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Before we start today, a note for one of our younger readers: please be advised that the blog is a record of the trip and locations and not about individual people and what they did on a day to day basis!
Rising early Bree, Pam and I prepared to catch the train up to Zermatt and then the cable car to the top of the mountain to view the Matterhorn. After a 15 minute walk to the train station and paying the 39e return fares for the three of us it was off to Zermatt. Zermatt is a ski village for the rich and famous I suspect as it is expensive to get there and accommodation appears to be pricey as well. Paying the 225e for the three of us to get up the mountain was painful and not to be taken lightly but after 28000kms to get there we figured what the hell. Firstly a small cable car to the first level then a huge cable car full of skiers and visitors alike up to the 3000m level then a final cable car to the top, 3988m, higher than any mountain in NZ. The views were spectacular to say
the least and we had a crustal clear day to boot. We walked into the crevice/ice cave and viewed the sculptures and glacier face under the ice, it was freezing but worth the walk I did however find it hard to breath. Getting back out to the surface I found it getting harder to breath, being a smoker and the lack of oxygen was affecting me badly, unable to breath properly and feeling dizzy I headed to the café for a sit down, a coffee helped, sitting at the table next to us a visitor had a fit and passed out and pandemonium broke out with medics and all sort racing around.. Deciding it was time to leave as we had to hit the road onwards towards Andermatt we returned down the mountain. It was a relief being able to breath properly again. To show how little oxygen there is my cigarette lighter would not light at all, lack of oxygen, it started working again at the foot of the mountain. Getting back to the camper lo and behold there were our friends Tony and Gill parked by our van, it was a nice reunion if a little short. Packing
up and saying farewell to our friends again it was off to Andermatt. It was around 4.30 and we had about 100kms to go, we still had to get through the traffic in Brig again. Getting out of Brig took about an hour and then to cap off a long day we found that 3 off the roads we needed to travel were closed, 3 high level passes through the mountains. I was furious at the poor management of the roads but we still had no choice, this part of Switzerland was cut off via the north route and we had no choice but to turn around and head off to Sion, the south route. Feeling somewhat jaded we found a camp ground at Sion, Camping Sedunum, around 8.30, after stopping at Maccas for dinner (Bree was pleased). Pulling in it looked a little rustic and charming. After looking around in the morning we found it more rustic than charming, but it was a place to stay.
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Janice Dunn
non-member comment
Ice carvings
Great pics - enjoying following your tales Mark