Today we completed the second part of the Unesco World Heritage train ride through the stunning Bernina Pass. Of course it was an early start with a rushed breakfast, before having to haul our bags through the snow up the the Preda train station. We were freaking out about missing the train as there was no cross over between our train going down and the next train up, so we needed to catch the one an hour earlier. Thank goodness, as the ticket master said they would of had to call the train and ask them to wait for us. I didn’t fancy pissing of the time precious Swiss train drivers! As it was, there was a mild panic as we had to scoot behind the down train, across the tracks to the up train. However once on board and seated in our reserved first class seats, we could finally relax and enjoy the view. Turns out, we were seated directly behind the driver so we had a great forward facing view of all the tunnels!

Starting at 1372m elevation, we climbed through the mountain (a 5km tunnel) and up across the Ospizio Bernina, Lago Blanco (white lake) reaching the highest train station on the trip, the Alp Grüm at 2253m elevation. The views were stunning along the way and we all got to jump out at the top for 15 minutes to stomp in the snow and take in the view. Truly amazing.

The decent was slow and measured with views across to huge
icicles hanging off cliffs and eventually down to Poschiavo with
its deep dark green lake and then down further into the Italian
town of Tirano. We had a lovely pizza lunch and then headed
off to Milan on another train. Didn’t spot Mr George Clooney
unfortunately as we passed Lake Como. Finally we fell into our
beds in an AirBnB in the Piazzale Carlo Archinto.