After nearly missing our bus with only a fifteen minute connection time last Friday, we opt to take the earlier bus from Bormio to Tirano station. That gives us three quarters of an hour to enjoy our last Italian gelato!! Chocolate and raspberry today! We are doing the Bernina Express as far as Pontresina on the regional railway line for a fraction of the price. A trick most people don't know is that the expensive trains such as the Bernina Express are air conditioned so all photos have to be taken through glass windows. But in 2nd Class on the regional Swiss trains (1st Class is also air conditioned), the windows all open and fabulous photo opportunities are there for the taking! We have a window open on each side of the train and, as it isn't crowded, we can move around freely. There are a couple of other savvy tourists in our carriage doing exactly the same thing! From Tirano with an altitude of 429m we head up the mountains, firstly over the famous circular viaduct of Brusio. We then continue to climb and curve all the way up to the Bernina Pass. The little station of Alp Grum, 2091m above sea level is just before the pass so our train has quite a climb. The amazing part is the ingenuity of the engineering - the train just winds round and round and round! Then we head down to Pontresina at an altitude of 1774m. Because we want to stay on the regional train, we change at Pontresina and then at Samedan before arriving at Filisur, our final stop for the day. The changes are easy - the Swiss have excellent connections and we only have to walk from one side of the platform to the other. The train station at Filisur is a long way above the town and our hotel is the only one at station level. We only need to walk the length of the platform and we are there! The walk into town is fairly steep but it doesn't take long. We pass a young man on his way up to the station. He is dragging his suitcase behind him, made a little harder because of the gravel pathway. We walk as far as the church in the centre and the only shop we see is the Coop, the local supermarket. It's closed because on Tuesdays it is only open in the mornings. The only restaurant we see is one at another hotel. We walk back up the path to the hotel, watching another bright red Swiss train chugging out of the station! We stayed in Filisur at Hotel Grischuna in Room 12 on the second floor. A real gem of a hotel. Our room was large, the bed was comfy, the shower was good. I had asked for a kettle and it was in our room when we arrived. The hotel restaurant was excellent but expensive as is usual in Switzerland. It overlooked the town so the view while dining was lovely. The hotel is not airconditioned but the windows can be opened. It does not have a lift so luggage has to be carried up the stairs. We travelled with Swiss Rail for CHF14:80 each on our half-fare cards!! www.sbb.ch