Visiting the famous Graubünden Canton in Switzerland

Hello All!

Ok, for starters…I’m not liking the fact I procrastinated long enough Megan beat me on posting this event…we all know I’m the prompt blogger and she’s…well, she’s tardy quite frequently…hehe…just kidding Megz!

Weekend before last I traveled all the way to Samedan, Switzerland to spend a few days with Megz and her host family at their holiday/mountain house. This house is located in the beautiful Graubünden region in Switzerland. It’s famous for its wonderful scenery and the cities there have quite expensive lifestyles. St. Moritz, a short 15 minute bus ride away, is considered a playground for the Russian Mafia or any elite socialite from around the globe.

I arrived on Thursday afternoon/evening just in time to eat dinner with the family and have a good chat with Megan and her host mother, Catherine. Friday was still a work day for Megz it was very kind of Catherine to give us the morning to explore some of the surrounding area. We decided to go and check out this famous St. Moritz to see if it had anything worth seeing. After about 1 ½ hours we decided that there wasn’t anything that special about this town; though, I’m told the nightlife is quite interesting…maybe next time! After that we went back to the house and did the normal au pair things that day…we played Memory, read books, ate lunch, and left in search of a playground! After dinner and helping put the kids to bed, I was pleased to find they own the ENTIRE James Bond collection! Wow…I was thrilled…So, of course, I made Megz sit through one of my favorites!

On Saturday we woke up fairly early to take a special train ride into Italy called the Bernina Express. Apparently it’s quite special. Now, forgive my lack of knowledge retention…but I’m told that either this train ride was 1) the first to go over an alpine pass instead of tunneling through, or 2) is the only to go over and instead of through. Either way I’d say that’s spectacular. The views from this ride are unforgettable. We traveled through snow capped mountains, along ridges which are impossibly steep, and saw some of the most spectacularly clear, emerald-green colored lakes and rives I’ve ever seen! The passed through some of the villages along the border where you can see the mixing of Swiss and Italian culture and architecture...and then across into Italy itself; into the city of Tirano.

Tirano itself wasn’t the most spectacular place I’ve ever seen; but, it was a great day trip. I enjoyed being in Italy…and I got my very first Italian stamp in my passport (hard to believe I’ve been there 3 or 4 times before and this is the first stamp)! So, we had pasta (my favorite food!) and gelato (my favorite dessert) and wandered around soaking up the sun and the atmosphere…it was a great day! On the way back we made a little stop in Pontressina for dinner and then we went home for an early nights sleep…

Now, Sunday was the best part of the trip, at least for me! We’d been invited to hike with Megz’s family…she’s not a big hiker and we’d talked it over and were riding the fence on whether to decline the offer. I’m so glad we didn’t! We didn’t go on an actual hike; instead, we took a nice walk to a glacier. So cool…hehe…literally!! We were bundled up but as the day progressed so did the strength of the sun so we began to shed layers. I’d never seen a glacier before so I’m not sure how this one stacks up to others; but I found it amazing! Morteratsch, that’s the name of the glacier, is just a frozen river of ice coming off the mountain…Ok, I know that sounds dumb, of course it’s frozen; but, I had no idea it would be like that! From a distance the thing just looks like rock and snow and when you get close you notice that the rock isn’t rock…it’s just a massive river of ice and it’s extremely thick…not at all like I’d imagined! This experience put global warming in a whole other perspective for me. Along the walk, there were markers showing from 1900, every 20 years, where the glacier was located at that time. It is breathtaking, in a completely heartbreaking way, how fast this glacier is melting! And, if you look behind you as you reach the glacier you can see the valley that was once just a solid field of ice…it’s definitely a moving experience! I’m told if you visit the glacier at the right time there are actually massive caves in it where it’s melting and sometimes you can even walk into them. This is quite dangerous because you never know when the ice is thin enough to break and fall on you or you fall through it. It’s been described to me the spectacular color of the ice when the elements are right and the melting part is carrying less dirt….it is supposed to be an indescribable shade of blue. If you click on the word blue you’ll find some pics I found of this glacier online. Otherwise, see my pics attached to this post, which I think don’t even begin to compare!

After the walk we ate at a local restaurant and then went back to the house. I left around mid-afternoon to make the 3 hour trip back to Zürich. It was such a lovely trip and I’ve been invited to visit again during ski season…might just have to do that!

Ok, going for now, but I have much more to fill you all in about…I’ll post again really soon!! (Oh, and I'll be doing a photo blog later with some of Megan's pics as well...her's are much better than mine!!!)

Ciao,

LuLu