I didn't want to leave so early from Zermatt, because it was such a quaint little town, noticeably French, because everyone spoke French and there is a passion for art, wine and pavement cafes. It would have been nice to have more time to explore.   Zermatt is well known to have the best places to hike with oodles of well-marked trails. I’d say out of all the hotels – the Butterfly Hotel had the nicest staff, although St Moritz is not too bad either. They were very personal I didn’t feel like I was just another guest, although I know I am.

8.52am and I’ve settled into my 1st Class Train allocation on the Glacier Express, it’s apparently the world’s slowest express train from Zermatt to St Moritz, a panoramic journey through the sights of Switzerland’s most beautiful holiday regions captured in impressive images.

We travel into the Urseren Valley to the land of four thousand metre peaks, an area known as Valis, then over the Oberalp Pass onto the Rhone Valley and into the Upper Engadin Valley.

We travel by green grassy paddocks, with some added colour of yellow and white daisies. A cow eats dessert up here in the mountains every day; it’s so luscious the grasses. There is plenty of the typical dark, wooden house chalets, with often balconies decked with spring flowers.

Ok, so you are wondering why the train travels slowly at times? The locomotive conquers steep gradients that include sometimes that of 125% - in particular going over the Oberalp Pass.

The Rhone Valley displays bizarre rock formations as the train wonders past these huge silver grey gorges.

My favourite views was when we pass over viaducts and could look back to see the carriages follow. There is 291 bridges and 91 tunnels we travel over and through during the day. The day consisted of 8 hours travel in large glass panorama dome carriages for the best of viewing. During the day, food and drinks were served and we all had headsets to listen to points of interest as the train clunks along.

We finish in the playground of the rich and famous, chic and fabulous, St Moritz.   Despite all the hype, the resort town isn’t all show, with its flash shops and well known stars that visit the area for the winter activities, during the summer it’s quite glum and grey, it’s got a cold feel, the hotels very modern, shops are all closed, nothing in the windows or they are blocked so it felt almost like a ghost town.   I can definitely see how the place would buzz in the winter with its ski fields and cable cars everywhere surrounding not to mention the curative waters of its health spas.

Sue and Keith are still following my journey, they just happened to be on same train carriage and then when we arrived in St Moritz same hotel.

Before dinner I decided to go for a short stroll down the hill a bit from the hotel, sitting all day I felt like a walk, although I did catch an elevator down to the front of the lake. The sun had disappeared and it was quite chilly, as it sprinkled rain, so the walk didn’t last long.

I do believe the train journey was a spectacular experience, a one-of-a-kind mountain landscape of the Swiss Alps. The many towering viaducts and spiring tunnels made it possible to scale the 400 metre height difference and is one of the best I have done.    I am a bit disappointed with my photos and ended up just taking in all the views than to try and take photos of everything I enjoyed because the big glass windows reflected the inside and the photos just were not turning out, even with my trying to place the camera right on the glass. Everyone on the train was saying same. I bought a photo disc souvenir to improve my despair but unfortunately I can’t put them on the blog because they are on a disc that my computer does not have the facility on it to download.

I’m almost at the end of my Swiss adventure, so tomorrow is a day of chillax to take it all in and get ready for my Rhine experience with Leanne.

"Merci" Switzerland for a wonderful stay, in particular the Swiss Alps, such a beautiful country to visit.