June 29: Pontresina Panaromic Hike

We got up early, ate breakfast, and got onto the bus which looked like a small airport shuttle to the top of Bernina pass. The bus was a few minutes late, but in true Swiss fashion, it sync'd perfectly with the bus that would take us to Muttas Muragl, the funicular railway that would take us to the start of the hike. It was already pretty warm despite the early hour, and the bus delivered us just in time to miss the previous train, which runs every half an hour. That gave us plenty of time to buy tickets, and it turned out that they opened up the funicular less than 15 minutes after we bought tickets so we could get in.

The funicular took us to a beautiful location with a zipline, and swings, and a nice playground. It wasn't very crowded, being early, so we took our time and looked around. Far to the south we could see the St Moritzersee and the Silvaplanarsee, beyond which was Maloja Pass which defined the border between Switzerland and Italy.

Starting the hike, we were impressed by the views of the Bernina Glacier as well, and of cousre the many wildflowers along the trail. Whenever there was a river crossing, there was a nice bridge. The entire trail was well maintained and pretty.

To my surprise, there was even a tunnel on the hike. We knew we would likely miss the 12:00pm anyway, so we took our time, stretching out the walk. When we got to the finish, the location where the ski lift would take us back down, Boen used the bathroom while we sat enjoying the cool breeze.

Back down in Pontresina, all the shops were closed, but we could buy ice cream and there was a bakery with some snacks available, though all at Swiss prices. When the bus came, we boarded it and the afternoon bus had no transfers, taking us all the way back to Livigno.

In Livigno, all the stores were open, so we bought supermarket lunch, dinner to cook, and Xiaoqin replenished her supply of contact lens solution. For grins, I asked how much a Fenix was, since apparently Livigno had its own tax regime, so things should be cheaper. I was disappointed as the sale prices weren't any better than what I could get in the USA.

After lunch, I chatted with the land lady and asked for another pod of laundry detergent so we could do laundry, and then I took the kids to the swimming pool where we had several runs with the water slides. It wasn't as much fun as Mayrhofen and it cost a lot more, but it was a hot day and the pool gave us something to do.

We made dinner and then went to bed early. The forecast was for rain, so our plan was to ride to the tunnel, ride to Zernez and then towards Albulapass. La Punt had expensive lodging, but the village just before that was a lot cheaper. It was also a lot less climbing so the kids wouldn't complain.