{"id":573894466,"date":"2022-06-15T22:07:10","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T02:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/?p=573894466"},"modified":"2022-06-22T09:31:01","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T13:31:01","slug":"riding-the-glacier-express","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/blog\/2022\/06\/15\/riding-the-glacier-express\/","title":{"rendered":"Riding the Glacier Express"},"content":{"rendered":"

We took the Glacier Express<\/a>, the world’s slowest express train, and enjoyed an afternoon in the Swiss Alps. Trains have been running here since 1889, the Glacier Express started in 1930, but the first panoramic trains, like the ones we enjoyed, have only been on these rails since 1993. The modern cars came in between 2006 and 2009, and they have all recently received a facelift. These are comfortable rides, and they offer three- and four-course meals. (The food was quite tasty …)<\/p>\n

Otherwise, you sit back and enjoy the scenery. There are headphones with music and, from time to time, a narration with local points of interest and historical notes. We started in Chur, Switzerland’s oldest town. We traveled through the landscapes brought on by the last Ice Age landslides, and the “Swiss Grand Canyon,” past the oldest Benedictine abbey in the country, through valleys with towns that date back to the 11th and 12th centuries, near UNSECO World Heritage sites and, finally, to Zermatt and the cloud-shrouded Matterhorn, which, on this day, was still able to hide despite topping out at well over 14,000 feet.<\/p>\n

But why read about all that, when you can see a bit of video from the train window.<\/p>\n