March 31 - Easter Sunday

On a beautiful Easter morning Rick and I used the wonderfully efficient Swiss train system to travel to Ilanz, Switzerland. We took the route taking us through the San Gottardo Tunnel, a cogwheel train from Goshenen, up the side of the mountains, to Andermatt, and then following the route of the Glacier Express to Ilanz. It was a sunny day in Ticino - the only Swiss canton completely south of the Alps, and exiting the tunnel on the north side of the Alps we found thick fog and it was snowing! 

From Goshenen to Andermatt - Read more about our day under each of the captions on this page.

The Oberalp Pass

The east side of the Oberalp pass

East of the Oberalp Pass

Notice the dam up between the mountains!

The Surselva Valley

View from our hotel in Ilanz! I had picked a hotel by the train station so we could take side trips easily.

First we took a walk in the old center of Ilanz, Switzerland

One of the gates of the old Ilanz

Inside a 400 year old church in Ilanz

small town high above Ilanz

Then we decided to hop on the bus by the train station in Ilanz - headed to Flims, which is a ski area. As we walked around we saw this very cool house of wood. There are many houses made of wood and the detail is beautiful. Notice the carved sections by the windows. This is above Flims, Switzerland

In Flims we found this 24 hour milk dispenser! Fresh from the farm!

While walking in Flims, this hole suddenly formed in the clouds, revealing the top of a snow caped  mountain! It was like God was giving us a peak of heaven. :-) Yes! Happy Easter!

Now, in order to get from Ilanz to Flims, you had to make a bus change in Laax. The system is very precise. We were to have a 1 minute bus connection time in Laax, but we were running a bit late. The bus driver (who should have remembered that we told him we were connecting back to Ilanz,) signaled to the other bus driver as he had just departed, with a thumbs up, meaning he had no connecting passengers and that bus could continue on. Rick and I looked at each other and said - Oops, I think we just missed our bus! The driver felt terrible! We had to wait one hour in Laax for the next bus. We took this walk and had hot chocolate at a nearby restaurant. :-) This is dusk in Laax, Switzerland - between Ilanz and Flims.

Dusk over the cemetery in Laax, Switzerland.  I need to mention that this bus ride between Ilanz and Flims and back is on narrow, one lane roads with switchbacks up and down the mountain! It goes through other small towns and there is JUST enough room for that big bus to squeeze between buildings on that one lane road! Oh, and there were no guard rails either. Yikes! Swiss excitement!