Blossoming Seoul: Zermatt and the Matterhorn

This morning we left lovely Evian behind and crossed back over into Switzerland bound for the exclusive resort town of Zermatt. Being an uncultured American, I could never have told you that this is the place to be to rub elbows with the rich and famous, however, much like Saint Moritz, the well to do come to Zermatt to see and be seen renting $100,000 per night chalets with their friends and living the good life. The drive from Evian to Zermatt through the Rhone Valley was incredibly scenic, in fact it was so beautiful that I could hardly take my eyes off of the countryside. I snapped a few photos, but it was absolutely impossible to capture the natural beauty that rolled by for over two hours.

Views of the Rhone Valley from the coach.

Arriving in Zermatt was a bit tricky as our coach couldn't deliver us to our hotel. Instead, we were let off at a parking lot where we split up into three vans and headed for...another parking lot! The drive in was anything but impressive and I wondered to myself if Zermatt had been just a tad bit overrepresented. At the next parking lot we hopped into these adorable electric mini buses. Most of our luggage was loaded into the back, but a few unlucky folks watched as their baggage was tossed onto the roof--oh dear! As we sped toward our hotel, bumping and jolting around, we prayed that the luggage remained in place and miraculously, it did! Our hotel is a great establishment. It's a four star hotel with quaint rooms that are quite large for Europe. A real treat for sure! We had about twenty minutes to drop our stuff before we headed out for the highlight of the day--the Klein Matterhorn excursion.

Picture for a moment the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland. Can you see the iconic mountain? Great! Today I ventured over 12,000 feet (more than 3,000 meters) by cable car/gondonla to stand face to face with that very mountain peak plus several other which were equally impressive. What a journey it was! Six of us stepped into the continuously moving cable car, which also serves as a sort of ski lift as there are slots on the outside of the door for skis, and took a seat for the long ride up. We passed 3 or 4 stops where the door opened and we could have stepped out to explore (or perhaps ski down in the winter). The ride up was about twenty plus minutes and we were quite high above the rocky terrain. We could see streams running below, grassy meadows, crevices, boulders, and even a bit of snow and glacier. When we got out at the top, we took some time to admire the scenery and have our photo taken with a sweet St. Bernard with the Matterhorn in the background. By this time we were at an elevation of about 9,000 feet and many started to notice that the air felt a bit thin.

The Matterhorn, as seen from Zermatt.

The first ascent--cable car #1.

The Matterhorn viewed from 9,000 feet!

Look at the nice doggie posing for a photo!

It was a bit windy and cold up there!

Our final ascent was in a larger gondola where everyone piled into one car and up, up, up we climbed! I truly didn't think we would make it to the platform. It was about -3 degrees Celsius (that's about 23 degrees Fahrenheit for my American friends) at the top so I had to add a few layers of clothes! After a quick lunch everyone took some time to check out the views and they were absolutely amazing. This is why you go to Switzerland, to bask in the glory of the mountains! I also had the opportunity to go underneath the glacier and oh baby was it cold down there! Imagine walking about in a freezer!

Taken from the gondola during our second ascent!

Inside the glacier.

Sparkly glacier!

Ice sculptures being exhibited inside the glacier tunnels.

Outside in the sun the temperatures were quite nice so I grabbed a beanbag and soaked up a few rays before taking photos:). I should mention that there were several folks taking advantage of the fact that there was snow on the mountains and skiing, including a few adorable kids who shared our gondola! It was difficult to take a bad picture from the top of the mountain today because everywhere you looked the scenery was incredible. The clouds had begun to blow in, so the Matterhorn was covered, but what an experience to be on top of the world. There was even a 360 degree observation deck for photo taking and I took full advantage of it and snapped away.

Just chilling on a mountain top beanbag! I love vacation!

One of the great views from the 360 viewing platform.

Swiss Alps

The mountains and the glaciers.

The clouds rolled in so quickly!

Pure Swiss mountain beauty!

Alan and Anne enjoying the view!

The ride down the mountain passed quickly. To give you an idea of how high we climbed, I took a photo from the platform of the gondola lift and let me tell you, it's a long way down! Once back on solid ground I set off with a few others to explore Zermatt before meeting as a whole group for drinks and a photo. Craig took us on a quick tour of the old part of the city where we saw the original wooden buildings from days of yore that have now been lovingly preserved and celebrate the town's great history. Tonights dinner was had outside and afterward I enjoyed a nice ice cream with another one of the single travelers before calling it a night.