COUNTRY HOPPING - Phil & Jill

It is all the things you don't know when you are travelling that makes life interesting. When we were off loaded in the carpark bus stop in Lugano yesterday we didn't know that these coaches can't enter the city because of the steepness and traffic congestion. Away from the waterfront Lugano has a main thoroughfare with all the upmarket shops Gucci, Dolce and Gabana, Svarkoski and more, all dripping with high quality goods. The little laneways off this thoroughfare have bars and cafes. It is such a beautiful place. It is hard to work out though are you still in Italy or Switzerland. Everything clearly has an Italian influence and most people are speaking in Italian. Further along you get to the train station by taking a funicular tram which is very modern and runs every 6 minutes - taking 3 minutes up and down.

We had a very hasty breakfast at the hotel, leaving at 7.20am to walk the 20 minutes, take the funicular to the station, find Platform 3 for the IC ( Intercity) train to Zurich. It was interesting seeing the country again that we had
travelled through on the bus. The countryside immediately grabs your attention and in around an hour and a half you arrive in Zurich. We have used the huge Zurich station a number of times but when we descended the train I was still overwhelmed which way to go. We had 12 minutes to find the next train to Salzburg. Fortunately Phil was on the ball and we quickly made our way to the big blue board in the central area to find out which platform RJT 365 was leaving. We found out platform 9 and hot footed it there checking with a conductor on the way. He confirmed we were right and needed carriage number 24. Swiss trains are notorious for being long but this Austrian train takes the cake. It was at least 300m long and we later estimated that the train would be carrying around 2,500 people. We did have a smile on our faces when we saw two guys with bikes running for all their lives to try and reach the last carriage to put their bikes on before the train takes off as it reminded us of the time we couldn't make it and just had to jump on and we were in 1st class. This led to all complications until after the 3rd attempt at various stations we were escorted by a conductor to the end of the train. This time it was not our problem. From the very beginning this train trip was magical. We were so pleased with our efforts to successfully be on our way. The train was beautifully appointed, plenty of leg room and we were to learn that it had a comprehensive internet - you could get digital newspapers, magazines and films as well as the logistics re the train, i.e Speed, location and station stops. Everything to keep a passenger entertained if you were going the full distance Zurich - Budapest. Amazing the distances these trains travel. You can also have very nice food with a huge variety of meals offered from snacks to full meals either in the restaurant car or the little man brings your order to your seat. The cost of the journey was 360 euros for two.

It maybe of interest to some to see the names of the stations we stopped at, starting from

Zurich, Sargans, Buchs, Feldkirch, Bludenzl, St Anton am Arlberg, Landrek, Zams, Otztels, Innsbruck, Worgl, Kufstein to Salzburg before it gets to Budapest the train will stop at Linz, Wien,
and Gyor.

The trip took the route from Zurich alongside the lake. So close it seemed as if the water was lapping the tracks. It started climbing with massifs on either side. You could see the jagged edges above the treeline that the snow would cover in winter. It was breathtaking. The mountains would be around 2,000 m. Then we came to long, long tunnels cutting through the Alps instead of going over the tip. What an amazing piece of engineering. The Alps on top would range to around 4,000 to 5,000 m.

The contrasting bright as you emerge from the tunnels makes the sight of the alpine meadows even more breathtaking. The V shaped steep valleys below us, heavily cropped, the tall steeples of the village church as well as cattle roaming in the fields are a sight to behold. Even taller slopes with some patches of remnant snow were all so dramatic and beautiful. I took some photos along the way but it is difficult to capture the grandeur.

The 12 hour journey went in a flash and like that we were in Salzburg and it was not raining as we had read in the forecast it may be. Our hotel the Atel Losserstradehof was only about 800m from the station and easy to find. Just what we needed after such a big travel day. We had really country hopped from Switzerland, Leichenstein, Germany and Austria.