"The Mountain" And Much More

The two main reasons for going to Zermatt are skiing and viewing the Matterhorn.  Well, we do not downhill ski, so I guess we went to see the Matterhorn.  There is still skiing this time of year.  In fact, there was a group from Sweden with skiers from 5 year-olds and up who were enjoying the snow this week.

We arrived in the late afternoon and checked into Schlosshotel, just about 2 blocks from the train station.  We had a very nice large room. When they built this addition to the hotel they incorporated decorations from previous buildings, including 200 year old beams and an ornate ceiling.

How would you like to wake up
looking up at this?

We walked around town, admiring all the beautiful flowers on the houses and seeing how much the town has grown since Darrell visited here 65 years ago.

Then we rounded a corner, and there it was -- The Matterhorn!





We had Wiener-schnitzel at a charming local restaurant before returning to our Hotel.







In the morning we rode the cog railway to the summit of Gornergrat for better views of the mountain ranges. There are several stops, but we went straight to the top to look around.  There was a lot more to see than just one mountain.

Dent Blanche (White Tooth Mountain)

This cube represents the amount of
plastic each person uses in a year.

One of several glaciers

There were several free telescopes which swiveled so you could see all the various mountains and glaciers.  When you saw each one, the name and height appeared in the telescope view.

We got off at the first stop to see the Matterhorn reflected in the lake.  Darrell rode on down, but I decided to walk to the next station.  The trail can be steep and rocky, but fortunately in the most rugged places there is an easier path around the spot.  I joined up with an "almost 80 year old" lady from Cologne, Germany, who hiked at about my speed.  She knew much more English that I knew German, but we managed to communicate quite well.

On the ride down the rest of the way I chatted with 3 people from Gloucester, England.  You meet such interesting people when you travel.  There was a Coop food store just a block away, so we bought lunch and supper there.  I even managed the self-checkout in German!

While we were walking, a helicopter landed at a station just below the horizon.  I thought that perhaps someone was injured and needed to be carried out.  As we approached, we saw the chopper lowering construction materials.









It was time to leave and say good-bye to our friend "Wolli."





















On our final morning in Zermatt, this was our farewell view of the Matterhorn.