Europe Trip 2012: Day 3 (June 24, 2012): Heaven on Earth

The day started with Jenn and I taking a nine hour journey from Atlanta, Georgia to Zurich, Switzerland. It was the first international flight either of us has taken that we didn't have an individual screen in the seat in front of us. Luckily I had loaded plenty to keep me busy with on my iPad and Jenn was busy planning out the next twenty days of vacation. The flight was pretty non-eventful and got is in right around 8AM Switzerland time.

Now was the moment of truth. Would our luggage make it to Zurich? Literally right as we got through customs and made our way to baggage claim our bags showed up and we were now on our way. There was a quick sense of "everything is going to be OK" and we were off ready to start our latest European Adventure.

The good news about the new flight arrangements is that we were still able to keep our travel plans from Zurich to St Moritz. We walked from the Zurich airport to the Zurich Airport Train Srarion and bought two first class tickets from the airport to the main Zurich train station (Zurich HB). We arrived at the at the Zurich HB train station at 9:30AM one hour before our train was scheduled to depart to Chur and then onto St Moritz. We spent the hour at Le Cafe a floor down from the main terminal. I had one of the best cups of coffee I have ever tasted and Jenn had a hot chocolate. We split a chocolate croissant which was also pretty delicious. We left at 10:20AM from the Cafe and as we walked back up to the terminal the train arrived and we boarded the first class compartment and enjoyed our one hour train ride from Zurich HB to Chur. We were a little stressed about Chur because there we had six minutes to disembark the train with all our luggage and get to the platform where our train would take us to St. Moritz. Lucky enough for us the train was on the other side of the platform so we walked off our train and right onto the one to take us to St. Moritz.

Both journeys were simply breathtaking. I felt like I was in some sort of utopia. I think I told Jenn at least three times that this is always how I pictured heaven. Never have I seen greens as green or blues as blue. The pictures don't do justice for how majestic the landscapes of Switzerland are. We passed rivers, lakes, snow capped peaks of the Alps, lush green forests, and some of the most exquisite towns and bridges I have ever seen. I was bouncing from one side of the train to the other trying to take it all in all the sights and get as many pictures as possible.

We arrived in St. Moritz at around 2PM and a gentleman from the Kempinski Gran Hotel des Bains (hotel we are staying at) picked us up in a brand new BMW 5-series to drive us the ten minutes to the hotel. The hotel is gorgeous. From the beautiful architecture to the stunning lobby everything about this hotel is immaculate. We were greeted by name by almost everyone in the lobby and given a tour of the hotel. We got situated in our resort room which looks out on the town of St Moritz. The room itself although a bit on the small side has all of the amenities you would expect in this type of hotel. A beautiful shower and tub, a very comfy king size bed, and an LCD TV.

After we got situated in our room we fought every urge to lay down and pass out and wandered around the hotel and then into town. St Moritz is nestled in the Alps and the city itself surrounds Lake St. Moritz. So we walked down to the lake, sat on a bench for a while, took some pictures and enjoyed the stunning landscapes. We kept walking around the lake and stopped at a restaurant called Segalclub St Moritz. The restaurant is set just a few steps back from the lake and has some amazing views.

Jenn and I both got a glass of red wine and Jenn got pasta bolognase (first of many) and I got the veal sausage. Both of us loved our meals and I am proud to say that Jenn not only tried the veal sausage but loved it.

We walked back to the hotel at around 6PM and had to once again fight every urge to fall asleep. So we suited up in our swim attire and headed down to the hotels gorgeous indoor pool. One of the reasons we booked at the Kempinski was for its spa area and we already got to experience a lot of them. They have seven saunas and we went into a few of them which was nice and relaxing. We then want to the infinity indoor pool which I went right into and Jenn laid on the lounger. Within maybe two minutes of swimming in the pool I looked over at Jenn who was already asleep on the lounger. So I swam for a few minutes and we were back in the room at around 7PM and Jenn was instantly out like a light.

I tried everything I could to stay up but I think I was out at 8PM. Although we were both exhausted you couldn't have asked for a better start to our time in St. Moritz.