After Chamonix, it was off to…
ZERMATT & GORNERGRAT
We stayed at the same place we stayed last time because it was perfect.
Even a skylight in the bathroom! and if we craned our heads the right way, a glimpse of the mountains.
When we were still in the planning stages of this vacation, my aunt said that she would come to see us in Zermatt for a day with her friend. Instead she surprised us and came alone and checked herself into the same hotel for the same 2 nights!
She was so concerned about being a third wheel, but it all worked out ok. I like this picture of the 2 of us just chatting and flipping through the restaurant menu:
And here we are at breakfast (me with no make-up!!)
You may already know about the huge disappointment we had when we were in Zermatt last time. The weather was so awful, we didn’t see a thing! Rain and Fog, Drizzle and Clouds.
Grey and miserable!
this time? … HO.LY. SHIT.
Did we ever miss out last time. OMG!!! I mean, I knew we missed out, but this time with perfect weather and glorious views I realized JUST HOW MUCH we missed out!!! I know what the Matterhorn looks like obviously, the image is part of our popular culture. But seeing the ACTUAL mountain blows that all into the dust.
No image can do it justice. It’s just incredible. It’s so imposing!
Viewed from Zermatt, there are no surrounding mountains to give it any context. It’s as if the Gods were playing blocks and dropped one. It’s like a huge stone just stuck in the hills.
Our intention for our time in Zermatt was to go up to the Gornergrat (a ridge in the mountains 3100m up), go for a hike and have lunch.
From up there, the views of the Matterhorn are even more amazing! You feel as if you could reach out and touch it! and it looks so easy to climb… but it’s not, the summit is almost 4500m high.
Lots of hikes to do up there, for all different skill levels. We decided to hike down to the Riffelsee to get the iconic shot of the mountain mirrored in the lake.
It was roughly a 45 minute hike, less then 2km away and about 250m lower then the Gornergrat Station.
Look how piddly the lake looks from far away! It’s so funny! You don’t realize just how far away it really is, it’s actually a pretty big lake.
The weather was SO WARM! There was no way we could have hiked back up to the station in the condition we were in: overdressed, and carrying bags to hold the layers of clothing we were peeling off as we went along. Instead, we took the train back up to Gornergrat with the goal of having a fondue lunch at the restaurant.
But the restaurant was so hot and stuffy there was no way we could have had a warm meal in there. It was stifling.
The outside Terrace was nice, but in the full sun with no shade. I was pretty disappointed, but it would not have been a comfortable lunch.
So, back on the train we went, back down to Zermatt to enjoy the rest of the day.
End of Part 2 
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