we have just returned from a 3 day adventure into the wintry wonderland of the Swiss Alps. we went straight for la creme de la creme: the Matterhorn! we hauled our snowboard and ski boots up the hill to the Lausanne train station, and when the stop announcements changed order of languages (from 1-french 2-german 3-english to 1-german 2-french 3-english) we knew we were getting close. in Visp we changed trains and headed up into the mountains. i am beginning to appreciate the promptness of Swiss trains- we literally waited 10 minutes between trains and they arrive exactly to the minute!
waiting for the train in Visp
the ride up was beautiful, passing through many small towns. we started to see lots of snow covered mountains and cute chalets everywhere. the highlight was passing through the town of St. Niklaus, mainly hearing the German announcer say "St. Niklaus" and imagining how this became "Santa Claus" somewhere in translation. lets not forget this giant statue of St. Niklaus himself.
Zermatt is quite an adorable town. cars are not allowed, although somehow we always managed to be in the way of the electric taxis that shuttle the richies to their hotels and such. our hotel was right near the main shopping street and we enjoyed window shopping, especially in the chocolate shops. we entered one of the ski shops only to overhear a transaction for a CHF 850 ski jacket. ouch!
the matterhorn from our hotel window
it has been at least 3 years since either of us has been skiing/snowboarding. (school didn't leave much time for it!) lets just say that day 1 of skiing was pretty miserable. i'd love to blame it all on the icy conditions and lots of narrow runs traversing the mountains, but i'd be lying if i didn't blame it also on my shaky legs and lack of practice. but really, the conditions were awful. on the gondola ride (sardines) up to our lunch spot i told howie that this was going to be my last ski trip. ever. i was ready to give up for life. the mountain had won. the worst part was the endless path back to town- Howie had to walk and I was going so slow that people on sleds were passing me.
this is the before shot- there is no "after"
as we were too crabby to take photos
but, as you probably imagined, day two was an entirely different story. we were SO sore from the first day and decided to take it easy, left the hotel a bit late, and took a 2 hour(!) trip up the mountain. (its a long way up.) we were so nervous about the snow conditions- my legs could not handle another day of scraping ice- but when we emerged from another sardine gondola ride to the tippy top we melted with this gorgeous view.
matterhorn glacier paradise- looking at the italian alps
and we proceeded to have the best ski day of our lives. the snow on the glacier was so perfect, the runs were wide and the Matterhorn peak was constantly in view. i skied fast and enjoyed making long s-curves down the runs. eventually our energy ran out and we headed back to town for some eats.
howie racing past me on the perfect snow
i didn't mention that the first night we ate at a magnificent restaurant called The Pipe, a fusion restaurant run by a South African guy with a great sense of humor. we had excellent spicy massaman prawn curry and springbok biryani, flavors that we have been craving! if you ever go to Zermatt, you must eat here. i loved the African decor as well as a wall of Indian/SE Asian spices and curry pastes for sale.
the next night our dinner at a pizzeria (Lonely Planet recommended) was SO bad that we decided to forget German food altogether and went back to the Pipe for our third night (with some laughs from the owner). while we do plan to cook our own Asian dishes here in Lausanne, we couldn't pass up more of the amazing fusion dishes, especially after some long days of skiing.
a horribly foamy beer followed by an equally horrible meal :(
we left Zermatt with our bellies full, muscles aching, and pockets empty. what a great trip! see more photos from Zermatt at our website.
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