DAY #1: ARRIVAL IN ZERMATT.

As we pulled into this lovely, small mountain town, we had no idea what was in store for us.  Somewhere in the back of my mind,  I believe Leslie knew as she is the one that picked this destination on our trip.  Was it the lure of Walt Disney himself that captured Leslie’s attention?  If so, nice pick Leslie and thank you for pushing us to Zermatt.  If there is a picture-perfect example of a Swiss Mountain City, Zermatt is the place.

We checked into our Hotel, The Matterhornblick, and this hotel was located North of the center of town.  Our room was a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, kitchen and living room chateau and facing West towards the surrounding mountains and river that flowed through the middle of town from the Glaciers melting in the Summer.  Leslie said that our suite smelled like her Grandmother’s house in Chicago.  Once we dropped off our luggage in our room in 5 seconds flat, we started our hunt for food.  We walked up and down and finally, ended up choosing the restaurant in the Zermatterhorn Hotel.  Beautiful hotel right in the middle of the city and the restaurant had a large balcony for it’s guests to eat outside listening to musician play his piano.  I totally understand how hard it must be to get food up to this mountain paradise, but $28 Cheeseburger?  For Pete’s Sake, it’s a Cheeseburger and not a Filet Steak.  And, it wasn’t the best cheeseburger, but it satisfied my hunger.  Ryan and Leslie split a Caprice Salad and Cheeseburger and Ashley and I split Lobster Bisque and a Cheeseburger.  Our total bill for lunch was $121.00 and I knew right then we’re going to drop some coin in Zermatt.

We walked around the village and visited local shops as we took in the Swiss culture.  The kids were having fun and we decided to make our way to Gonergrat Train Station, which was the only path up to the top of the Mountain. Well, some bad weather rolled in and we decided to make our way up the mountain the next day. 

In the Village, we passed a local butcher and he had some T-Bone Steaks on Sale and since we spent $56 Franks on two Cheeseburgers, how could we go wrong with saving some money and cooking our dinner ourselves in our chateau.  We purchased two steaks and they were $25 each.  Some locals gave us directions to the supermarket and we purchased some salad, eggs, milk, yogart, fruit, vegetables and water for dinner and our breakfast the next day.  My mouth was watering because I knew I wasn’t going to eat sandwiches, pizza, or pasta--I was having a Steak for dinner and Eggs for breakfast!

As Leslie and I worked together in getting dinner ready, our hotel had a HUGE Chess lawn board and Ryan and Ashley took advantage of their chess skills against each other and played two or three games.  Our balcony was about 20 yards away and we could see them from our kitchen window.  The steaks were good and the kids were tired so we turned in for night for our full day adventure in Zermatt the next day.  The sun finally sets around 9:30pm at night here and rises about 5am.

DAY #2: NATURE IS AT HOME IN ZERMATT

As voted by all 4 of ours, Zermatt has taken the prize as the Most Liked destination yet on our travels.  We had such a great time even if it was only one day.  Leslie found a great activity we did in the morning: Zip Lines and Tree-Ropes Course.  This place had 72 Zip Lines and the great thing about this place was safety is #1.  You have to put your safety clamp on a line that is connected to you 100% of the time.  We must have climbed up 150 ft in the air in the trees and did an obstacle course with ropes and Ashley and Ryan had a incredible, but active time.  The placed was called Fun Park Zermatt and they had a Kids, Green, Blue and Black Course.  We zipped across creeks, tree-tops and through the forest tops. 

After this, we decided to grab a snack and head up the mountain to grab lunch and enjoy the view.  The food choices up on the mountain were not the greatest, but it did the job and we had our lunch in front of 5 amazing looking glaciers.  The train up to the mountain cost $208 dollars for 2 adults and 2 children (Zermatt knows how to make a profit).  You will see some pictures we took going up the mountain and some video.  The kids found some St. Bernard Dogs up top and played with him for a little bit and then we boarded the train down.  We grabbed some sandwiches at bakery and had dinner in our suite and the kids played on the giant chess board outside.  They must have played about 8 games in total.

Zermatt, thank you for a great time and we hope to visit you again.