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Planning a trip as long as ours is not an easy undertaking. In order to get from Kenya to Greece in X amount of days with X amount of transportation, we carefully had to choose our favorite destinations. I had two places I wanted to see more than most others. First, I wanted to make it to Poland. With the most Polish of last names, I wanted to make it to the land of my ancestors. Unfortunately, Poland was too far outside of our travel loop to make it possible. The second place I really wanted to go was Zermatt. Zermatt is a picturesque Swiss mountain ski village and home to the legendary Matterhorn. On Lauren's family boat in Huntington Beach, we came very close to cancelling our trip to Zermatt because it was going to be a chore to get to. We are both ecstatic that we made it happen! We took the Matterhornbahn up the mountain and arrived in Randa, a tiny mountain village just shy of Zermatt. On our first day, we trained into Zermatt fully fixed on getting our first glimpse of the famous peak. We decided to spend the day hiking. After walking through Zermatt, we
turned a sharp corner between two lodges and were faced with the world's most recognizable mountain. Let me tell you, it puts the Disneyland miniature to shame! With its twisted face and snow capped peak, the Matterhorn was stunning. We spent the day hiking out of Zermatt into the Swiss Alps.
We traveled a breathtaking path that led us up into the trees. Small mountain homes dotted the landscape. In all directions, giant snow capped mountains surrounded us. Only two weeks before we arrived, the snow had thinned and left lush green grass in the valleys between the peaks. We climbed from Zermatt all the way to the base of the Matterhorn. From our picnic, we could see nothing but every snowy ridge on the Matterhorn. We were only deterred from continuing our hike by the massive amounts of snow that steadily piled up as we ascended. When we made it back to Zermatt, we were tired and hungry from our adventurous day and were craving a hearty, warm meal. Unfortunately, Switzerland is the most expensive country we ventured into. Just to put things in perspective, a McDonald's burger cost 12 Swiss Francs, which is about 14 bucks! We had
to settle for our staple of salad, bread, and cheese. I hope you're ready to cook Mama, your boy is hungry! After a short ride back on the train, we arrived back at the Matterhorn Golf Hotel. Despite not having any golf course in sight, the hotel was picturesque and had full amenities, but at hostel price range- a real steal.
We woke up early the next morning headed to the top of the mountain. We purchased ski passes that allowed us to travel to the highest peaks in the area and soak in the stunning panoramic views. At first, we were determined to snowboard, but a laundry list of reasons helped us use our better judgement. The ski lifts at Zermatt take nearly an hour from top to bottom, making the runs seem like ages. For our first trip, we headed to the highest accessible peak, the Glacier Express. This is when we finally realized that we were up 12,000 feet and thoroughly unprepared. During our hikes at lower elevation, the sun glistened and the exercise made us quite warm. I ended up in hiking pants and a t-shirt. Unfortunately, we were horribly misled on day one. At the
top of the mountain surrounded by a glacier, I was wearing thin hiking pants, a long sleeve thermal, and a t-shirt. Lauren wasn't much better off in only a few extra layers. Needless to say, we froze. The view from the top was gorgeous. Matterhorn to the left. The ski runs straight on. The Italian Alps to our backs. And Glacier Paradise to the right. We braved the cold for awhile to snap the most gorgeous scenery of the trip. We ended up getting a little snippy trying to rush each other with the pictures! We continued on to Gornergratt, where the whole range was in view. Luckily, the icy winds of the glacier did not blow through and we were more comfortable with the temperature. At Gornergratt, we were positively surrounded by 11,000 foot peaks. More than thirty formed an imposing barrier around us. After snapping photos, we sat down for lunch and a hot cocoa in the Gornergratt lodge. We stayed for quite a while playing Skip-Bo and enjoying the heater! After one more spin on the lifts, we made our way down the mountain back to Zermatt. We stocked up on apple strudel and watched the setting
sun illuminate the Matterhorn.
We are fairly certain that Zermatt will remain at the top of our list when we make it home. Next up on the agenda, two weeks in Italy!
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