Top Of The World

Day: 100 (!!!)
Km travelled: 6.1km
Steps: 9,538
Location: St Moritz, Switzerland

December 12-13, 2017

My journey on the Glacier Express brought me to my final stop in my new favourite country (shhhh… don’t tell the others): the luxury alpine resort town of St Moritz.  Known for its grand hotels and high-end gastronomy, St Moritz is synonymous with style, elegance and class.  Sounds like the perfect destination for a backpacker, no?  Again, the choice in destination was more of a whim than a plan; I knew the scenic train was a must and recognized St Moritz from Olympic fame, therefore decided I should go for a visit.  Simple as that.

St Moritz Dorf

Now, had I been a skier…! Wow! What a destination for winter sports.  It proudly boasts to be the centre for winter sports in the world. Dubbed ‘Top of the World’, it is the most popular alpine resort in the world.  In fact, St Moritz is trademarked.   It’s sun logo and lettering are registered trademarks  making this unique resort the first geographical location in the world to be trademarked.  Many celebrities and world leaders vacation here, however I’m guessing that my St Moritz experience was slightly different from theirs.  But only slightly.

St Moritz is divided into two sections: St Moritz Dorf which is located in the upper part of the village and St Moritz Bad which is down in the valley near Lake St Moritz.  The upper village houses most shopping, grand hotels and fine restaurants.  I was in St Moritz Bad, in a youth hostel!  Très glamorous!  On the plus side, I had the entire dorm to myself for 2 nights! Bonus!

If you’re not into skiing (note to self: learn to ski! There’s been enough signs), and on a budget preventing you from shopping (not to mention no more room in your backpack), then there’s 2 options left: walking and eating.  I decided to partake in both!

I had read rave reviews about a bakery/café named Hanselmann and decided to skip the free hostel breakfast and treat myself to something decadent instead.  I quickly googled directions, hoped on a bus and rode 30 minutes to a neighbouring town.  Once I arrived, I was thoroughly disappointed.  The café was tiny, served only a few pastries and did not have that grand appearance I had read about.  I quietly sipped my espresso, disappointed that I had made the journey in the very cold morning for this.  That is, until I realized, I was not at the right location!  Oh boy!! Classic Julie.

As the bus only passes every 30minutes, I decided to walk for a bit to take advantage of the view of the lake.  Beautiful.  But cold!  After 30 minutes standing outside in the frigid temperatures, my feet were throbbing and my mood was sinking.  

I took the bus to the upper part of the village, determined to see St Mortiz’s most famous site before calling it quits on this cold, unforgiving day: the leaning tower of St Moritz.

Hard to tell from the photo, but it really is leaning!

Walking down the hill to the bus stop, I came upon a welcomed sight: Hanselmann Café!  The right one this time.  

I treated myself to a rather expansive yet satisfying breakfast of rotis with fried egg and bacon.  Switzerland is rather expensive, and that fact was reminded to me once more when i received my bill and saw that my request for water had cost me 7swiss franks (about $9CAD)! I made sure to drink every last drop of that water!

Feeling energized about that hearty breakfast, I decided to walk until I was too cold or tired to do so.  Luckily for me, the sun was out when I left and I began to see the town in a whole new light.

What followed for the next hour or so was a delightful walk down to the valley & lake, filled with snowy perfection.  It seemed at every turn that St Moritz was dressed in its finest winter colours, proudly living up to its luxurious title.

Besides being a winter paradise, there’s another great thing about St Moritz & Switzerland in general: public washrooms.  Make that free public washrooms.  For North Americans, it’s almost a travel cliché to pay for using the rest rooms in Europe. Throughout my travels in France, the UK, Spain & Portugal, I only encountered a handful of paid facilities.  In Germany, every single restroom was paid!  Even in shopping malls and restaurants.  Come on!  Then I arrived in Switzerland and discovered some of the cleanliness, free and readily accessible public restrooms around.  Hooray!  You don’t realize what a luxury that is until you’ve had to fish around your bag for change when you gotta go.  This restroom pictured was well advertised right in the middle of town.  On the plus side, it did help me come up with a plan to finance the second part of my trip: I was going to open my own public washroom in Germany!  Cut the price in half and give everyone a chocolate on the way out and I would be rolling in euros before you knew it.  Ingenious, if I do say so myself.

What started off on a frozen foot ended with a delightful day discovering the elegant beauty of this world-famous resort at the top of the world.  I think from the photos its easy to see why I fell in love with this country and what makes me daydream of quitting my job and moving here…. (kidding… sort of!!)