June 17 Zermatt to Zürich on the Glacier Express

Last updated on September 6th, 2023 at 03:41 pm

Photos from the Glacier Express
Video Summary of the Day

Today, we leave Zermatt and travel to Zurich to join the Viking River Cruise trip, with the first couple of days in Zurich before boarding the boat in Basel. We had a nice buffet breakfast in the hotel, complete with a waffle maker. I think they’re getting us ready for the food on the cruise! We checked out of the hotel, but not before a last spectacular view of the Matterhorn at sunrise from our room! We made our way to the train station and located the right train platform.

Glacier Express – We found our car and seats easily. A big shoutout to Sonya Yassi of Beyond the Seven Seas Dream Vacations, our wonderful travel agent. She generously made our 1st class reservations. We have been traveling 2nd class all week, which was perfectly fine. We were seated in the two seats with a table to ourselves side of the car; the other side had a table between 4 people. We were originally confused when the people entering the car kept mentioning seats 21 & 22, which were our seats. Then we heard someone say, “They said we can sit anywhere in the car except for seats 21 & 22.”  After seeing a Viking shirt on the guide with many of the other people in the car, we were wondering if we will see some of these people on the cruise, the next part of our journey (Spoiler alert: We did!).

It turns out the entire train car but us were completing the 4 day pre-extension Viking offers going to Geneva and Zermatt. The two couples seated across the aisle from us seemed more interested in talking to each other than seeing the magnificent scenery.

It was a little awkward when lunch was served as their meals were included in their trip costs. Breakfast was included at our hotel, so we had come prepared with our own water and some fruit to eat instead of purchasing food. Finally, one lady brought us her dessert and told us they shouldn’t be ignoring us. That gave us an opening to talk to her party of 6, assuring her we weren’t being ignored! Her name is Petra and we hope to see her on the cruise.

Our route was the same we had traveled yesterday until we got to Visp. One of the nice things on the Glacier Express was the additional information given as we traveled through each area. We learned the water in the  Visp river, full of glacial silt, is somehow cleaned as it travels over the rocky river beds  by the time it gets to Lake Leman. We saw more vineyards as we got closer to Visp. Once we got to Visp, we were in new territory.

It’s different that we didn’t stop at towns along the way, even Visp. Some passengers got off at Brig, which is the first place we stopped.

We saw men along the way raking hay cut on the hillsides by hand into rows.  They are like large yards, but I’m sure that they can’t get the equipment in, nor would it be cost effective to buy that equipment. I wonder if they use it for themselves or if they sell it to farmers.

We are enjoying 1st class. The tables and extra leg room are sure nice.  There are windows above the regular windows (and the windows are cleaner!).  It’s good to experience it, and I’m thankful for some of the audio guides along the way.  However, 2nd class has certainly been more than adequate for most of our trip. 

As we passed the Jungfraujoch-Aletsch glacier near Brig, we were told about the massive size of the glacier, and how in olden times the people of Fiesch,  below the glacier were threatened by it’s advance.  They got dispensation from the Pope at the time to pray for it to recede and protect them.  Now with global warming, the glacier is receding, and they got special dispensation to reverse their prayer and pray for it to grow.

The ladies at a table near us had been asking for ice several times; one of the servers walking through the train said in a little aggravated tone as she walked by ‘There is no ice on the train!’  As the audio guide told how much ice was in the glacier, one lady  exclaimed, “There’s that much ice and they can’t afford to chip a little off of it for us on the train?!?”

Along the way, we continued to see beautiful scenery. Neither of us were even tempted to nap! We rode over a deep gorge with a river running through it. We saw the little town of Munster – name sake of the cheese. Broad high valleys with guaranteed snow in the winter with lots of cross country skiing rose above us. Looking back we could see Jungfraujoch from the other side, just as we headed into a long tunnel at Oberwald. 

We rode along the Rhône River, which flows on to Marseilles.  The Rhône valley was beautiful. Above us was the Rhône glacier, most accessible glacier in Switzerland.

We then entered a 15.4 km tunnel that allows access through the pass.  The train moved slowly and had some stops and starts. Some of the water in the tunnels is directed to drains, and it can be used for geothermal heating and cooling of apartments.

More passengers got off at Andermatt at 12:50.  We wouldn’t arrive at Chur until 15:25.

Meals were served to the Viking passengers.  It appeared to be some sort of goulash with root vegetables and rice.  The smell of the food wasn’t bad, but it doesn’t make me wish that we had ordered some food.  We had a very full breakfast, and it’s lasting (and we have walked less than 1000 steps so far today!)

In the high mountain valleys, they receive several meters of snow in the winter.  So that the train can continue to run, metal ‘snow fences’ are built out from the mountain to prevent avalanches.  The Alps actually grow by a millimeter a year because of a combination of the glaciers losing volume through melting and the African continent pushing under the European shelf.

Soon, we entered the ‘Swiss Grand Canyon’ the Ruinaulta. The Rhine Gorge (Ruinaulta) between Reichenau and Ilanz is not called the “Swiss Grand Canyon” for nothing. It is one of the most spectacular landscapes in Graubünden and is even unique in the Alps. In the wild gorges, you can experience pure adrenaline with river rafting or hike along rugged rock formations. We saw all of that. The only way to get to some of the sights we saw is by train or by foot. We did see some river rafters navigating some fairly tight turns and some swirling waters.

At Chur (‘cur’-sort of), we just missed the first train to Zurich.  Actually it was still there, but the whistle blew as we got to the top of the ramp after switching platforms, and we knew it would take a bit to get our luggage on and situated, and decided not to test Swiss hospitality.  The next train was leaving in about a 1/2 hour after, and that seemed reasonable.

We upgraded this portion of the trip to 1st class with the upgrade of the Glacier Express, so we identified the 1st class car and got on.  At the last second a woman with a bike came on and had us move our luggage, but there was a rack that we hadn’t seen, so we were fine.  The train ride to Zurich was just over an hour. And first class meant that you were quiet!

After arriving in Zurich, we walked to the bus station and took a tram out to the Renaissance Tower Hotel. We were later that most of the other Viking tour guests, as the Viking host told us they were wondering where we were.

We collected our stored luggage, found our room and did some laundry in the shower. We were able to find enough places to hang everything up after giving it a good wash, rinse and squeeze dry.

There was a street fair about 3 blocks from the hotel so we walked over, deciding on a thin-crust, wood-fired pizza, which was done in a remarkably short amount of time. We walked around some and picked a freshly-baked, thick, gooey chocolate cookie topped with ice cream for dessert. The servers there were very impressed with their creation and took multiple pictures before giving it to us. Alan was delighted the cookie was warm and soft. The pastry he has had in Switzerland has been crunchier then he prefers.

When we returned to the hotel, we located an ice machine and have been enjoying  COLD water this evening.