Above Zermatt

 This is totally out of order but I just realized that I never published it.

July 7 Thursday

Oh what a beautiful day! My pissy mood from yesterday totally evaporated when we got on the train heading up.

At the tourist information place we got the peak to peak pass that allows us to ride any of the trains or sky lifts. We also got a suggestion of what to do with one clear day. This fit well with Rick Steves suggestions. We stop at the coop and buy fruit and sandwiches to take with us. 

As soon as the train started going up, I start snapping pictures. Going back and looking at these pictures after seeing more impressive things, I giggle at myself.  As we climb, I’m sure I hear the engine  saying “I think I can. I think I can.” And we did.

We get off at the highest point of this route which is Gornergrat. Oh my! Picture time! 

They also have 360 degree viewers that label the mountains as you move it around.  There are certainly people here but it isn’t crazy crowded and there are plenty of amazing views to go around.

We get back on the train and go down one stop. The plan is to hike down to the next stop where we will catch a gondola down to Furi.

This hike takes us past several small lakes, through alpine meadows and scenery that is amazing at every step. At one point going down, suddenly the wild flowers changed and there were lots more of them. The flowers are all so small and dainty set against the huge dramatic mountains.

An aside that I meant to write when we were in Murren. Murren is so clean and yet this was the first place that we had flies. Seemed strange until we went up to the wild flower Path and so many of the flowers had bees and flies on them. Never thought of flies as being pollinators. I will have a new tolerance for them as they’re doing their important work.

The hiking pole was really helpful on both the up and downhill parts. Took just enough stress off of my knees. But I noticed that I was developing some tenderness in my thumb pad that could develop into a blister of not careful. When we got back to town, the mission was to find some hiker gloves.  First store $60. Oh grief! Don’t want to pay that! Several more stores. Got down to $45. Still crazy but looks good compared to $60. Then I find a sale rack. Just what I’m looking for 50% off! Yes! $22.50. In this expensive town that is a complete score. Now I’m set for the Road Scholar hiking. 

Back to our hiking day.

The little gondolas slow down for people to get off and on but they don’t stop. They would easily hold 4 people and cozy for 6. It isn’t crowded and we have our own bubble to hover  and glide over the trees, the riverlets of melting snow, the rocks and cliffs. Could never do this on foot!

In the valley we change to another gondola and head up to the end of that line. Now we change to go to the Matterhorn glacier paradise. It sits atop Little Matterhorn at 3883 meters. There is a crystal VIP gondola that has a glass floor. Our view is plenty impressive and heebee jeebee producing.  As we go up we Can feel colder and colder air seeping into our gandola. We put on all of our layers before getting out. It’s still cold and that wind is really biting.  First we go to the observation platform. Some clouds have come in since the morning but you still know that you’re really high looking down on the world.

Then we watch a short video of climbers off the Matterhorn. Oh not for me!!!

There is a place to walk out on the snow but we pass that up to go to the snack shop. We haven’t eaten our sandwiches yet that we bought this morning but the aroma from the snack bar lures us in. We share Rosti (grated potatoes with pickled onions an d cheese.) very tasty and gave us an excuse to sit and admire the view in a warm toasty place. 

I wanted a picture not looking through the glass so went out in the snow. There was a beagle having so much fun rolling in the snow.

For dinner we went to Mamacita’s. A bit skeptical of  a Mexican place in Switzerland. The menu was limited and some of it was a bit of Asian fusion but it was good. The corn tortillas were quite good. Nick stopped and got a crepe in the way back. He gave me a couple of bites and that was all I wanted.