Bernina Express

You know how you lie awake in bed sometimes, dead tired, but you can’t sleep because you’re so excited for the following day?
Well, that’s how I felt on Wednesday night.
Lina had mentioned a few weeks earlier that she was hoping for snow when she came back and we had made plans to take a train trip to Poschiavo and back. On Thursday we would spend the entire day on the train and hopefully see a lot of snow. Shortly before going to bed, I had checked the weather again and was happy to find that the sun was supposed to shine the following day.

On Thursday morning I got up at five to take the six o’clock bus. Just as I left dad got up as well and told me to be careful and not to stand too close to any trees that day. Apparently, there was a huge storm going on outside. Lo and Behold, at the train station Lina saw lightning and suddenly we weren’t as confident that the weather would be great on our journey. In Chur, where we boarded the Bernina Express, the sky still looked very glum and even though it was already eight o’clock in the morning, it was still very dark.

However, a few minutes into our journey we saw the first rays of sunshine and the further up our train climbed the more sun we got. In fact, right by Ospizio Bernina, 2253 metres above sea level, the sun was so intense our eyes started hurting.

The whole experience was somewhat surreal. It was like riding a train through Narnia or taking the Polar Express to go see Father Christmas. Sunlight flooding through snow-coated pines, icicles glistening like jewels and our tiny red train rattling through an endless white sea of snow. Lina and I just kept saying „This is so beautiful, I can’t believe this“ over and over again.

And with that I’ll leave you with some pictures that don’t do the real thing any justice…