The story of the young orphaned girl who lived with her grandfather high in the Alps near Chur was my very favourite as a child. Whilst much criticism has been directed at Spyri, the last time I visited the Alps I thought of Heidi the whole time, and this time was no different. I did an epic train trip from Venice. From 0 m above sea level I trained to Milano and then up the side of the Italian lakes to Tirano. From Tirano, I went to the highest railway crossing in Europe, reaching a height of 2,253m before I dropped slightly into St Moritz. Whilst the Bernina Express, and the UNESCO world heritage railway were absolutely stunning, by the time I got to St Moritz I had a shocking case of vertigo so changed my plans slightly and stayed put for a couple of days. I think the climb up Heidi’s mountains, albeit in a stunning train, and dehydration, literally did my head in. I stayed holed up at the very lovely Grand Hotel Des Bains Kempinski St. Moritz. It was lovely to have a hotel holiday, but I did rather wish everything would stop moving. Switzerland is so damn expensive. A bottle of water was more expensive than a good bottle of wine at home, even at the supermarket, and I decided that if I didn’t move myself, I could end up bankrupt.
The trip across Switzerland on the Glacier Express was lovely, but after another nine hours of Heidi’s height I crawled into bed in the lovely Hotel Bellerive with the mighty Matterhorn out the window and the whole room moving. I really did feel like I was a dizzy character on a chocolate box lid, with the Swiss chalets as far as I could see from my lovely balcony.
Sleeping under the stars 