January 5, 2003

Author:		Heide Cassidy
Posted:		2/22/2004; 9:58:46 AM
Topic:		January 5, 2003
Msg #:		343 (top msg in thread)
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The Matterhorn
Zermat, Switzerland

Getting to Zermatt was an adventure in itself. You take the train to Brig or Visp and change to a private line train which can climb the mountains. The climbing trains are red and reminded us of the Corcovado train that we took to see the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio. The view is incredibly beautiful as the train lurches, chugs and jolts it way into the mountains. On the way up, Heide felt a bit sick... We're not sure why... maybe the altitude? Around each twist and turn, we wondered where we would hit the snow line. Surprisingly, it was quite high. We passed through a number of tiny mountain villages... who lives there? What are their stories?

We arrived in Zermatt mid- afternoon and checked into Hotel Bahnhof, a Lonely Planet
Recommendation! It was rated! For the price (Approx 60 Euros /night) we had a wonderful room that was bright, clean and had wonderful down quilts! There was a sink in our room, but the shower and toilet was down the hallway. No worries there.... the toilet and shower were impeccably clean. We were surprised to find that there was maid service in the hotel, a luxury that we hadn’t expected. Downstairs was a common room with an exchange library and a nice communal kitchen which we made use of on several occasions.

Zermatt, home of the Matterhorn, is a posh European ski resort. We thought perhaps we would spend a day skiing, but it end we decided against it,... opting for snow hiking instead. It was amazing just wandering through town listening to all the different languages. Of course, one night we had to go out for fondue! We opted for cheese fondue which was very good. The items we had for dipping were potatoes and bread! Can you imagine anything more hearty after a long day of skiing? I was a bit surprised, because we thought you got meat with fondue... but we assume that’s the hot oil fondue instead of cheese?!? Our waiter stopped for a minute to talk with us... he was telling us that of his 5 tables... two were English speaking, one French, one German and one Italian speaking. As if that’s not incredible enough... he also told us that his own language was Portugese!! Obrigada!! These last 4 months in Europe have really opened our eyes to just HOW linguistically talented many Europeans are and just how horrible our foreign language education is our home countries. 

One of our favorite things in Zermatt was the church grave yard. Now, in most instances, Heide's not all that excited by cemeteries, but this one was filled with climbers, hikers, and mountaineers who had all perished doing the thing they loved. The memorials were really moving and beautiful. We also stumbled across some of the original buildings of the village which was great, simply because it was something that you would never see in a ski resort outside of Europe.

This Page was last update: Friday, November 12, 2004 at 12:39:29 AM
This page was originally posted: 2/22/2004; 10:58:46 AM.
Copyright 2008 Heide and Mark

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