This post is actually out of sequence with our trip. The reason for that is because after Zermatt, we drove across the border and into Italy and started the Italian portion of this trip. BUT, on the fifth day of the Italian trip, we were in Tirano Italy. Tirano is only one mile from the Swiss border. From Tirano, we took the Bernina Red Express train into Switzerland, so I'm including this side trip to Switzerland as part of the Swiss portion of our trip. We took the Bernina Express train from Tirano to Diavolezza, which was about two-thirds of the train's route to Chur, Switzerland.

The Bernina Express is a UNESCO world heritage site, and I can see why. It is a 76-mile route that was built in three years, from 1907 to 1910. I don't know how they did it that fast. It has 55 tunnels that burrow through the mountains and some of them are quite long tunnels with substantial curves. It traverses 196 bridges and viaducts with some being highly elevated. The track gradient is up to 7 percent and it's the highest alpine train crossing at 7,400 feet elevation. It also crosses the Continental Divide.

Aside from the incredible engineering feats of the railway, the scenery was fantastic. We passed scenic, mountain-ringed lakes, mountain farming villages, vineyards, alpine meadows, glaciers, snow-covered peaks, and endless beautiful scenery.

You can see Vicky and I on the train in the first photo. And while the following will be moving-train photos, I didn't have to shoot through the train window. The windows pulled down, as you can see, and I was able to stand up and take photos without shooting them through the train window.

I never counted the lakes, but we passed lake after lake on this trip. The Swiss have hydro-electric plants below their lakes and use the same water to produce power over and over again. I thought that was clever, but of course, you have to have their steep mountains to do that.

The Bernina Express train also has a number of viaducts on its route, and some of them are spectacular. This next viaduct is not one of the highly notable ones, but the train track makes a circle to gain elevation. It was hard to get a photo as we were riding the train, but Vicky got one that's pretty good.

Like all of Switzerland, villages or towns, large or small, are right in and around their farming operations. They have no way to separate them by very much due to the landscape and steepness of the mountains. Here are a couple of photos to show this.

This next photo is one that interested me. My "go-to" cough drop of choice is Ricola. Our guide told us this is where Ricola's Swiss alpine herbs are grown. I don't know if this was the original location, a current location, or what. He also handed out some Ricola to us. I love their product.