Up to Piz Nair 3057 meters

We awoke to a cloud about eye level that disappeared after 30 minutes.  Went to breakfast and up to the funiculars and cable car that I rode the first day seeing nothing.

We rode up with Brad Hayes and his daughter.  Brad is also a recovering attorney from Illinois who is my age and started in Portland with in weeks of my starting.  His daughter was 2 when he started 21 years ago.  They were going to hike down.

Up and down for us!!

Pam got to drive on the way up!

Were are at a little over 10,000 feet.

Panorama shots

From whence we came down from.  Cable car on right.  It held 100 people.

Our hotel

 Ice cream in town

 Back at the hotel

Looking forward to returning home and the various projects!!

But it will be an early morning!!

See you all soon!

Bernina Express Train Ride to Tirano, Italy

Friday we took the train over the Bernina Pass to Tirano, Italy.  It was a Jones tour and we had two cars to ourselves, but they were packed.  We had a guide with us who was entertaining and gave us a heads up on which way to look.

As you can see it was cloudy and some rain.  The pass was some 8,000 feet and it was just a regular friction train.  We arrived in Tirano after two hours and explored the city.

A loop de loop

Got turned around in the old city and ran into one of the Jones hosts who invited us to lunch.  She started in Port Angeles as a broker in 1984 and went to St Louis in 1993 and is in charge of some of the training in Tempe.  Had a good lunch and when they told us their sailing story, we trumped that and they absolutely cracked up at Janie's expense.

We decided to take the non-stop bus back and arrived at the hotel at 4.  I picked up some cheese, crackers, chips, olives, and breadsticks and we had dinner in our room.

Hiking Fools and way too many pictures!

Tuesday we walked around the lake which took a little over an hour.  It was cloudy and raining lightly.  Took a few pictures, but not much to see because of the clouds.  I worked on the blog in the afternoon.

The sailing school was giving lessons and we watched them from our room for some entertainment.

We had a nice dinner up in the village.  More wienner schnitzel and Pam had some green pasta that she liked.  Early to bed.



Wednesday the weather had cleared and we decided to take a 'leisurely walk from the top of one lift to the top of another.  According to the local guide it would be about a two hour walk from lift to lift.  

The hotel provides us with a card that is good on the local buses and all lifts and trams.  As we left the hotel I asked the doorman for an umbrella and he assured me it wasn't going to rain and we shouldn't carry it on the trail. So we got on bus #2 and headed to Punt Muragl Talstation.   Loaded into the funicular for a ten minute ride gaining  2,100 feet.

It was clear and just right temperature with a light breeze and we headed of on a decent trail with some loose rocks.

First through a large herd of cows.  Each had their own bell and a few were acting out as they had broken the 'fence' a single strand of light weight braided rope.  The farmer and young boy were trying to get them back.  The grass looked the same color on both sides of the fence.

As we walked further it sounded like a Japanese Pachinco Palace!  Every time they would bite some grass the bells would ring.  I think Pam was more fascinated with the cows than the scenery. 

Came to the stream and hoped we were far enough up stream from the herd that it would be safe to drink.  So far so good!  We took the low route that peaked at 2,364 meters instead of the trail that went to 2,731 meters.  Good choice.

There were maybe 200 folks on the trail, but we were pretty much on our own letting others pass.  We found the restaurant about 2 hours into the hike and had a beer.  The place had no electricity and a wood stove to prepare hot meals.

Pam could have spent all day watching the cows!

How are those cows doing?

 Beer break

Rats, a gate, we have to turn back!

The home stretch

Another hour and a climb of over 300 feet, through some steep terrain and waterfalls we arrived at the chairlift.  The wind was coming up hill so we bundled up and descended 1,600 feet to Pontresina where we hopped on bus #2 for the ride back to the hotel.

Our route in blue

It started to rain a couple minutes into the bus ride.  We gave the doorman a bad time when we got back and he said something to the effect that it shouldn't have taken us this long to complete the hike.

We rested up and got on the busses for our theme night dinner in an old farm house.  We had tossed salad family style and then cheese fondue and some baby boiled potatoes and then dessert.  We were all looking for the main course, but it never came.  I heard them discussing that will need to change for the future groups.  Oh well, I'm sure it was a negative calorie day!!