls, aqueducts and the quaint villages in the valleys, we were served coffee, lunch, and drinks. Time flies by so quickly in a train, particularly this high luxury, ultra comfortable one. We reached St. Moritz, another resort town that boasts not only a ski resort but also the most expensive French and Italian boutiques at over 5000 ft elevation. It was nice to admire the $500 shoes. Look but don’t touch. We walked around the lake. There are lakes everywhere in Switzerland. Two days later, we were back on the train to Zurich, a large city with an old medieval town in its heart and another lake with so many swans gliding all day long. (I can’t remember all the lakes’ names). It was lovely to see the children feeding the swans. Two days later we embarked on the TGV, Train Grand Vitesse, the very fast French train toward Paris, my all-time favorite European capital.

We were lucky to have enough points with the Hilton hotels through my husband’s former business trips. Thanks to these points we spent three wonderful nights at the Paris Hilton overlooking the Eiffel Tower. All our hotel and train reservations were booked from the US through Internet. For the train we bought a Eurorail pass that allowed as many train trips as we wanted in Switzerland.

Mona Risk