Thursday, July 19, 2007--Zermatt--Day 11

There are no words or pictures that can do justice to the Swiss Alps, although I tried with the camera. We boarded a rack-railway train for the nearly hour-long ride up to Gornergrat, which is at 10,272 feet. On the way, we were able to see the famous peaks and glaciers, as well as lovely forests and waterfalls. I managed to get a few good pictures of the Matterhorn from the train, which is a good thing because by the time we got off at Gornergrat station, the Matterhorn was half socked in by clouds. We spent about an hour-and-a-half enjoying the vistas and photographing the mountains, glaciers, and valleys. We then took the train back down to Zermatt and found a place for lunch. We strolled and shopped a little, then we returned to the hotel to email the kids and relax for a while. Tonight we’re on our own for dinner, and we’re going to try to find some good cheese fondue. Tomorrow we reluctantly leave for Lucerne.


Observation 1: On our bus rides, we’ve been through at least 50 mountain tunnels. Some are several miles long, while others are a mere few hundred yards. I’m not claustrophobic, but it’s always a relief to see the light at the end of a tunnel when you have a bazillion tons of mountain above you.

Observation 2: We’ve seen a lot of vineyards between Lugano and Zermatt, in both Italy and Switzerland. Apparently the climate is excellent for growing grapes, even pretty high up in the mountains. Go figure. I always thought Tuscany was the place for grapes, but I guess different varieties like the cooler temps and higher altitudes.

Observation 3: Zermatt is extremely dog friendly! In fact, most, if not all, hotels here welcome dogs with open arms. There are water bowls at the entrances of all hotels, and so many people stroll the streets with dogs of every size and breed. We’ve petted more dogs than I can count.

Note: We’ve really enjoyed our tour group so much, including Erich and Massimo. We’ve bonded with just about all the members of our group, and we hope to stay in touch with them after the trip. Maybe we’ll even get together again in the future. One particular favorite family is from the Cleveland area, consisting of a father (Michael), a mother (Robin), and three daughters (Lindsey, Meredith, and Julia, whom I’ll dub “the trio”). We’ve had so much fun getting to know each other, and we’ve recently started playing practical jokes on one another. These young ladies are not only fun, they are also very polite, well-behaved, and just a pleasure to be around. Anyway, at breakfast there are often individual sealed tubes of liverwurst about 3 inches long. We’ve taken to hiding them in each others’ tote bags and backpacks. I started the game by hiding one in Lisa’s bag shortly after we started the tour, and when the trio caught us in our pranks, they joined in the fun. Now Michael and Robin are just as complicit, and I have a feeling we have not seen the end of the liverwurst shenanigans. More later, I’ll bet!