Out of the valley before breakfast

The first train leaves at 06:12, and by the second tunnel the town is a row of lights below the window.

There is a faster way over, and almost nobody on this train has taken it by mistake. The timetable calls the service R 41; the people who work on it call it the long one. Our earlier piece has the fares.

What you see, in order

Sit on the left going up. Do not change sides at the summit, however tempting the other window looks.

• The gorge, for the first forty minutes
• The spiral, where the line crosses over itself
• The summit lake, frozen until late May

The dining car

It joins at the third stop and leaves again before the border. Soup, bread, and a window of your own.