But first, I've needed a haircut for over a week now and I must get it cut in this very expensive town. $40 for 15 min of her time is expensive to me but we can make our train now so all is good.
We leave the hotel at 10am and drop off some postcards before getting on the train on the preferred right hand side. The views as we leave Zermatt are not encouraging and we take pictures as we rise rapidly into the clouds.
The railway line is steep but the cog-wheel and rack combination seems to make it easy to manage the incline.
The further we go the bleaker the weather gets. It is starting to snow now.
We make about 4 stops on our way up. Only a few people get on or off. It is the top of the mountain we all seek today. There shall be no hiking the lower trails today because snow still covers all the trails.
As the train stops it is snowing; not just flurries but snowing like an inch-per-hour snow.
The doors open and it snows inside the cars. Nobody moves as we were hoping for a sunny welcome. Begrudgingly we start exiting and everyone resigns themselves to the condition of the mountain this morning.
In this picture you can see the 2nd train that came up the mountain behind ours. Above it is the hotel that's up here and in the lower floors of it are the shops. Above the train in the snow is a switchback walkway to get you to the hotel or you can take the elevator in the concrete structure to the right of the hotel. Off to the right above the end of train and the rocks you can see is the upper viewing area.
Here is a nice little map of the area to get you aquainted with what we had to do up here.
There are shops up here! Hey, wait a minute. I thought this was a no shopping day. We buy a few souvenirs. Anything with the Matterhorn on it was fair game for Matterhorn-enthusiast Karen.
There is an upper area a little higher up and we take some photos from there as the snow eases off. To give you idea of the changing weather conditions up here, these two pictures were taken a minute apart from each other.
They have an outside terrace area with tables and chairs and BLANKETS. We put blankets on some wet chairs and we have lunch. A third blanket is used by Karen to cover her legs. Ah, this is the life.
A man gets off the elevator with a big bag. That shape seems small for a flugelhorn but he takes it out and starts assembling it. A concert? Sure enough he starts blowing the thing and making music, of a sorts.
We moved inside to a warm table, bought some hot chocolate, and settled in to see if the weather would clear and we write some postcards. This is really nice.
The weather gets worse and it looks like a nasty, wet, rainy snow out there. We sit warmly, wait, and the sun comes out briefly. BUT, the Matterhorn Mt. that we all want to see from here does not reveal itself, so we wait some more.
3:15 arrives and we decide that the shy mountain will not show itself this day. We decide to head home and take the train back down the mountain.
On our way back to the motel we run into the famed black-headed goats of Zermatt. In the summertime they parade through the streets of Zermatt on a daily basis. We did not expect to see them while we were there.
To put a happier spin on this blog entry, dinner was delicious. Karen had read about Raclette, a local dish, and was anxious to try it since it involved potatoes and cheese. SHE LOVED IT.
Her first bites were tenuous but soon she was savoring each bite.
Cut off a piece of potato and run it around in the cheese fontue stuff. Mmmm. Good stuff. Great ending to a bummer Matterhorn-viewing day.
My dad experienced the same thing with Mt Raineer. He visited us while we lived in University Housing. One morning I got up and looked all over for him. Was getting concerned
ReplyDeletewhen in he walked. I scolded him about not telling us. His replay was "you have to get up early to see her. I said what her. He said your
mountain of coarse she is a shi one that's for sure.....dad