after spending a great but foggy day touring chateau de chillon in montreux, we gathered our bags from the lockers at the rail station and headed to Brig and Visp. from there we caught the BVZ zermatt railway up into the mountainous alps towards Zermatt.
it was a beautiful ride up the mountain. we only regret such a late start that the most scenic last half of the trip was in complete darkness. we were incredibly tired and ready for sleep by the time we finally arrived in the little valley on the top of the mountain in the alps.
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we picked up an incredible dinner on our way to zermatt. at a little grocery store, we stocked up on red swiss wine, cheese and that wonderful crusty european bread. we used the garbage can in our train compartment as a wine bucket and helped ourselves to one of the nicest dinners with the best view on our trip. |
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the local people on the train were giggling and watching us while we enjoyed our ride to Zermatt and our impromptu dinner. we quietly minded our own business while making it as clear as we could that we thought they had a wonderful country! |
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as was typical on our trip, we arrived in time to find "the last hotel room in town, you're lucky!" and moved in for sleep as soon as we were able. the next morning, we enjoyed the view from our balconey and made plans to move to another hotel for saturday. (yet another "last room in town"! :-0) |
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the weather was great once again, not too cold, not to warm and sunny. the matterhorn is one of the most distinctive features of Zermatt and the alps. it towered over the hotel restaurant where we once again enjoyed bread, strong coffee, hard boiled eggs (colored and warmed in sand) and yogurt for breakfast. I will forever miss being greeted at breakfast by an appropriately reserved "guten morgen". |
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Zermatt is an interesting blend of the new and the old. amongst the modern streets, restaurants and hotels that characterize any typical tourist town there are narrow cobblestone streets that seem to be part of the previous century. turning a corner from the river walk through town, we found this little walkway lined with barns and other remnants of the town's native past. |
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we walked through the entire town, a longish walk along the mail street which was cluttered with shops and brik-a-brak being hawked from the sidewalks. after an hour or two purchasing souveniors for our friends back home we wound up in the town square near the train station. these teams of horses were used by two of the nicer hotels in town to shuttle guests to and from the station. |
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save two horses that laura saw running loose from their farm just outside Zermatt later in the day (they appeared to be of the Haflinger austrian breed), these were the only horses that we saw during the entire trip. fortunately, laura had put her passion for horses aside on her honeymoon to concentrate on her new husband. |
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evening dinner found us once again craving swiss fondue. after debating and endlessly surveying the restaurants in Zermatt, we settled on the wymperstubbe. this was a charming authentic swiss restaurant with cramped quarters and tiny tables. we enjoyed our dinner and native swiss dining companions immensely. |
