Posh Mum's Journeys

Switzerland here we come and not a flight to our names. Sunderland to London. St Pancras to Brussels. Brussels to Cologne. Then Ice train to Grindelwald for starters. Tailormaderail: https://www.tailormaderail.com/ made all of the arrangements including seat bookings, excursions and hotels. Indeed the only thing left to us was to pack and turn up! Overall we can recommend Tailor Made Rail. Advance information was clear, comprehensive and accurate. When we had a slight hiccup on our outward journey this was down to an over optimistic time frame for changing trains in Brussels. Our tickets were still valid though and we picked up a later train to Cologne.

Saturday 25th June Poshmum is in standard Premier seating on the Eurostar from London to Brussels, hoping for a glass of wine before we pick up the DB Ice train to Cologne.

Oh dear we thought the connection time was optimistic. We missed the connection and have to wait 2 hours. Oh no what can Poshmum do?

So 2 hours late we arrive in Cologne. Luckily the Marriot is minutes walk from the railway station. We regroup and pop to Mangia e vai on  Machabäerstraße, a very pleasant Italian restaurant steps away from the hotel. Had splendid black tagliatelle with lobster sauce and shrimp. Then back to the Marriot. Gorgeous ginger shampoo in the walk in shower. Perfect end to a challenging day.

Sunday 26th June so long Cologne,  really are going Swiss now. Changing trains in Basel,  Speiz and Interlaken. Beautiful Rhine valley to gaze at, the picturesque mountains and forests and so many fairy tale castles. Last stop Grindelwald where we stay 3 nights at the hotel Spinne complete with Eiger mountain surrounded infinity pool how fab is that!

Grindelwald is certainly something and because of this you will be joined by many other visitors. Expensive too – Poshmum was not going to part with 75 Swiss francs to replace her broken sunglasses!  We watched nightfall set in over the  Eiger from our balcony and the twinkling star show was magical.

Clouds slipping by the Eiger, Grindelwald. Astonishingly clear day.

Monday 27th June. Our 41st wedding anniversary and what a beautiful place to celebrate in. We took the regional train down to Interlaken. We walked for hours and enjoyed refreshing tea in a tiny Italian cafe. Not as busy as Grindelwald but very beautiful. Grindelwald is twinned with Matsumoto where we spent part of our Japanese rail trip several years ago. Similarly Interlaken is twinned with Otsu. The twinning promotes harmony between these Japanese and Swiss cities.

Tuesday 28th June A very special journey today. We took the train and postbus to Stechelberg where we took 4 cable car rides in succession to the Schilthorn peak. The views were stunning at each stage. The summit houses the 007 experience. The revolving peak top restaurant was superb. For once we were too high for the flies.

Down in Grindelwald they dive bomb you as you attempt to eat over priced and somewhat at best mediocre food. Disgraceful standards in some of the restaurants – have never seen as many flies.

On the way back from the peak we strolled round Murren and then at the bottom caught the postbus back to the railway station. Took a slight detour to Wengen. A busy day indeed.

Wednesday 29th June we leave Grindelwald and take the Zentralbahn scenic route from Interlaken Ost to Lucerne.

At Lucerne we board a paddle boat to Fluelen pier. We upgrade to first class to get a better view. Each part of the journey was more stunning than the last.

From Fluelen we pick up the Gotthard panorama Express train to Lugano. This was fabulous and we had such a wonderful view of the mountains and lakes from our 1st class carriage as we whizzed along, passing through the longest railway tunnel in Europe slowly so we could learn more about the history of its development.

This is where the 2nd logistics issue arose. Tailormaderail had forgotten to book our taxi from the Lugano railway station so we paid for one ourselves. To be fair TLM reimbursed us immediately although it was their error in the itinerary that led to this oversight. All in all though the other arrangements went like clockwork.

Finally reach the Villa Sassa Lugano at 6pm. Beautiful room and huge balcony. nice spa – we gatecrashed a pool aerobics session and felt like we had an impromptu workout!

Walked down to the centre and finally really enjoyed our dinner. Grindelwald restaurants seem to think its OK for flies to bombard diners but Lugano so far seems to be much better. We went to https://www.trattoriagalleria.ch/ where we had very well cooked and presented sea bass with vegetables. Delicious food and we were lucky enough to get a table without a booking.

Thursday 30th June Lugano is stunning. Many properties built high in the mountains gives a lovely night time view of lights twinkling in the backdrop. The hotel villa Sassa is quite splendid. Having breakfast overlooking the mountains and lake is to be celebrated. Perhaps that’s why they include chilled prosecco with breakfast. Poshmum was well pleased.

We used our guest card to get to the centre by bus. Part of the promenade road closed off due to a running and Harley Davidson events.

Nice dinner at the local restaurant ABC Pizzeria, Via Tesserete 7, 6900 Massagno. Steps away from Villa Sassa. Lovely staff and good quality food. Prawns and asparagus pasta with a hint of saffron. Superb.

Friday 1st July we leave Lugano and take the scenic bus to Tirano where we pick up the Bernina Express train to Chur. We pass more lakes en route including Como in Italy. The scenery is absolutely beautiful.

Chur is much more developed since we were here when our children were aged 6 and 10 in 1994. The hotel Stern is a historic hotel in the Altstadt. Very nice Thai meal. Still pricey but good quality and no flies!

Saturday 2nd July load up with lunch stuff before boarding the famous Glacier Express to Zermatt.

Sunday 3rd July walked to far side of town and again scenery awesome from every angle.

We visited the Matterhorn museum and learned about those who have tragically lost their lives trying to conquer this majestic beauty. Had a nice dinner at the Swiss Chalet restaurant. Sat on the balcony chilling with a beer but locked ourselves out. Luckily the people in the next room contacted reception for us. Good job as we just beat the thunderstorm!

Monday 4th July we depart our hotel, https://www.hotelsimi.ch/ Zermatt for Lausanne via Visp this morning.

We have learnt that the huge jazz festival is on in Montreaux too which is only 20 minutes by train from Lausanne. Checked in at the Best Western plus hotel Mirabeau on avenue a la gare. Lovely room and very welcoming receptionist. We were given free transport passes so headed off to the Botanical Gardens.

Very hot. So much so there was an almighty thunderstorm. We dined at https://taole.ch/ an excellent and fairly new Lebanese restaurant. Spent the same as we have been but probably the best dinner we’ve had in Switzerland. Memorable marinated chicken cooked under a high heat. James finished mine alongside 6 exquisite grilled lamb cutlets.

Tuesday 5th July “We all came out to Montreux,
On the Lake Geneva shoreline” belted out Deep Purple many years ago.

Any music lover will be drawn to Montreux as so many famous names have done so before them. When Freddie Mercury first came he was bored but then bought a studio and later an apartment.

We also visited Chillon Castle. A 40 minute walk from Montreaux railway station. Dating to the Savoy era from 12th to 15th century the castle has a chequered history. Lord Byron visited in 1816 and was so incensed by the imprisonment of Francois Bonivard that he famously dedicated a poem to him.

Castle interior

On the way back to the centre of Montreaux we called in at the lakeside tennis club. Its open to the public for drinks and snacks. Very pleasant and restful.

Wednesday 6th July we depart Lausanne for our Journey to the Eurostar via Paris. We reach London in good time for a train to Durham. This post is complete now but what an epic journey!