Over one of the Bernina Pass rail line's viaducts.
I wrote recently about the farce of the few days that were concentrated around Milan - Switzerland - France - Cherbourg and mentioned that it wasn't all bad, just most of it.
The stand-out was travelling on the famous Bernina railway, one of only three UNESCO-listed railways. It starts on the Swiss-Italian border in the Italian town of Tirano and winds north for a few hours over the Bernina Pass and down the other side. It was built over a century ago and is a feat of ingenuity and persistence ... well, being neither an engineer or railway navvy I don't really know, but it's pretty impressive and I'd take a punt it was pretty difficult to achieve.
It winds up and up (then down and down) through classic Alpine scenery - and geography. To do this, there are countless tunnels, bridges, a few circular viaducts, where the track spirals around on itself and even a few spiral tunnels where the train goes through the middle of a mountain in circles, with every now and then a section outside and each time you're completely confused about where you are!
Anyway, instead of trying to describe it, have a look at these hurried snapshots and minimally edited videos to get an idea of the journey from fir trees, to lichen-land, past glaciers and back down again!
Crappy video #1
Bernina from Pete Poputnik on Vimeo.
Crappy video #2
bernina 2 from Pete Poputnik on Vimeo.