On Cloud Nine, literally..

I am exhausted. Utterly exhausted, but in the best way possible. On Friday, after a day of programming at school, six of us came home and packed and got ready for our big trip to Zermatt, Switzerland. Our first train left from Berlin around 7:30 and got to Frankfurt around 11pm. We had 3 hours until our next train, so we went outside to look for some food. I think I could have lived a happy life without ever seeing Frankfurt and its red light district. The six of us ran back to the train station and camped out in McDonald's instead, a good call I'd say. After the longest 3 hours of my life, we were on the train from Frankfurt to Basel, which I remember none of. I found my own row and slept the entire 3 hour ride. The next two trains were through the mountains of Switzerland, and I managed to stay awake for both. The first was from Basel to Visp, and then the last was a tiny mountain train from Visp to Zermatt. We arrived in Zermatt almost exactly 14 hours after we stepped foot outside our apartment, around 9:20am on Saturday, immediately forgetting our long night at the sight of the surrounding mountains and tiny Swiss ski town.

View of the famous Matterhorn from the Zermatt train station

After walking around a bit, we dropped our bags off at our hotel and decided to rent some mountain bikes, an idea that sounded great to the male group majority. Lindsay and I were good sports and started up the mountain right behind the four boys. Lindsay had never been to the mountains before, so about a half an hour in, she couldn't catch her breath, so we stopped and sent the boys onwards. We relaxed for a little bit and then decided that we would walk our bikes for awhile. With our pride in the way, we decided that we wanted to get to the top, whether the 3 hour trail took us 8. We couldn't let those boys show us up. After about an hour, we had been hoofing it, with our bikes in tow, we ran into a British couple and asked them how far the top was. "A longgg way," the woman said, followed by, "Oh, were you with a group of American boys? They just turned around and went back down!" She also informed us that there was a chair lift to take us up, and that we should have never let "stupid boys" talk us into riding our bikes up. Lindsay and I headed down, following the sign towards Zermatt, which basically took us 90 degrees down the mountain over rocks and fallen trees. Once again, our bikes followed behind. Thank God we paid 22 Francs to push a mountain bike up and down the mountain. Oh well, we got plenty of laughs out of it. We later found out that the boys took the round about way down, and stopped for a romantic italian lunch on a ridge. Thanks for waiting up guys! At least Lindsay and I treated ourselves to ice cream at the bottom.

Lindsay and I pre-meltdown mode

The boys happily waiting up for us...

After our biking disaster, we went back to the hotel, napped, showered, cleaned up, and went to downtown Zermatt, which consists of 1 street. We had dinner at a traditional Swiss restaurant, complete with cheese fondue and chicken schnitzel. Then we went to a bar and watched the USA versus Ghana World Cup Game. We lost in overtime, so that was a bummer, but it was still a good game to watch in a fun atmosphere.

Alex, Zach, Me, Brian, & Adam in downtown Zermatt

Lindsay & I in front of the restaurant

The next day, we all woke up early and walked down to the base of the Matterhorn mountain. Alex decided he wanted to spend the money to summer ski the Alps, and left the group for the day. The rest of us decided to hike up to the chair lift, and take it up the mountain. The hike only took about a half hour and we were able to touch the river of glacier water.

Brian & I on the trail up to the chair lift

Brian in glacier water!

When we got up to the ski lift, we were told that it was more expensive to go to the very top of the mountain than it was to go up two more lifts. Lindsay had never seen the top of a mountain before, and I wanted to see the top of the Alps, so we decided to spring for the highest lift ticket, while the boys were lame and settled for the lower ones. The lower stops also had amazing views and there was snow all over the place.

The view from the Matterhorn gondola

Taking the gondola up to the second stop

The view from the lower lift

Lindsay and I at the intermediate lift

Adam, Brian, & Zach before their hike

After about 45 minutes at the second highest lift, Lindsay and I left the boys to hike while we took the single huge gondola cart up to the very top of the Matterhorn. When we got off the gondola, we were filtered into a huge cave that went through the mountain. When we got to the end of the tunnel, all we could see were clouds and snow. It was crazy! We were above the clouds on top of the Swiss Alps. We walked up to the top of the observation deck, looking down at the clouds and the smaller mountains below, covered in snow. The sight was indescribable. The pictures can never do it justice. The experience was definitely worth the extra Francs.

The sight at the end of the entrance tunnel
(That's clouds, not snow!)

Adjacent peaks to the one we were on

Lindsay & I at the very top of the observation deck

Us on the way down the gondola

After our majestic afternoon, we just shopped around Zermatt and then headed back the same way we came, leaving around 6:30pm. Four trains and three hours of sleep later, we were walking to class Monday morning straight from the train station. At the beginning of the trip, I had no idea what Zermatt was, let alone a desire to visit it. It just goes to show that sometimes the best things in life are unexpected, spontaneous, and exhausting, you've just got to be open to it! Only have 4 hours of sleep ahead of me now, so I better take full advantage. Not much planned for the week. I'm going to dinner with Matt's Uncle Mike's German exchange student Aylin tomorrow night and she's going to show me her favorite places in Berlin. It should be fun! :) Goodnight! Auf Wiedersehen!