Before we reached Pontresina, we proceeded upwards, ever upwards until we reached the Albula tunnel at 1800m altitude. To reach this height, their are some spiralling tunnels that allow the gradient to be manageable. Surprisingly the track blends into the country side. Mind you by now it should as it is about 100 years old. The Albula tunnel itself stretches for 6km. So I have just been higher in a tunnel than I have skied in Australia.
When we came out the other side we found the weather was distinctly different as you can see below.
Our descent was quite quick and coming from the opposite direction would be as fantastic a journey as heading south. In summer the carriages on the train are all sightseeing whereas we had a mix of sightseeing and regular carriages.
We arrived in Torino with a wait of about 80 minutes until the next train to Milan. So we did what any tourist would do - headed for the nearest bar. Actually we headed for the bar past the railway station bar, just incase it was a bit dear. We settled ourselves in and ordered two glasses of red only to discover the price! :shock: €1.20 each! :shock::shock::shock: Quite the culture shock after being in Zurich the night before. The waitress wasn't quite sure what to say when we asked how much the 1.5 litre bottle was. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it was not for sale, as the wine maker needs the empties back.
Oh well, we managed three glasses whilst waiting for the train.
The train to Milan took about 2 and a half hours with quite a few stops. We arrived at Centrale with the weather quite inclement and the umbrella sellers out in force. In a taxi and off to our accommodation.
Same train, different weather
Check the tyres for ya, mister?
Where two lines don't quite meet. There are two train stations next to each other. One the Swiss standard gauge, and the other (on the left) the Italian wider gauge. As I don't own an anorak, I could not tell the difference.
