Jul 19 - St. Moritz

We had a very interesting trip to St. Moritz yesterday and a 2-3 hour wander in the town ... Mo-Ritz ... indeed ritzy !

The express train crawls up the mountainsides in S-curves and spirals from Tirano to the mountain pass this side of St. Moritz and then down.  We will hit that same pass on our ride, up and up and up.  We paid extra for first class in a panoramic car and then 2nd class, non-p on the way back.  It was hot, stuffy and airless in spite of the open windows on the way back.  Cool with A/C in 1st class.  Oh well.

Almost immediately upon leaving Tirano, we were in Switzerland.  I'd forgotten to bring my passport, but no one asked for ID.  I also forgot my camera ... duh.  All photos were taken with my iPhone -- the best camera is the one that you have with you, indeed !

Getting off the train in St. Moritz, we realized that Sandy had left my light rain jacket at the ticket counter in Tirano, but it was awaiting my return.  Whew. 

High end stores, expensive food are all typical Swiss, however, this was REALLY high end stores and REALLY high end prices.  Do you want a basic St. Moritz t-shirt ?  The cheapest that we could find was 37 Swiss Francs.  Nope. 

The views from the train were spectacular, from high vantage points looking down at lakes to looking up at glaciers.  An old fellow traveling with his grandson (my assumption) said that the glaciers used to come much further down -- no surprise. 

Sandy and I will be heading back to Tirano tomorrow as she's taking the train from there to Venice via Milano.  Our time here is winding down, unfortunately.

Hamid and I rode about 14 kms of the beginning of the ride this a.m., stopping for rain and heading back.  If it's raining on Sunday, tough luck.  We had multiple stops on the way back as I adjusted his brakes to stop the front fork judder.  That's done.  My bike seems to be ok; I'll give it an oiling before we head out.

Registration starts this afternoon.  I'll head over and see if I can get that done.

Onward.