Yesterday, cont.

 

We arrived in St. Moritz last night and checked into the Reine Victoria, a historic Art Noveau Hotel that opened in 1875. Named after the British queen, it was one of the leading hotels in the 1890’s hosting European high society and royalty for music and balls. Now popular with tourist groups like Odyssey, Viking and enormous Japanese tours.

Our Viking tour director distributed the key cards (nice) so we headed straight to our room and threw open the window to let in the alpine air and birdsong. In a few seconds, my Merlin app lit up with eight different species. All lifers. The Eurasian Blackbird (like blackbirds everywhere) was the most talkative.

St Moritz is a luxury resort town by a lake in the stunning Engadin Valley. And I mean luxury. Dinner was “at your leisure” Viking’s euphemism for you get to buy. We were exhausted frankly, it was late (for us) but we found a “casual” pizza  restaurant across the street. Our Milan tour guide warned us that Switzerland was expensive: two bowls of vegetable soup, two salads, two drinks $120 please. A once-in-a-lifetime experience here. 

Speaking of that, this morning we take one the highest gondolas in Switzerland (10,000 feet.) It is a spectacular morning, not a cloud in the sky, We have really lucked out on the weather so far. 

More later.