Wednesday is our day to catch the Glacier Express. It runs only once each day (at least this time of year), so we needed to get an early start to catch it.

We checked out of the Happy Inn and got to the station by 9. We bought our tickets for the Glacier Express (not covered by our passes… reservations mandatory), got a printed itinerary of our five connections for the day, and took a train to Spiez.

Spiez is on the main line between Basel and Milan. While hanging out on the platform we saw several “rail ferries” pass through. Cargo trucks drive onto flat cars to be ferried through the mountains. So rather than spend the time and effort navigating the tricky mountain roads (USA-style freeways don’t really exist in this country), the drivers get a nap.

The main line train was quite scenic… as long as it was above ground. Most of the time seemed to be spent in tunnels, some as long as 9 km. The Swiss definitely prioritize their railroads over highways.

Our itinerary told us to expect a 7-minute walk between stations in Brig. We walked into the station, through the main hall and out the front door. The Glacier Express was parked on a track in the middle of the street in front of the station.

It’s another narrow gauge train, but not as narrow as the cog trains to higher parts of the Jungfrau region. By the way, so far all trains on the continent have been electric, powered by wires suspended above the tracks.

The Glacier Express is a total “Giezerwagen,” exclusively designed to give tourists a scenic ride through the mountains. When the tracks were reasonably level, the train tooled along at the customary 60 mph or so. When the tracks got steep, a set of cogs appeared between the rails that the engine would engage to climb without slipping.

Occasionally, pre-recorded announcements would come over the speakers in German, English and French, giving us little tidbits of information on the mountains we were passing through.

After a couple of hours, we stopped in Andermatt to add some cars. As soon as the dining car was firmly attached to the front of the train, the steward came marching through the train announcing that it was open for business. (It seems what he said was, “Der Speisewagen ist offen!“) Looking for the full Glacier Express experience, we went to the dining car.

We had been warned that Swiss food is nothing to write home about, so we won’t. Let’s just say that, given a chance to do this train again, we’d probably skip the dining car, as the food was rather ordinary for the extremely high price. It was also hard to pay attention to our food while trying to take in the endless parade of mountain scenery.

During our meal Rozie had to make a trip to the other end of the car while the steward was chatting it up with other customers (in German with a flamboyant Italian accent). As she tried to sneak past him, she nearly got clobbered while his arms were flailing about.

Our next train connection is in Chur, and we got there at about 4:30. All of our scheduled connections today have been impressively tight… too tight. We never had a chance to do anything else between trains. So we took a one-hour break in Chur and walked about a bit while the sun went down. (What a luxury to be able to do that! If you miss a train, the next one will be around in an hour.)

We found ourselves in a charming Swiss graveyard, and admired the intense gardening work done on the graves, which were arranged in tightly packed rows.

When the next train for Basel came by, we got on and did some more writing while riding through the darkness. We stopped in Zurich for about ten minutes. Had we known that we’d be there for that long, we might have gotten off to take a quick look around.

It’s Halloween, an American holiday that many Europeans are gradually warming up to. Bobber and Elena are throwing a Halloween party, but since tomorrow is a national holiday in Germany, their guests don’t have to worry about staying up too late.

Between Basel and Freiburg, Rozie closed the curtains of our train compartment and changed into her party dress. A short time later a couple of guys in green jump suits opened the door and asked a friendly but demanding question in German.

“Ich sprechen kein Deutch,” said Obbie. (“I don’t speak German,” an important survival phrase) “English?” said one of the guys in green suits. After we nodded, he said “Passport please.”

They checked our passports, punched some keys on a portable data device, and handed them back to us without stamping them. Switzerland is not part of the European Union, so people entering Germany from Switzerland are subject to a bit more scrutiny than we have seen at other border crossings.

We knocked on Bobber and Elena’s door at around 9. They had been worried about us, as we hadn’t had a chance to call and fill them in on our progress since we’d left Monday morning.

Rozie had also promised to make dips for the party, and set about to making babaganoosh in a very crowded kitchen. They have a huge living room, and a tiny kitchen, yet everyone wanted to hang out in the kitchen because that’s where the food was. Oh well.

After the food was ready, we retreated to the bedroom where we promptly passed out in our chairs. Our long and full day coupled with frequent and rapid changes in elevation left us a lot more exhausted than we expected to be.

Our slumber was interrupted at 3am by a phone call from some friends at home. Rozie talked while Obbie slept. When the last guests went home shortly before 5, we went to sleep in our assigned spot on the living room futon.