Day-21-Zermatt
April 23rd - Tuesday - Zermatt
Day fine and sunny later on. Bus to station after breakfast and onto the 'Glacier Express'. Nice panorama carriage, big windows up into the roof. Very smooth ride. Back down the hill to Chur then off to Zermat. The train went up and over a high pass that Julius Caesar and many others used. We did it in more comfort than they did I suspect. The day was great as the sun came out over the mountains. The green valleys, snow on the slopes and the snow capped peaks all around were really quite spectacular. The amazing thing is that there are people living on small 'farms' up in this country all year round. Our farmers think life is hard!, these people must be mad. We had a change of loco part way, when the grade exceeded 14%. Went to a cog rail. After arriving in Zermatt and checking in to a really nice hotel we had a quick walk around the town. It has largely been kept in character as an old swiss town. A lot of 300 year old houses in the old section. Had our first views of the Matterhorn. It's quite an impressive looking hill. Had a nice dinner at the hotel tonight and getting prepared to ascend the heights tomorrow. Going up to about 4,000m I think. Mem is having a quiet day in Zermatt, watching me, through binoculars, as I scale the Matterhorn.
Day fine and sunny later on. Bus to station after breakfast and onto the 'Glacier Express'. Nice panorama carriage, big windows up into the roof. Very smooth ride. Back down the hill to Chur then off to Zermat. The train went up and over a high pass that Julius Caesar and many others used. We did it in more comfort than they did I suspect. The day was great as the sun came out over the mountains. The green valleys, snow on the slopes and the snow capped peaks all around were really quite spectacular. The amazing thing is that there are people living on small 'farms' up in this country all year round. Our farmers think life is hard!, these people must be mad. We had a change of loco part way, when the grade exceeded 14%. Went to a cog rail. After arriving in Zermatt and checking in to a really nice hotel we had a quick walk around the town. It has largely been kept in character as an old swiss town. A lot of 300 year old houses in the old section. Had our first views of the Matterhorn. It's quite an impressive looking hill. Had a nice dinner at the hotel tonight and getting prepared to ascend the heights tomorrow. Going up to about 4,000m I think. Mem is having a quiet day in Zermatt, watching me, through binoculars, as I scale the Matterhorn.
