The Glacier Express

We embarked on a tour of Switzerland with the grandparents on the "Glacier Express" train. In it's day, it was an express train, with 91 tunnels and 291 bridges taking you across the Alps up to 2000 meters on the south side of Switzerland. It is truly a marvel of engineering for the time that it was built, including wrapping underground while turning up to 270 degrees. Now it is known as the "world's slowest express train." We were blessed with sunny weather, and spent 12 hours exploring Switzerland. We were ready, with cameras in hand, in a beautiful panorama train built so you can admire the countryside from every angle...

We saw amazing panoramas of the Alps after every bend and tunnel. The cameras got quite a workout.

There were towns seemingly in the middle of nowhere, with obligatory ski resorts.

We got a small glimpse of what it is like to live in one of these small towns. Here is a woman heading off to the market.

And hang gliding is a very popular sport with the ski resorts...

The multiple avalanche guards looming over the train did not make you feel very confident!

But the amazing views distracted you from the danger. Did I mention that two Japanese tourists were killed last year on this train when it derailed?

We were treated to a first class lunch in our cabin. Who knew childrens' chicken nuggets could be so expensive?

After about four hours, the girls had finally had it. Nicole had a fever, and she corked off. Samantha decided that Harry Potter was more interesting .

We continued to wind our way towards St. Moritz, and came across The Glacier Express going the other way. Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?

.
We went through some frighteningly narrow tunnels, and saw the "Grand Canyon" of the Alps...

We emerged, blurry-eyed at St. Moritz, to spend the night and enjoy the spectacular surroundings.

Miyo and Pop Pop were here!

Switzerland schools know what is the most important thing to do. In February, all the schools take a week off for "ski week". That is the official title, and everyone heads out of town. It was the perfect opportunity for a visit from Tom's parents, affectionately known as "Miyo and Pop Pop". We did a serious tour of Swiss tourist attractions, and we were blessed with unseasonably sunny weather. First on the agenda, the Hergiswill Glass Factory.

Hergiswill is a small town off of Lake Lucerne, with the perfect sand and pure water to make hand crafted glass items. We took a small train ride and arrived in a quaint Swiss town.

We took a small tour of the history of the factory, and got straight to work blowing our own glass...

Just kidding! The real glass is heated at over 1000 degrees centigrade. We emerged from the tour to be mesmerized by men working with molten glass. You cut it with scissors!

And here they are making perfect red wine flasks...

We could have watched them for hours, but now it was our turn....

You want me to what? Put that hot air to good use, Tom!

We all made beautiful glass balls for our Christmas tree...

While the ornaments were cooling, we took a tour of the museum. They also make mirrors, Check out Tom's new basketball physique!

They even had a playground outside with a 2 story high marble maze, where the marbles clinked their way down hand-made glass artwork. Some children, however, needed to work off a little bit of energy...

All in all, it was a very successful outing, with some beautiful ornaments and memories as a souvenir.