Sunday 11 December 1983 – Buchs
It was a
long day today. Up bright and early and although Rab feels as if she is getting
a cold, we managed to get into the breakfast with a vengeance. Very nice with
cold meat and cheese and cereal – all at no extra charge.
Just as well we had a good meal then because there was not much else to be had
during the day.
Our horse
taxi arrived promptly at 09.30 as ordered. It wasn’t Lisa this morning but
Lotti, much superior to Lisa, so the driver told us. Off we went to the station
at a good pace, bells ringing, with us grinning like Cheshire Cats. It was a
fine morning when we left and the Matterhorn
was clear in the sky. I was almost tempted to stay and do the trip up the Klein
Matterhorn. Just as well I didn’t because as we left at 10.05 the clouds were
rolling in.
The carriages
of the Glacier Express were a big disappointment to us. They were narrow and
the seats were very upright and not very comfortable, added to which the
section of the coach where we were seated seemed to have a defective thermostat
because it was stinking hot. We managed, in the end, by opening a couple of
windows, to get the temperature down to a comfortable level, but it took a bit
of time. As we went down the valley to Brig the weather got steadily worse and
soon it was snowing heavily. All the views we had seen on the way up were
masked.
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| Cloud (and snow) coming in |
Matt and I
shot off to the restaurant at Brig to lay in some padkos and drinks because we
were all getting thirsty with the heat in the compartment. No sooner had we set
off than the refreshment man came around. We bought a couple more drinks from
him but as it was only 12.00 and we had breakfasted at 09.00 we left the
purchase of food until later. Bad mistake – there was no later! Still, we managed
with our ham rolls from Brig and some biscuits and chocolates which Rab had
brought along. There is never too much chance of our starving when travelling.
 | |
| Parts were relatively snow free |
The journey
was a long one – some six hours to Chur where we got off, but I enjoyed it
thoroughly. The scenery was spectacular and surprisingly diverse. The mountains
and the forests changed their characters throughout the trip. We decided not to
go to St Moritz after all since that was another
two and a half hours travel and we want to go through to Austria
tomorrow. So we headed up to Buchs from Chur. In passing: I was mistaken for an
American again today, but this time by Americans! My accent must be slipping.
 |
| Coming in to Buchs |
Finding a
hotel was a little difficult. Mondays
are late opening in Buchs with the shops only opening at 13.00. so most of the
hotels were closed. We managed to get a couple of rooms (for f75.00/$36) at the
Bären Hotel which was very basic, but clean. No bathroom so we had to go down
the passage! We had a very nice and generous meal at a restaurant up the road.
And so to bed!
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