Europe 2016 — Zermatt, Switzerland
Day 7, 22 September 22 2016
Our time in Luzern was over and we were heading to Zermatt. The day began quite early at 7:30 to pack up, eat breakfast and get to the train station on time. We decided to leave extra early to be safe and planned on picking up some take away from that place in the station. It was unfortunately closed so Yuki and I walked around the station in search of other shops. We found a cafe and ordered an Italian hot chocolate made with real chocolate, and then a co-op grocery store. I picked out what I wanted and then we went back to the platform where Yuki’s parents were waiting. Yuki in turn went back with her mom to choose and pick up all the food. Then it was time to get on the train.
It took three trains from Luzern to Zermatt. The first two trains were 1 hour each with a 6 minute stop to transfer between trains. This seems to be generally the rule in Switzerland and an adequate amount of time for most people to change trains without making the train waste a lot of time idling in the station. The distance between platforms isn’t too far and there are lots of easy signs to follow but the difficulty comes when there are four slow people and large suitcases. We also made sure we were ready to go at the door before the train rolled into the station and hurried to the next platform. Missing a train would have been an unpleasant hour delay.
The last train was 1hr 13 minutes from Visp up to Zermatt. This was a pretty scenic ride up a mountain valley on an older train with windows that slid down so we were able to take photos.
Zermatt seems to be like the Whistler of Switzerland; it is a pedestrian town in the mountains for vacationing and skiing. It claims to be car-free and only accessible by train but there are plenty of streets filled with mini golf-cart like vehicles to shuttle people and goods around. There are plenty of large cabins, condos, and hotels and and I would expect it to be one of the most expensive places in the country.
We rented an apartment on the slope of a hill. It didn’t have any views but was comfortably clean and well furnished with a kitchen. This was good because everyone was looking for a rest and we spent the afternoon lazing around. No one’s had enough sleep due to a variety of factors including jet-lag, snoring, and early morning risers disturbing the rest so it was good to have an afternoon to do nothing. Yuki found out that Pottermore had a quiz on Petronus so we did it. Yuki got a nice dolphin but mine was a stupid chow dog. I was not impressed.
In the evening we went down to the local co-op and bought groceries for dinner and lunch the next day. I cooked rice in a pot on the stove for the first time and also made pan fried salmon. This saved us a lot of money because it was substantially cheaper than eating out and we got to eat rice.
Day 8, 23 September 23 2016
The 23rd was the day of days. If the last family trip to Korea had a purpose (to find Yuki’s Dad’s home town), then the purpose of this trip was so that he could see the Matterhorn. While Luzern had been cloudy, it was clear skies in Zermatt and the weather couldn’t be better (Yuki would have liked it to be warmer but it was only cold in the morning before the sun warmed up). Our hostel room in Luzern had 5 beds and one night we had a Korean who had just come from Zermatt but didn’t see the Matterhorn because it was cloudy. I suppose it was like us going up Mt. Pilatus and not seeing anything either.
Our plan was to go up the Gornegrats mountain to see the Matterhorn. The Gornegrats is a relatively short mountain, with an elevation of 3,135m compared to the 29 other mountains higher than 4,000m that surround it, including the Matterhorn at elv. 4,478m.
Curiously, the Matterhorn is along the border between Switzerland and Italy. Each has a town with Zermatt on the Swiss side. Each town has chair lifts up the mountain ridge that borders the two countries so it is possible to go up from Zermatt, ski across the border and down the other side for lunch in Italy before coming back up and skiing back to Zermatt.
To get up the Gornegrats, one takes the highest open-air railway in Europe. It is cogwheel that begins beside the Zermatt train station and takes about 30 minutes to wind and switchback its way up the mountain. The windows on this train also slide down and the view gets better as one gets higher. Along the way the train passes a ski lodge and a few chair lifts. I noticed that there are no alpine trees here.
It is curious to notice that above a certain elevation there are no trees. Even in the valley, trees are sparse. This isn’t like Canada where the ski runs are cut out of the trees. Instead, the mountain is just rock and one would be able to ski anywhere. I wonder if this would make it very windy in the winter or if, because Switzerland isn’t coastal, there isn’t much wind.
At the top of the Gornegrats is a hotel and restaurant. I imagine that is is a very popular place in the winter for skiing. We took several pictures from the various lookouts as the sun began to heat us up from cool to over hot. Surrounding the Gornegrats are several large glaciers.
Just like Mt. Pilatus, I I was wishing that we could go hiking. Yuki says that if we ever come back, we’ll go hiking, downhill mountain biking, and also parasailing, because it isn’t as expensive as we thought and looks absolutely amazing.
Beyond the restaurant building is the top lookout and the a path down the other side which fewer people take. We went down into the snow to get some photos away from the crowds and of the massive glacier.
We couldn’t find a place to picnic at the top so we took the train one station down and ate on a park bench. Lunch was rice and hard boiled eggs. Yuki’s mom saved the day, supplying chilli packets and a small bottle of fish sauce she’d brought from Thailand.
In my opinion, the view of the Matterhorn is best from this station. There is enough foreground rocks to give depth and perspective to the mountain as well as the right elevation to be looking up in grandeur. Also at this station were two lakes. I thought that it would be nice to get the reflection of the mountain in the water but there was a slight breeze disturbing the surface. None the less, we walked down to the first lake to take some photos and then I convinced Yuki to walk with me to the second lake to check it out.
I realized here that Toblerone chocolate is Swiss and similar in shape to the Matterhorn but apparently was not the inspiration for the shape of Toblerone chocolate.
When we were done we took the tram back down in to town and strolled around. We spent the evening relaxing and made some pre-prepared meals for dinner.
Switzerland was the country I was looking forward to the most and it was spectacular. I’ve decided that if Yuki and I ever come back to Europe, it would be great to spend more time in the small Switzerland villages and hike up some of the mountains. It would be nice to motorcycle tour around Europe as well, not that the train system is bad, but because it looks like a lot of fun and it would let us go anywhere.
