We have spent the last two days in 
Zermatt. This town is very unique, as no motorized vehicles are allowed in the town. Rather, I should say that no gas vehicles except with special permission from the town council. Electric carts are used to haul baggage and such stuff.
Zermatt, is, a very beautifully and scenic town. Because cars aren’t allowed in the town, the streets are very narrow. Also, all the streets are either going up or down.
The houses here are all very similar. It seems that all the houses build, have to be build according to Swiss period style. One thing you’ll find on all Swiss houses is a balcony. Apparently it is a must. However, considering the view, it definitely is a good idea!
Zermatt is really a summer and winter resort. The scenery is absolutely stunning!! Did I mention that it was stunning? In particular, the Matterhorn stands as the majestic king of all mountains. It towers above all the other mountains. At all times, clouds seem to swirl around its summit like a royal crown. Only twice, did I see the clouds pull back and give us a view of the peak. Both times, you could see all the tourists whipping out their cameras and snapping away.
How can one come to the alps and not climb around in them. So, strapping on my GPS monitor, I headed up the mountain. The trail I chose was called the Sunnegga Paradise trail. At the start, the trail started going up slowly. The path was fairly broad. However, this soon changed. The nice trailed disappeared and the trail got a lot tougher. However, the higher I climbed, the more breathtaking the scenery
. Sometimes, I just had to stop and sit down and look at this wonder which many, many years ago might well have been the homeland of some of our ancestors. Truly, they must have been a hardy people to be able to survive in this land. It is easy to see how this beautifully, benign landscapecould suddenly change into a raging avalanche of snow or rocks which destroys everything in its path.
As I neared the highest part of the Sunnegga trail, the Matterhorn loomed even more majestic and wonderful in front of me. I think if we would stay another day, I would definitely try to climb up the Matterhorn as far a I could. There are trails that go up, but I’m not sure they’d let a greenhorn, prairie boy try it!
When I finally returned to camp 4.5 hours later, I had covered 21.8 km and ascended a total of 7418 feet. In the afternoon, I hauled Jordi along and we tried out another, shorter trail. Time, we walked only 5.3 km and ascended 893 feet. It looked like it wanted to start raining, so we headed back down to town. When we came to town, we heard the bleating of goats and ringing of bells. We followed the sound and soon were met by a herd of goats which a group of boys were moving to another pasture. As we neared the town center, we heard music playing. A group of Swiss accordion players
were playing songs in the center of town. We only got to listen to one song and then they quit playing.
Anyway, that is all I’m going to write today. Wishing you all the best at home. God bless!
Zermatt, with it’s limited petrol use might be a city/town China would benefit emulating with the summer Olympics around the corner.
Ian, I continually find myself gravitating towards your blogs because of the intoxicating aroma of history and culture that wafts through the medium of picture and word. I get a strange sense of Deja vu when viewing your posts, as if I’ve been to Europe before. Which isn’t the case.
Even when we think we’re leaving home(Manitoba) for far away Europe, we quickly come to the realization that the true homecoming has finally occurred.
Ian or Jordi, would you agree with my hypothesis ?
By: chris on August 4, 2008
at 4:15 pm
Chris, I know what you mean. It’s strange how familiar yet different all of this is. It could well be that we’ve just seen so many pictures and videos about these places.
The part of the experience that I can’t share with you all, which is better, are the people. For instance, the other day, we spend the night in a hotel in the Austria (Corinth) very near where we come from. Underneath my balcony, an old Grandma was rocking her grandson. They were talking to each other in dialect and I could almost understand everything they were saying.
The same was true for other parts of Germany. In Switzerland, their dialect is quite different but if you listened carefully, you could understand most of it. In the Tyrolean regions, I could also understand most everything that was being said.
For me, Zermatt was probably the best place. Because no vehicles are allowed, the town feels much more older then it is. Mind you, some of the hotel buildings are over 400 years old. Shepherds still chase their sheep through town each day to get them to the higher pastures. The church bell rings fifteen minutes before the hour and on the hour. I imagine this must be very much how our forefathers would have seen it (minus the constructions cranes)!
By: deutschverderber on August 5, 2008
at 7:51 am