Fifteen: Switzerland

We came up on the night train from Milan. It was running an hour late, so we got into Zurich about midnight. A week earlier, we had take a train from Zurich south into Italy. The route goes up, over and under the Alps. It is one of the most amazing trips I have ever taken. At one point the whole line loops over itself in a series of tunnels, so you essentially pass the same spot three times but each time you change elevation. I wanted to get out at one of the Swiss towns along the way and just sit back and watch the trains go by ... as well as sitting on the shore of one of the many glacial lakes that cover the area ... but we were on a tight schedule and there was no stopping this trip. Maybe next time.

I took this photo of the locomotive on a neighboring train after we pulled into Zurich. It was midnight on a Sunday and the station was full of people. I like those Lok 2000 locomotives. They kind of remind me of blimps.

On the way down to Italy, we had to change trains at Bellinzona and take one of these passenger sets. I didn't have time to take a photo on the way down, so this is one I took on the way back. The trains are neat, efficient and are pretty well used by the public. If we had a rail network like that in the U.S., I'd take the train more places.

I am not sure why I shot these in black and white, especially when the editing software allows you to change color photos into black and white once you get home. I guess I wanted some immediate satisfaction of seeing them in black and white while I was there. I didn't shoot these ones in RAW either, so I committed myself to monochrome. If I could go back and do it over, I'd shoot RAW or color. But, it seemed like a good idea at the time to shoot pure black and white that night.