August 18, 2015

August 18, 2015

We woke in Zermatt, Switzerland to partly cloudy weather.  But it looks like the sun may be burning the clouds and may clear by afternoon.  So we do a short morning hike up the valley to the south to the little Alpen town of Zmutt.  A Bernese Mountain dog accompanies us part way.   After an hour of gradual uphill we make it to the tiny cluster of wood homes in a large meadow that looks right out of a “Heidi” filmset.

Back in Zermatt we rest, have our picnic lunch waiting for the last remnants of the clouds to depart.  It looks like we have another hour, so we decide to walk the town.  Zermatt is definitely pretty.  Most of the buildings are Swiss classic, made of rustic wood with long balconies on every floor.  All are decorated with colorful flowers.  The ground floors are shops and restaurants. We also pass a small cemetery we come to realize is just for climbers who died trying to scale the local peaks.

Finished with our town walk, we see the cloud cover is here to stay so we decide not to ride the gondolas up mountain as planned.  They are expensive.  Very!  The lift to the spot we planned today is $86 per person.  It isn’t worth it if the Matterhorn is not on display.  Instead we head back to our hotel balcony for some wine and cheese.  Like yesterday, a light rain ensues late afternoon.