Day Five – 11/1/2014: On Which a 8 year old French Boy Loudly Exclaims “What the F*ck!??”

One of the best parts of our Zermatt hotel was the fact that the room included a very tasty continental breakfast complete with dried meats, cheese and of course delicious breads and jellies.  After filling our bellies, we headed along with throngs of other people to the southern end of the town where the gondolas await to whisk you up even higher into the mountains.  The gondolas are automated and never seem to stop; you just hop into one as quickly as you can (after hanging your ski equipment on the outside, if applicable).  Sam and I were joined in our little car by a French family of four, including the above-referenced 8 year old.

The sight that produced the singular exclamation noted in the title was the long downward sweep we took before heading back up again.  Zermatt sits at roughly 5200 feet above sea level but we were climbing all the way up to 9600 feet on top of Trockener Steg. And to get there you go up and down several different valleys and peaks to give the poor posts holding up these never-stopping cable cars a fighting chance. Apparently our gondola-mate was a bit surprised...

Once we reached the top of the mountain, people just hop right out and start skiing.  Sam and I opted to pick up large hunks of snow. 

After some poking around, Sam and I found some manageable trails that weren’t too icy and did some exploring of our own. The views weren't too shabby. 

  

Those tiny looking houses deep in the valley are Zermatt. 

After coming back down the mountain, we lunched at the Alpen Rose before we were off again to do some hiking at the “lower” altitudes.

Then it was time to say Auf Wiedersehen to Zermatt and once again, wend our way down to go up! 

Day Four – 10/31/2014: On Which Andrea and Sam Have Their First Sighting of the Matterhorn

On the recommendation of a longtime family friend, we decided to head to Zermatt, the village from which you can see the famous Matterhorn.  All of this traveling around is made possible by the almost comically reliable Swiss national transportation system which consists of trains, buses, funiculars and tram cars.  This journey, however, was somewhat different than we anticipated because part of the track between Visp and Zermatt was under construction so we took a bus to the very picturesque village of St. Nicolas where everyone poured out of the bus and across the tracks onto the train to Zermatt. 

One of the last car-less villages in Switzerland, Zermatt consists of twisty cobblestone streets, flanked on either side by wooden structures and that on the main drag in town have one three things in them (1) hotels, (2) shops or (3) restaurants.  However, Zermatt is very much a lived-in town, as Sam and I discovered around 4 o’clock when school let out of the weekend and hordes of children came streaming out into the church square before dispersing homeward – many of them via scooter. 

Fortunately, we not only saw lots of cute Swiss kiddos but also had some great views of the Matterhorn despite the fact when we first got there the sun was at such an angle that we were almost blinded each time we looked up at it.

He's got the Matterhorn in his hands. 

In contrast to CM, where the low season means that the streets are practically deserted, in Zermatt, there were lots of people everywhere (or seemingly lots of people) some outfitted for hiking and others taking advantage of the early snow to do some skiing.  Given that there were so many more people in town, we were lucky to snag a table at Schäferstube where we tasted our first raclette (a unique Swiss melted cheese dish).  

We finished up our Halloween at Hexen Bar (a witch themed bar) where we overheard some other Americans loudly discussing Budweiser.  

Andrea really got into the holiday spirit. 

Then it was off to dream land in the pristinely clean HotelTesta Grigia (with exceedingly thick walls and triple paned windows to keep the winter chill away).

 The view from our balcony. 

Day Three – 10/30/2014: On Which Sam Turns 30 and Experiences a 55 Year Old Man Rub

The only excursion that we officially planned getting to Switzerland was going to the alpine spa village of Leukerbad to partake of its thermal baths and get hot stone massages.  Leukerbad is almost due east of Crans-Montana but given all the mountains, getting there required taking the funicular down into Sierre, catching the train over to Leuk where we boarded a bus for one of the craziest drives I’ve ever been on up and back into the mountains.  Needless to say, I was very glad that the seat in front of me had little handles for me to grab on to. 

That windy path was one of the straighter parts of the road that we took. 

One of the many hillside villages that we passed. 

After making our way to the Alpentherme, we paid for a soak and headed to the pools (where coincidentally we were the youngest people by probably 20 years). The water was toasty, the air fresh, the mountains lovely.  All and all, we were feeling good and relaxed and looking forward to our massages.

I’m going to let Sam take it from here and describe in his own words his massage experience. I apologize for the shaking camera – there were points where I just could not stop giggling!! 

We also found our first Alpenrose in Leukerbad. 

Day Two – 10/29/2014: On Which Andrea’s Phone Decides to Take an Extended Holiday

Our first full day in Switzerland was spent walking in circles. It started in Taillens, a local bakery that has been around for generations. We had stumbled across it the night before while we were in search of somewhere to sit down and consume some alcohol after discovering we couldn't get into the apartment.  The charming gentlemen who waited on us spoke some English and had an amazing mustache that would put many an Austin hipster to shame.

Fortunately, for us he was there again in the morning and served us some exceedingly tasty bread and jelly along with a fried egg cooked on top of some local bacon.  Well-fortified, we struck out to investigate our new town.  In front of the Parc Hotel, we encountered a hilltop bench that afforded us sweeping views over Lac Grenon. 

Later in the day, we walked up behind that triangle-shaped hotel in search of a cafe recommended by the guide book that I bought.  Only to discover that there nothing on the street but the large, new, and closed for the low season hotel.  Turns out the "cafe" is a wine bar located in a completely different part of town. 

I took some pictures with my phone until I realized that the resolution on Sam’s phone was infinitely better so I put my phone down next to me on the bench.  And there it stayed while we went down to walk around the lake.

In effort to liven up the lake stroll for small children, the town has posted a story along with various artifacts from the tale around the water.  The general gist is that there were some dwarfs – or little people as they liked to be called – who had a magical golden key that unlocked the secret of happiness.  As the hordes of people came in search of the key, a shepherdess helped the little people protect the key.  As you can see, the artifacts aren't just fun for kids!

Sometimes when you kiss a frog, you get very lucky and it turns into....

A very handsome prince! 

Being on vacation is very hard work! 

Sam then became convinced that we needed to explore Lac de la Moubra, a bit farther down the mountain.  After several wrong turns (why was I trusting Sam to navigate?!?) Ahem, this is Sam interjecting... It was Andrea who told us to take the "wrong way." Anyway, resume:  We made it to the second lake – where I decided to pull out my phone to see what time it was. Only to discover that my phone was gone. And thus began our first circle. Back to the hilltop bench and back around the first lake.

We eventually gave up and snuck into a restaurant as their last table before they closed for the afternoon.  This region of Switzerland, Valais, is particularly known for their wines (most of which cannot be purchased outside of Switzerland) so of course we split a bottle of pinot noir. 

Since we never actually made it all the way to de la Moubra, we headed back down there.  This lake was notable because in the shade the ground and the lake was almost totally frozen.  That and it had some more great views.

I start falling off a bench. Instead of helping me up, the husband decides he needs to take a picture first.

Winter is coming. 

Sam is thinking about turning this shot into a puzzle 

The water was some of the clearest that I've ever seen. 

Sam on some sort of exercise equipment/cross country skiing training device. 

We later tried the tourist information office and even went to the police station to see if we could track my phone down but to no avail.  Looks like Apple is going to be getting another chunk of my money once we get back stateside. 

Day One – 10/28/2014: On Which Sam and Andrea Travel for 24 Hours Only to Be Locked Out of Their Condo

This was an exceedingly long day – not going to lie.  Because we were using frequent flyer miles for our trip, we got a much better deal if we flew out of Houston instead of Austin.  So at about ten a.m., we hit the road east. As Sam later pointed out, we probably didn’t need to leave that early but my overly paranoid brain wanted us to get on the road in case _________ (fill in the blank with your own worst case scenario – I’m sure I thought of it.) Fortunately we arrived without a hitch and had plenty of (read: too much perhaps?) time to kill in the airport but were soon on our way.

With a brief layover in Munich (where Sam got his vacation off to a good start with beer and bratwurst) we were off to Geneva. 

But not before we took a 10 minute bus ride to our plane. So for those of you who are counting, we are up to three modes of transportation: car, plane, bus. Then in Geneva we schlepped our ridiculous number of suitcases and bags (we SERIOUSLY over packed) to the train. After about an hour and half of the train, we dragged said luggage several blocks to the funicular – this super cool elevator type thing that goes straight up the side of the mountain from the town of Sierre down in the valley up to the towns of Crans and Montana.  

View of vineyards and Alps (if you click on the picture, you should be able to see a large version) 

After being properly impressed by the beautiful scenery, we managed to find our apartment building without any trouble.  The apartment itself was quickly located. The luggage brought upstairs.  There was only one thing missing.  One teeny, tiny, critical component – the key.  See, we are staying at an apartment that we purchased at an auction and I’d only communicated with the woman who owns the apartment via email.  She had been lovely and assured us that she would place the key for the apartment under the door mat.  No key was there.

Never you fear though, our host had instructed us that if we had any problems, we should be sure to contact the concierge. The only problem with that particular sage piece of advice was that the concierge was not to be found. Oh and even if we were able to find her, we had been instructed that she only spoke French. Which neither Sam nor I speak.

After some frantic texts to Sego, my expert on all things European and most importantly all things French, I had figured out how to ask the lovely concierge where the key is.  On the second call, she answered but my attempts at French simply weren’t cutting it. Mainly because any time I try to speak in a foreign language, my Spanish comes tumbling out. Fortunately, the concierge is actually Portuguese so between my Spanish and her Portuguese we were able to discover that she was four towns away and wouldn’t be home for another two hours. But at least she was coming home and could bring us the key! Victory was ours.  Food (and alcohol) was procured and a mere 28 hours after we left Austin, we collapsed into bed.