Zermatt Day 1

From Gimmelwald, we took a train to Southern Switzerland for a few days in Zermatt. The train ride was beautiful and I was grateful it was during the day because a lot of the train rides had been in the dark.

Apparently Paul found a neon blue bathroom at one of the train stations along the journey, the photo evidence of which I just uncovered.

When we arrived in Zermatt we found Hotel Bahnof was right across the street from the train station (hence it's name). I loved this place. It  had a clean kitchen and common room to use in the basement, comfy beds, and a nice balcony and was right in the middle of town. A lot of climbers stay here as opposed to the resorts filled with rich skiing families that make up the rest of Zermatt.

We dropped off our bags and tried to find something to do pronto (we only had a few hours of daylight left, as traveling took quite a bit of the day). We walked to the end of the city to where the tram goes up the mountain and bought a ticket to go to the "Matterhorn Glacier Paradise", because every single one of those words sounds like a great experience and then combined, how could it not be the best?

On our walk to the other side of the city (less than a mile) these are things I liked most: no cars, beautiful planters of bright red flowers everywhere, amazing mountain views, and the the bright blue river that went through the town.

We took the Gondola up up up UP. On the way we got a good side view of the wispy cloud Matterhorn (the jewel of Zermatt) and crazy deep ice crevices on the mountain.

^^^ Looking back down on the city of Zermatt.

 ^^^ The MATTERHORN through the tram window

The glacier paradise was so weird and funny. Ice sculptures, an indoor ice tunnel/slide (that I went on multiple times even though it was probably for the children), blue and purple lights. It was all kind of hokey, but still a nice time. I mean, we were inside a real life glacier at over 12,000 feet.

When we went outside the palace, we were on top of the world.

It was SO WINDY and FREEZING cold. It must have been 10 below zero. We were so mad at ourselves for leaving our down coats in the hotel room in our rush to beat the tram closing for the day. My fingers almost fell off every time I tried to take a picture.

But it was worth every second of the amazing view.

 

 ^^^Using these porta potties was an adventure. Freezing cold and fierce winds, just picture that situation.

The Breithorn!

Back down the Gondola we went!

We spent the rest of the evening exploring Zermatt, buying groceries and splurged on dessert at... McDonalds. :)

Gimmelwald Day 2- Hiking the Schilthorn

Over breakfast (homemade bread, jam, and hot chocolate) at Hotel Mittagorn, we decided to hike to the top of the Schilthorn for our second day in Gimmelwald. Tim, the Hotel Manager, showed us his favorite route up and then we set off with our trusty map. To the top we go!

We started through the forest behind our Hotel and then came to a beautiful canyon and waterfall, which the trail went right under. 

At the barn, we turned left (before hand, we thought the directions were pretty unhelpful, but they made perfect sense during the hike).

The next part was a pretty good climb to get up to a peak, but then we walked along the ridge line  and it was my favorite part of the hike.

Up more elevation to this pristine mountain lake. We skipped some rocks and then up we went.

 I took a picture of Paul by the lake then he took a picture of where I took the picture from. 360 degrees of beautiful.

The last part of the hike was pretty brutal - dark crumbly rock and a lot of elevation to climb.

We got to the top and this way our view.

At the peak there is a restaurant that was used in the filming of a James Bond movie. There is a tram that goes all the way to the top, so even though we'd just spent hours climbing one of the most difficult hikes of my life, people were enjoying the same view without spending any energy except some Swiss Francs. But, they did have delicious food so there's that.

Through the telescope of the prettiest peaks - I think this may be the Eiger.

The difficult hike (full of great one-on-one time with Paul and lots of good conversation) was worth every minute of that beautiful Swiss Alp view. 

Gimmelwald Elevation: 4,485 ft (1,367 m)

Schilthorn Peak Elevation: 9,744 feet (2,970 meters)

Vertical climb: 5,259 ft

We enjoyed our last night in Gimmelwald but it was bittersweet, we didn't want to leave that beautiful place. Here is Paul on our room's balcony.

Another delicious meal by Walter with more great stories from his 90 years of life.

And then off we went the next morning. We had some time while we waited for the tram so we played on the slide.

 I have thought about Gimmelwald every single day since we left there. My heart aches for that place.