Today we took the Glacier Express from Zermatt to....Chur. Thought I was going to say St. Moritz, didn't you? Well, we bought the GE add on to our Swiss rail pass for a hefty additional fee and our understanding was that it wouldn't require us to use 1 of our 5 rail pass days. The GE ticket we had said Zermatt to Disentis which I questioned from the start, but the Europe Rail folks said it would get us all the way to St. Moritz. When the train stopped in Disentis (about halfway along the 8.5 hour route), a new crew [View Full Entry]

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Today we conquered the Matterhorn! Well, we didn't summit it per se, but did take the cable car up to the ski area for fantastic views of the peaks and Zermatt in the valley below. The pictures really do tell the tale better than I can. Words like magestic and awesome spring to mind... We were up at about 9000 feet so it was very cold and windy up there. Cheryl and I immediately got altitude headaches but the guys seemed to be fine. Another example of our finely tuned female senses. We decided to walk the second stage back down [View Full Entry]

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After our expedition up the Matterhorn, we walked around the village of Zermatt. There is a glacial river running through the center of town with hills rising on either side dotted with chalets. There are no street addresses, so you just have to follow signs at the intersections and wind your way uphill and around corners to find anything. To get to some of the hotels, you enter a tunnel alongside the river then ascend an elevator 5 stories to the lobby. The tunnels are lined with rooms for ski storage. The main street is cobblestone. It was here that we [View Full Entry]

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We awakened to thick fog over the lake today. Only had the morning to explore before catching the train to Zermatt, so we walked over to the Old Town area to look around. We found a creperie for breakfast with a fantastic menu, however the proprietor explained they don’t actually serve crepes until after noon so we settled for crossaints and tea instead. A note on the crossaints: French crossaints taste like butter flavored air. They are so light that when you take a bite, the dough expands back to its original shape instead of sinking in like the knock-offs in [View Full Entry]

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This morning we returned to our favorite café (the correct one this time) for breakfast. We then took a stroll through the Place de Vogues (home to Victor Hugo) where we met a couple from Poland and took photos for one another. We had planned to pick up some sandwiches and treats for the train ride to Geneva at our favorite bakery on the island but found it to be closed at 12:15 PM! What?? There was no sign posting hours either. With only 10 minutes until the taxi to the station we weren’t sure what to do. I asked the [View Full Entry]

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I decided to head out to my favorite museum in Paris, while J took care of business. The Musee Marmottan houses a collection of Monet’s works donated by his family as well as other Impressionist paintings. It is located on the West end of town, several blocks walk from the Metro through a lovely park. The museum is in what looks to be an old mansion with 3 levels and various odd shaped rooms complete with creaky wood floors. I just love the ambiance of it and the way the light shines in the windows. It was here 3 years ago [View Full Entry]

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We stayed on Ile St. Louis, which is the smaller of the two main islands on the Seine on Paris. It contains very few hotels, but a large number of restaurants. The larger Ile de la Cite is home to both Notre Dame and St. Chapelle. Attached are some pictures walking around the island. I had planned night time photos of the island streets, as well as Notre Dame, but it was rainy each night we were there. [View Full Entry]

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Got here yesterday to great weather. Took 235 photos, will try to post some tonight. At Bryan's suggestion took 3mg melatonin and it seems to work fine. Probably all in my head though. Went to the top of Notre Dame. Walked around and went to cafes. Berthillion is closed Mon and Tues, so we'll save that for tomorrow! You know we love it. Been struggling finding Wi-Fi (or Wee-Fee as someone here said). And web cafe wouldn't let me plug in laptop. Hey - I'm paranoid about key sniffing attacks, what can I say? We're outside a cafe now, but it's [View Full Entry]

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We slept a full 12 hours so were ready to go! We picked up a few goodies at our neighborhood patisserie and headed out. Our last trip to Paris was a week long so we got a Carte Musee and spent a lot of time at museums. I highly recommend this. Fair warning though - the Louvre is closed Tuesdays, and most other museums at least 1 day a week so plan your time carefully! However, this time around we decided not to repeat too much and opted for churches and gardens instead. Our first stop was Saint Sulpice - anyone, [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in Paris at 10AM. Decided to take the RER (train) into town from the airport to save a little $$. Unfortunately we stood in a long line at the ticket machine before discovering 1) it didn’t take US credit cards and 2) it didn’t sell the kind of tickets we wanted. We got a 3 day Paris Visite pass which gives you unlimited usage of the Metro and RER. It’s nice to have a pass so that you don’t have to stop to buy a ticket each time you get on and calculate the exact ticket price for each destination. [View Full Entry]

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