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.