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Day 18 - Tuesday June 1, 1999 - Zermatt, Switzerland: Since I had seen what I wanted to see in Murren, I decided to advance my trip and make an unscheduled stop at Zermatt in order to see the Matterhorn. So I checked out of my hotel and took the Berner Oberlandbahn train, and funicular back down to Lauterbrunnen. Next I took the Swiss rail system train from Lauterbrunnen to Interlaken Ost where I boarded the 12:04PM train to Brig via Spiez. At Brig I switched over to the private BVZ Zermatt-Bahn railway that runs a narrow gauge train that takes you from Brig to Visp, and finally into Zermatt. I arrived at the Zermatt train station around 3:45PM. At the train station they have an electronic board listing all the hotels in Zermatt with the room rates, and their occupancy status. I selected the Hotel Butterfly (3920 Zermatt, 107SF per night, breakfast included) because of its location (near the train station), and reasonable room rates. After contacting the hotel, they sent an electric car to pick me up, and take me to the hotel. Like Murren, Zermatt is also a car free resort, but the local business do use electric vehicles to transport people, and goods around town. I checked into the hotel which had just opened up for the season, and got a small but very clean room. I dropped off my luggage and headed out to explore the small town of Zermatt. Unlike Murren, Zermatt was definitely open for business. It is a small town, but much larger than Murren, and it is a major ski resort with many lifts and ski runs. Zermatt also has a very lively tourist trade due to the nearby Matterhorn, there are many shops, bars, and restaurants all open for business. The streets of Zermatt were bustling with people. Its shops, and restaurants very busy serving the numerous tourists visiting the town. The craggle tooth looking Matterhorn peak (14,690 ft) looms over the town, and can be seen from just about any location. But the best views are from the front of the town's central catholic church. The Matterhorn itself became famous when a British climbing team lead by Edward Whymper lost four of the seven team members while descending the mountain after the first successful ascent of the peak in 1865. This was Whymper's seventh attempt to climb the Matterhorn, and at the time of the accident his team was in a race with an Italian team to be the first to reach the summit. Only three of the four bodies were recovered, and they are buried in the cemetery behind Zermatt's catholic church. Day 19 - Wednesday June 2, 1999 - Zermatt, France: I checked out of the Hotel Butterfly early in the morning, and asked them to hold my luggage at the front desk until I returned. My goal this morning was to ride the train up to the Gornergrat station. The Gornergrat-Monte Rosa-Bahen railway is a private company that runs a cog wheel train service from Zermatt (5,300 ft) up to the Gornergrat station (10,132 feet). A cog wheel train is a narrow gauge train that uses a wheel on the train car which couples to the toothed rail in the center of the rails in order to pull the train car up the steep slopes. I purchased a Zermatt to Gornergrat round trip ticket for 63FF. The train ride up is very scenic, and it ends at the Gornergrat station. At the Gornergrat station there are several viewing platforms from which you have spectacular views of the many peaks in the Swiss Alps including the Matterhorn (14,690 ft), and the even taller Monte Rosa (14,940 ft). On one of the viewing platforms, an enterprising photographer used three beautiful Saint Bernard dogs to pose for pictures with tourists. The Gornergrat station also has a restaurant, gift shop, and observatory. |
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