We began our day with a horse and cart ride through the Roseg Valley that began in the nearby town of Pontresina. Essentially it's an offshoot of St. Moritz just a few minutes down the road, and equally beautiful. The group split into three and six of us stepped into our horse drawn cart for a scenic tour through an absolutely pristine landscape. After experiencing a downpour last night I was worried that today's excursion would be horrible, but this morning the sun was shining and the sky was blue, though a bit cloudy. We trotted along for an hour, meandering along the trail and passing by rivers and small streams (the water was crystal clear), waterfalls, lots of trees, green meadows (some with cows wearing those cool Swiss bells around their necks), and of course we were surrounded by nothing other than huge mountains! I had a great chat with my Australian cart mates about things to see and do in Oz and the time just flew by as we quite literally took the scenic route. Our destination was a little restaurant where we could sit and have a coffee while the horses had a little nibble and a rest and take some gorgeous pictures of the mountainous landscape. Isn't life grand?!
Margaret had the best seat in the cart up with the driver!
Love those cows with the cowbells!
Look at how clean that water is!
Mountains, mountains everywhere!
Kay and Darrell, my new Australian friends!
Ta-da, I'm in Switzerland!
Looking ridiculous while jumping for joy!
Half an hour later it was back in the cart for the return route--the same path in reverse. This time, however, something was different. Suddenly there were loads of hikers and bikers emerging everywhere we looked. It was as if they were coming out of the woodwork! The Swiss surely appreciate the superb natural setting right out their backdoor and never miss an opportunity to make good use of it--I mean why go on an overseas holiday when you've got all this?
By the time we arrived back in St. Moritz it was lunchtime. I grabbed a quick bite before we all hopped on the bus to go up into St. Moritz-Dorf, the upper part of the town where all of the action is. Craig gave us a bit of an orientation walk to show us where the posh hotels were located and where to find the best chocolate (yum!!) before we set out on our own to make the best of the afternoon.
Beautiful old buildings and lots of new construction.
Chocolate!!!
Only 6.90 Swiss Franks for 100g, not a bad deal!
One very posh hotel--nope, not where I stayed!
Several of us decided to use our free mountain transport passes to take the funiculars and cable car up to the highest point above the city. On the way up, I had my first Movenpick icecream and what a nice treat it was, but I still prefer a good gelato hands down. What fantastic views awaited us as we walked off the cable car. I can only imagine what this place looks like in the winter and I certainly understand why people flock here to ski! Up at the top while waiting for our return cable car we snapped lots of photos and took advantage of the snow that remained. I made myself a snowball and Janis and Michael waged a little snowball fight! At this point in the trip, I feel a bit like a mountaineer, but you certainly won't see me actually hiking and of these peaks--cable cars really are a wonderful invention and the engineering is nothing short of marvelous!
One of the incredible views from the top, but not of St. Moritz.
Here's the overlook of St. Moritz. Imagine Olympic figure skating being held on that lake!
St. Moritz-Bad, where my hotel was located.
Hello goat!
The elevation at the top--the air was a bit thin.
The gondola.
Snowballs in July!
Snowball fight!
...and retalliation!
St. Moritz is on top of the world!
Hmmm...now what is Michael doing here? He claims he is "holding up the goat":).
At the end of the afternoon we wound our way through the town down toward the lake and followed the shoreline back to St. Moritz-Bad where our hotel is located. A quick stop at the supermarket for some dinner fixings (everything here is SUPER expensive and I wasn't going to spend $50 for dinner!!) and a short walk later we successfully made it back to the hotel for an early evening. Tomorrow is a big day with lots of stops, which means we have a very early morning so I'm going to call it a night as soon as I get my photos uploaded. I'm having so much fun that I don't want to recognize it's Thursday already!
View of the lake.
A final sighting of St. Moritz-Dorf as we walked back to the hotel.
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Location:St. Moritz, Switzerland
