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Published: June 17th 2017
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Geo: 46.0193, 7.74603
After a very unsettled night, only because I was coming down with some bug that Melanie shared, so during the night I was coughing, sneezing and burning up. Breakfast was included in this Hotel which was great as I couldn't be bothered going out looking for food. Food here is not cheap in Switzerland, and when we are living off takeaways, it's hard to find cheap meals.
We went down for breakfast after our showers, and was shown to our table. The breakfast looked amazing, all individual serves for a lot of items. Champagne was included along with coffee as well, what a mixture!!
The train trip to Zermatt was at 10.05am so after breakfast Clint and I had a chance to explore the other end of Interlaken. Across the road was a park that had a water feature, and most of it was frozen. Behind this area was a beautiful Church as well. We walked up to the other train station before heading back to check out of the hotel. We were taken to Interlaken West Train station by a free shuttle for our next trip to Zermatt!
This next section of our journey consists of 3 trains to get
to Zermatt, 1st train Interlaken to Spiez which was a 16 minute journey, next was Spiez to Visp which was 26 minutes, then Visp to Zermatt, which was 1 hour, 10 minutes, and these trains run on time.
Once we arrived into Zermatt, we noticed instantly how much colder the air was, although it was sunny, the air just really hit you in the chest. Our hotel wasn't too far from the train station, but we took the wrong road and went the other side of the Cogwheel train so couldn't see the hotel, luckily an electric taxi came along and told us where we needed to go, and even then, we still had trouble finding it, probably because my brain had frozen by now!!
We checked into our rooms, next to each other and right outside on our balcony, we could see the Matterhorn, which is the famous mountain from the Toblerone packaging!!
Next we bought tickets for the cogwheel train to Gornergrat, which links the township of Zermatt, situated 1604 m above sea level to the summit of the Gornergrat. The track is 3.79km long and the highest elevation is 3089m (10135ft). The Gornergrat railway is the second highest railway
in Europe after the Jungfrau, and the highest open air railway of the continent. The line opened in 1898, and was the first electric railway to be built in Switzerland. There are 29 peaks rising above 4000m (13123ft) in the alps and several glaciers. At the end of the line on Gornergrat is the Matterhorn, which is very visible on a clear day, at 4478m high, (14692ft). The Matterhorn is also the border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a huge and near symmetrical pyramidal peak.
When we got off the cogwheel train, which was a spectacular journey, climbing around the mountains, we had to walk up to the observation deck and cafe, the air being so cold, really affected my lungs, taking my breath away with every step I took. It took me a good 5 minutes or so to start feeling a bit better. At the top, of course you find a souvenir shop and cafe, also a higher viewing platform, but only Clint made it to the top. The temperature was -10, but probably being so high up, and a wind chill factor, it felt even colder than being on Mt Titlis.
We returned on the cogwheel again, the
only option down unless you want to ski down!! Arriving back in Zermatt felt even colder as the sun was setting and it was dropping a few more degrees. We had a nice warm coffee when we arrived back at the hotel to warm up.
We all rugged up, and went up the car free street to discover what was around and to find somewhere for dinner. We found a place, and we all quickly ordered but then discovered it was only 5.30pm!!
Well tonight was a good night to hit the bed early, in a nice warm bed and the heater warmed our room.
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Julie and Roy
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Fabulous photos Sue . We almost feel like we are there with you all . Hope you are feeling better now . It is very hot here in Adelaide xx