Morteratsch Glacier

I slept very badly last night, it was so noisy in the streets of St Moritz and I was kept awake half the night by people talking, laughing and shouting in the streets below our room. Needless to say I did not go out to photograph the sunrise, but the sky did not look too promising so maybe it was not a good one. 

After breakfast we walked around the town of St Moritz. It’s not my favourite place, it's full of high end designer stores with ridiculous fashion that I doubt people even wear. Again there were lots of noisy construction trucks going up and down the narrow streets. 

We had coffee at Hanselmann, a famous conditorei in St Moritz. The gluten free slice we shared was delicious but the coffee was not great. 

We then went to visit Pontresina which  was a very nostalgic trip for us. Twenty years ago we lost our summer holiday we had booked and paid for to Spain, as Gavin’s passport was deemed too full to have room for the Spanish (Schengen) visa we required. We were still travelling on South African passports then so required visas for nearly every country we wished to visit, and as Gavin was then travelling a huge amount for work his passport filled up very quickly. Disappointed to have lost a holiday, (and Gavin really needed a break) a colleague from Gavin’s Zurich office suggested going to stay at the Saratz Hotel in Pontresina as it was very child friendly and reasonable, and Switzerland was one of the few countries that SA passport holders could visit without the need for a visa. We had one of the best holidays ever, cycling, hiking and swimming, and so started our love affair with Switzerland. (Actually mine started decades before when as an nine or ten year old I chose to do my special project at school on Switzerland and spent ages in the library researching it and falling in love with the beauty of the country). The children were young then, Tommy was three years old and was in a child backpack on Gavin's back for most of the holiday, but what we clearly remember is hiking up Morteratsch Glacier with Tommy on Gavin's back - not easy! So today we drove up to the area near the start of the hike to get good views of it for old time's sake. Pontresina is looking wonderful, it has grown so much in the 20 years since we were last there and is a very attractive town.

We then headed off back home to Klosters but this time instead of going vie the Fluela Pass that we came down up, we went up the Albula Pass. It is a winding narrow pass but the scenery is spectacular. I was amazed at howe many cyclists were cycling up that steep pass, for exercise on non electric bikes! They must be super fit. We again went through some charming towns, we really liked Bergün Filisur, it had lovely old painted buildings and was som pretty. It was 30C when we drove through that town, a really hot day today.The Albula Railway became a UNESCO world heritage site in 2008.

We got back in the early afternoon, it was a wonderful one night away and we saw so much.

Tonight...the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games...