Tag Archives: Switzerland

The grand tour. Day 26. Zurich to Aachen.

03 Saturday Oct 2026

Posted by in Germany, Photography, Railways, Switzerland, The Grand Tour, Travel

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08;30.

I’d planned to have a lie-in this morning and get a later train but my body clock seems to be permanently set at 06:00 so as I was awake I thought ‘bugger it’, had a shower, packed and made my way across a very quiet Zurich to the station. The only people who were out that morning were joggers of all nationalities and a handful of people on their way to work. Some cafes were already open, catering for early birds like me.

I arrived at the station in plenty of time to catch the 08:37 to Stuttgart Hbf, a loco-hauled Intercity service make up of double-deck coaches and operated by DB, so I have wifi and plug sockets up here in 1st Class. One thing I found puzzling about Swiss trains was their lack of on-board wifi. Still, now I can recharge my laptop and blog en-route.

09:13.

We’re currently crawling along at about 15mph and have been for the past 10 or more minutes, but our reduced speed was rather useful when we passed through Rheinfall as it gave plenty of time to admire the magnificent waterfall and surrounding historic building. This has now been added to my list of places to see on a future visit.

I’ll add some picture later today when I’ve sorted out some other things.

09:45.

Having seamlessly crossed the border from Switzerland and Germany, my train reversed (with an engine change) at a town called Singen. It’s a busy railway junction and freight artery judging by the amount of locomotives parked up ready to take over trains. The trees that line the route in this part of Southern Germany are signalling the arrival of autumn through the complex palette of colours their leaves are displaying.

10:30.

We’ve just left Rottweil, a name that may be known by some dog owners! Beside the canine interest there’s what appears to be a working rail museum here judging by the variety of old steam and diesel engines plus sundy other vehicles that are present.

10:53.

I’m now at Horb, another junction for local services the also possesses a small railway works that appears to refurbish old coaches, wagons and locomotives. The once extensive freight yard has shrunk but there’s still traffic. All the old signalboxes are disused but still extant. A tall one that used to guard the station is swathed in scaffolding and appears to being restored.

In true DB fashion due to all the slow running thanks to engineering work we’re now running 10 minutes late. Horb looks like a lovely little town, spread across a river valley with pretty houses and whitewashed churches. If only I had more time to explore…

13:30.

I’ve changed trains in Stuggart HbF which is undergoing a major transformation since I was last here in 2009. The station concourse has been demolished to make space to build the new Stuttgart 21 project. Essentially (in Stuttgart anyway), they’re replacing a terminus with a through station that’s being built underground. It was a controversial project that attracted protests – just like HS2 in the UK. Just like in the UK, those protests failed to stop the project. Here’s the view from atop the visitors centre.

The old station building’s to the left, Stuttgart 21 in the middle and the existing platforms and trainshed to the right.

With the fact the station platforms are cut off from a concourse and circulating space is at a minimum, the station was chaos. Especially today as people arrived for a gay pride event, whilst dozens of others wandered around in traditional Lederhosen and Dirndl on their way to Oktoberfest events. I had little time to grab pictures (but there will be some later) before catching the 12;49 ICE bound for Berlin. It was a busy train – even in 1st class, but I managed to find a seat. Mind you, I was only going 30 mins down the road to Mannheim, so it would have been no big deal, although I did enjoy bowling aling through the countryside at 249kph!

At Mannheim I had a seamless cross-platform interchange with another ICE bound for Hamburg, but this one is virtually empty. I’m on it as for as Köln (or Cologne as it’s known in English).

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Cheers,

Paul

The grand tour. Day 25.Tirano (Italy) to Zurich (Switzerland)

02 Friday Oct 2026

Posted by in Italy, Photography, Railways, Switzerland, The Grand Tour, Travel

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09:00.

So, it’s ciao Italy. I’m heading back to Switzerland on regional express trains, changing several times en-route. They’re far less busy than the Bernina express – and the windows open, making them great for photography. 

Today’s weather is looking promising and  I’m in no great rush to get to Zurich, so let’s see how the day goes. Here’s my 1st class coach.

Travelling in style.

Haveing done the most scenic part of the route a few times yesterday I’ve made sure that I’m in a good seat on the train.

Not bad views today…

15:00.

Well, what can I say? I couldn’t have asked for better weather. Every glacier was clear of cloud and there was ample time to lean out of windows and take photos. I’ve been so engrossed in doing that despite changing trains several times that it’s only now that I’m on a German ICE from Chur towards Zurich that I’ve time to plug the laptop in and start to download pictures. This really is a superb way of seeing the Alps at their finest. I’ll certainly be back as  the walking/hiking opportunities look fantastic. Dawn would love it. Well, maybe not spending quite so much time focussed on trains!

I’ll update this blog with a selection of camera pictures later.

22;00.

Well, that was the plan, but a couple of things have gone awry. I’d forgotten that Switzerland likes to be different, so not only does it have its own currency it also has its own style of power point plug socket. because of this I ended up staying on a German ICE from to Chur to Basel rather then getting off at Zurich as it allowed me to download the camera into my laptop whilst trying to keep everything else charged. Foolishly, when I got to my accommodation – I thought there might be a range of sockets on offer. Bad move. Oh, where I’m staying in central Zurich (kerching!) is an interesting one too. Like so many hotels now, there’s no staff and everything’s done over the internet. Only this place has taken it one step further. when you book you have to download an app to your phone. Click on the app and it gives you access to the hotel – and then your room! I think I much prefer the old-style hotel I stayed in last night, which had real, live people on reception. Any problem? Ask a human.

So, tonight’s picture update is postponed. Right now the most important thing is letting my phone charge off my power bank as the phone holds my Interrail ticket – and bookings.

I’ll be up at sparrowfart tomorrow as i need to be on an early train from Zurich in order to get to my next port of call. Aachen. As I’ll be spending most of my day on German trains I’ll be able to upload pictures.

UPDATE.

As promised, here’s a tiny selection of the pictures I took yesterday.

When I was here at Alp Grum the day before you couldn’t see more than a couple of hundred feet. This view was obscured completely.
A closer view of the glacier.
Our train shirts the lake before arriving at Ospizio Bernina.
Another glacier where the clouds cleared for me.
Having changed trains at Pontresina and lost a considerable amount of height the landscape became more traditional.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Cheers,

Paul

The grand tour. Day 24. Bumbling around the Bernina.

01 Thursday Oct 2026

Posted by in Food and drink, Italy, Photography, Railways, Switzerland, The Grand Tour, Travel

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The law of Sod came into effect today. Having spent the first few hours of the morning swapping hotels to save a few bob, the plan was to spend a day exploring the Bernina railway right up to the summit of the line at Ospizio Bernina, which is 7403 feet (or 2256 m if you prefer) above sea level. It’s where one of the pictures from my previous blog was taken.

The day started well. I caught the local train from Tirano and shared a carriage with a lovely group which consisted of three retired couples from the Philippines. Then we were unexpectedly joined by a face who was rather familiar – in the shape of a retired railwayman from the UK. What are the chances? Well, on this railway they’re probably pretty good!

Sharing a window view with a friend from the UK who just happened to get on the same coach on the same train.

The only problem was the weather. I now realise just how lucky I was to be able to get the pictures I took on the way the other day, as the higher we got, the thicker the cloud became. Close to the summit we literally couldn’t see a thing as we were in cloud level. Whilst my Philipino friends departed at Alp Grum, where there *should* be fantastic views (and a lovely restaurant in the station building). I stayed on for one more stop to Ospizio Bernina. It’s a bit of a desolate place, but with a wild beauty. Like Grum, there’s a small restaurant in the station building, but be warned – it doesn’t accept credit cards – only cash. I hung around hoping the clouds would lift, but it didn’t look like it would be anytime soon so I grabbed a few pictures and caught the next train back to Grum, where I joined my new friends for a very chatty and convivial lunch. Afterwards, they headed up to St Moritz whilst I headed back down to Poschiavo which is a lovely old town but also a depot for the railway.

The more we dropped down towards Tirano the better the weather became which allowed me to get a half-decent shot of the spiral and viaduct at Bruscio. Having got back to Tirano I did make one more brief foray up the railway, but this time to get pictures from the very back of the train. By this time, most of the local trains were pretty empty, giving you a choice of seats and windows to lean out of. But by now, the sun had disappeared behind the Alps, so I gave up and came home. Depending on how the weather performs tomorrow, I may have one more crack at pictures at the summit on my way to Zurich, even though I’ll have a suitcase with me so won’t be able to go far. We’ll see.

In the meantime, here’s a few pictures from today.

Looking across the lake from Ospizio Bernina station. There’s a glacier behind there somewhere…
A regional train bound for Tirano arrives at Ospizio Bernina.
one of the lines old ‘steeple cab’ electric locomotives on the depot at Poschiavo
No, it’s not a model railway – this is real!
You can get an impression of the gradients on the railway when you look back from the end of the train and it looks like the line’s dropped off the edge of the world.

Back in town – and as it’s my last night in Italy, I treated myself to another pizza. God, now I’m stuffed! It’s back to eating salads from supermarkets for the rest of the week, just to make up for it! Cracking pizza tho’….

Burp!…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Cheers,

Paul

The grand tour. Day 22. Maybe I’ll go to Amsterdam…

29 Tuesday Sep 2026

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Switzerland, The Grand Tour, Travel

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03:15.

Fans of Joni Mitchell will get the reference here. Although I have to admit to being sorely tempted…

I’m currently kicking my heels in the vast and rather magnificent Frankfurt Haubtbahnhof where a simple change of trains has proved to be rather more complex as the curse of DB strikes again. I’m here to transfer from the train from Berlin (which was lovely) to the train to Zurich. I’ve no idea if that’s going to be lovely or not as it’s running 90 minutes late! Just as well I hadn’t booked any onward connections in Zurich then, although I do have a hotel room waiting for me in Tirano – if I can get there. DB have an interesting excuse for late running. The Brits would blame other operators or freight trains. In Germany long distance trains are late “due to delays abroad”.

Frankfurt station at 03:30 is still a busy place. Several foodstalls remain open to cater for the international travellers who seem to make up the majority of those here right now. Well, us and the handful of vagrants who make the place their sanctuary. The Amsterdam reference? That’s due to the OBB Nightjet service that’s pulled into the platform next to mine and left on time.

On the bright side, although the seasons change is reflected in the colours in the autumn leaves it’s still remarkably mild.  Temperatures hit the mid 20s in Berlin today and I’m still wearing shorts now. Hopefully the weather in Switzerland and Italy will be the same.

Damn. That train direct from Frankfurt to Amsterdam is giving me ideas…

04:30.

We’re off! Some smart work saw a swift locomotive change (Frankfurt is a terminus). On this train it was just as well I reserved a seat as it’s packed. There’s only one first class coach but virtually every seat’s taken. I’ve a single seat which in which a young Japanese girl was stretched out across. Of course she apologised and moved as soon as I arrived. Looking around the coach is like seeing the flags of the united nations. So many different nationalities are represented here. The one thing that jars with me? I’m probably the oldest person in the coach…

08:00.

I managed to get some sleep on the train and now I’ve wojen up in a new country.  Good morning Switzerland! Our first stop has been Basel, where 99% of the occupants of my coach decamped, leaving just 5 of us for the rest of the trip to Zurich.

My first impressions of Switzerland? The amount of railfreight is massive. But then so is their rail infrastructure. The other thing? Graffiti. For such a supposedly law-abiding country, it’s endemic. I have to say – if there’s one thing the UK does well compared to Europe it’s cleaning up grafitti.

11:30.

We eventually arrived into Zurich 55 late, which wasn’t too bad. I was in no rush anyway so I made the most of my time by taking pictures around the vast station and  surrounds. Now I’m on the train to Chur and enjoying views like this.