Highs and Lows-Zermatt

Matterhorn

Glacier

Zermatt

Sept. 27, 2015-Zermatt

Highs and Lows
Rosti for dinner...not a good idea. My stomach was rockin' and a rollin' last night. But we were up early and the breakfast room was free of any smoke odor. A good start.

We walked downhill to the train station and boarded a double-decker to Visp where we changed for a train to Zermatt. The one-way trip is two hours. We carefully selected the upper level for a better view and thought we'd figured out in which direction we'd be headed. Wrong again. Once more we had an ass-backward view of the countryside retreating. Oh well, I always thought travel was more appealing in hindsight.

Dogs are common everywhere we go. They are extremely well socialized. I guess we don't see the ones who are not. There were two stunning shepherd mixes on our platform waiting for the train. They were clearly aware of each other, yet neither made a move to approach or bark. They watched people with interest but made no overture towards anyone but their person. Lots of travelers toted hiking gear in backpacks including many elderly looking folks.

There was a cute kid in our car. She sang and spoke German except for breaking into  "happy birthday" in English. Very happy very early.

I forgot to describe Bern in yesterday's email.  I think red tile rooftops are required for old cities in Europe. Wonder who had the franchise back then? Most buildings were period architecture from the 1800's with an infrequent interloper from the twentieth century thrown in. Tan walls, few stories, and then concrete glass and steel. Lucky for photo seeking tourists, the older prevailed.
The city is flanked by the Aare River, which serves as a recreation area and adds a peaceful ambience. It's waters are exciting enough for boating yet clean enough for swimming.

The trains are electric, thus quiet. Houses bordering the tracks are not the shacks we expect. Most were lovely and well tended. The terrain grew pastoral and we caught our first glimpse of beautiful Swiss cows. I didn't yet know why they're considered so beautiful. We were too far away.

We slowed as we passed a lake. Quite pretty. Then it occurred to me. It was Interlaken. Sun glinted through what was left of the fog. Water glistened and hills rose gently foreshadowing what was to come.

We went through the longest damn tunnel before emerging in Visp. We had a six minute transfer to Zermatt so followed the hoards. We're using our second class Swiss Rail Pass and the seats are fine. Then we zigged instead of zagged and ended up in a first class car. The conductor didn't seem to care about us but did ask other people to move. Dumb American luck.

I didn't expect grapevines growing up mountainsides on the way to the Matterhorn, but there they were.  There were also closer views of fat, light brown and white cows. They look like cartoon cows from the fantastical pens of Disney artists. They all have bells the size of cantaloupes hanging from their necks. They were up close and almost personal along with goats and black- faced sheep who hovered just out of reach of the train.

Now we were in real mountains with a swiftly flowing stream complete with waterfalls. The green hillsides were peppered with honest to goodness Swiss chalets. They were the expected dark brown wood siding with balconies, flower boxes, and brightly colored shutters.

Was that the Matterhorn we saw? The familiarly shaped peak was "peeking" through the still green trees and flirting with us from behind lower crags as we wound our way up. We shortly arrived in Zermatt and rushed for the Gornergrat Bahn, a thirty-minute cog train trip up to the highest viewing area. We paid half price with our Rail Pass. Zermatt is at an elevation of about six thousand feet. We were on our way to over ten thousand feet.

So, what we saw was the Matterhorn. I hate to say that when we got closer I was under-whelmed. It's prettier from afar, though more dramatic up close. There's only a frosting of snow and the glacier fields are barren except for those in constant shade. One reason is global warming and an extraordinarily hot summer. The other is that the peak isn't usually very snowy. My misconception. David was duly impressed and remarked it looked like a cobra. To each his own.

Even though we've been fourteen thousand feet up in La Paz, Bolivia, this elevation quickly affected us. But we had taken medication before La Paz. Today we became light headed, our heart rate increased, and we were mildly nauseated. That didn't stop me from climbing up a rock fall to an even higher spot to take photos. Was it worth the $40 we spent for a lunch of side salad, soup, and a slice of pizza? Oh, and the $6 small bottle of water. Perhaps it was worth it for the entertainment value of the illusion that the restaurant was swaying as we ate. Oxygen deprivation is cool.

As we returned to Zermatt, clouds were closing in on the Matterhorn. Perfect timing. The category of perfection would also include David not buying a jacket. It was 60 degrees and sunny even at high elevations. The wind-socks were flaccid.

We had a lovely traveling companion on the descent. A Weimaraner boarded with his people. Such a love. I got doggy kisses. Adore these well-traveled dogs.

Zermatt is a souvenir shop. They've built so many hotels that the Matterhorn is obscured. We found the local museum and spent some time in an underground replica of old town. Yikes! It was primitive, cold, isolated, bereft of any comforts. One sign indicated that some men tended animals, some men looked after farming, and the women did some of everything. Everything included hauling milk down to creameries and climbing back up at the end of the day. There was a movie of flyovers of the Matterhorn by copter and plane. Another movie re-enacted a climb ending in tragedy. One spectacle included a mechanical Matterhorn rising from the floor with projections of images on it. The narrative was in German so it took awhile until we realized it was a commercial for colored pencils.

We had lovely seat companions on our return to Visp. She was from Maui and he's from Bern. Long distance love negotiating visas back and forth. Ironically, she went to high school and college in Dayton, Ohio.

There was such a crush from Visp to Bern that people were standing in the aisles and sitting on steps. David and I weren't able to sit together. An older couple came up to me and he said something that I interpreted as asking for my seat. I smiled and patted my lap for him to sit down. They laughed. I briefly toyed with the idea of letting him sit when I realized he was as old as I or perhaps younger. No way was I giving up my seat. At each stop the crowd increased.

Since I was closer to the door and I'd have to go against the tide to get to David, my plan was to just get off in Bern and wait on the platform. As I headed out, I saw our seatmates from the other train stop standing next to David. He was in such a deep sleep he didn't know we'd arrived. They shook him awake and he staggered off the train. If they hadn't noticed him he would have ended up at the next stop. Don't know where. And with no cell phones it would have been interesting.

Injera, the Ethiopian restaurant called to us. We enjoyed a combination platter before being informed that it was a cash only place. We don't carry a lot of cash. The server didn't want me to stay as collateral, so we both walked the two blocks to an ATM where we withdrew 200 Swiss Francs. Dinner was 76 Francs, Gulp.

Tomorrow it's off to Interlaken and another mountain.

Toby