Europe: Switzerland
Next stop, Switzerland! Zurch --> Interlaken --> Zermatt
Becca: Just had to note, Tay made us buy the ridiculously priced water because I was so thirsty and couldn't eat lunch without water. He's a great hubby. Switzerland is ridiculously expensive. It took us a while to figure out how to get our Eurail passes activated and how to use the rail system. Right when we had become comfortable with the metro & tube, it was time to switch to trains. :) Training in Switzerland was the best! The rides were absolutely gorgeous. Switzerland and Paris have my heart!
Our time in Switzerland was the most relaxing so far in the trip, just wandering and the hike we took. It was much needed! That was one of the best nights of sleep I think I'd had in years--we were so tuckered out from traveling so hard the whole week before in Paris & London, and actually got to go to bed on time in Switzerland.
Tay: Interlaken (between lakes) is a beautiful lake in a valley nearly surrounded by the Swiss Alps. The train ride into the town was beautiful and took us right past the lake. It was like driving past Joe’s Valley on coming from Orangeville to the campground, except on a better scale. But on the way in, the beautiful lake was on our left, with steep mountains on the other side of it. The mountains seemed to rise right out of the lake, with no land in between. There is a small town, Interlaken, on the edge of the lake. We got off there. The ride there was probably 2.5 hours total. The little town was cute. We looked for some food but finally settled for splitting a subway sandwich because everything was pretty expensive. We didn’t fully appreciate the stop until we started wandering around in the direction of the lake. It was so peaceful and quiet when we started walking down a cute, residential street bordered on both sides by tributaries that led into the lake. The water was the most beautiful of any I have ever seen. It was a brilliant blue color, and I think it was very pure after running down from the mountains. Based on the people we saw around this residential area, we guess Interlaken is probably a retirement town, much like St. George in Utah.
Tay: Interlaken (between lakes) is a beautiful lake in a valley nearly surrounded by the Swiss Alps. The train ride into the town was beautiful and took us right past the lake. It was like driving past Joe’s Valley on coming from Orangeville to the campground, except on a better scale. But on the way in, the beautiful lake was on our left, with steep mountains on the other side of it. The mountains seemed to rise right out of the lake, with no land in between. There is a small town, Interlaken, on the edge of the lake. We got off there. The ride there was probably 2.5 hours total. The little town was cute. We looked for some food but finally settled for splitting a subway sandwich because everything was pretty expensive. We didn’t fully appreciate the stop until we started wandering around in the direction of the lake. It was so peaceful and quiet when we started walking down a cute, residential street bordered on both sides by tributaries that led into the lake. The water was the most beautiful of any I have ever seen. It was a brilliant blue color, and I think it was very pure after running down from the mountains. Based on the people we saw around this residential area, we guess Interlaken is probably a retirement town, much like St. George in Utah.
Becca: If Tay asked me to move to Interlaken with him, I would (But I'd move anywhere with him, so...). It was so charming! Growing up, my family had a cabin in Midway, UT, where everything is decorated in the Swiss style. From what I saw in Switzerland, it made me think that Midway is a little over-exaggerated. But Switzerland was gorgeous! When we were walking around towards the water in Interlaken, we found the perfect street. The most gorgeous little homes along a crystal-clear, blue river leading into the lake. I felt like I was in Heaven!
Training
From Interlaken, we had to backtrack about an hour on the train and then head further south to Zermatt. As beautiful as Interlaken was, we loved Zermatt and its views of the Matterhorn. As we learned, the Matterhorn isn’t even the tallest peak in Switzerland, but the view of it from Zermatt is inspiring. The peak is almost like a perfect pyramid, and you can see it from almost anywhere in Zermatt below. It was striking and majestic with the sun shining on it when we arrived. The town was covered in shade from the other mountains, but the Matterhorn is so much taller that it was still catching a lot of sun on the peak.
Becca: When leaving Interlaken, we had a hard time figuring out which train to get on. we sat on one side of the station (opposite from the one we came in on), until a train arrived on the other side of the station and Tay had a feeling we should be over there. Let me tell you, it's a little difficult to run with a full pack on your back. Also, I feel like the most frustrating times we had in Europe were from figuring out transportation--do we get on the train that's about to leave, or wait and miss it to figure out if it's actually the right train? Luckily, Tay was right and we made it on the right train!
When we made it to Zermatt, it was beautiful! And empty. So, so empty. We went on the off season, apparently, and almost had the place to ourselves. Pretty sure we met everyone that was staying there within a few minutes. JK. But heading up to our hotel, it kind of felt like a ghost town. It was gorgeous to have the Matterhorn in the background! Every time you look up, BAM. GORGEOUS. We loved it.
Tay: Zermatt itself reminded me a lot of Aspen Colorado. It’s very much a mountain resort, and we had no idea it would be so deserted during May. As soon as we were off the main street where we got off the train, it was almost eerily quiet. It felt like a ghost town. All the shops and hotels were closed. We would go for minutes of walking toward our hotel without seeing anybody, and this was at about 7 pm. We found a grocery store and picked up some breakfast food and sandwich necessaries, then turned in earlier than we have for many nights to try to catch up on the sleep we missed while at the airport. The hotel seemed deserted when we got there, and I panicked for a second when the lights were off the and door didn’t pull open. Turns out it was a push door. There were keys to a dozen rooms sitting in the open in a little cubbyhole, and a sign on the desk window that said “self check in.” We followed the directions and it turned out just fine. There was a restaurant in the hotel and I wandered down looking for spoons at some point. I think I scared one of the other renters, a Chinese lady who had helped herself to some coffee. It was so weird to have the hotel empty of any staff. I found some spoons, and, if I’d been interested, could also have snagged a couple bottles of liquor from the open fridge.
The next day we decided to hike to Sunnegga. We were expecting a two-hour hike to get there, but before leaving we googled it, and Google Maps said it was only an hour long. We were pleasantly surprised but learned an hour later that Google Maps may have calculated a walking rate but it was definitely not calculating the climb. The hike was pretty steep, like hiking the Y. We took it pretty slow though, resting often to admire the increasingly fantastic view of the Matterhorn. The Matterhorn was visible almost the entire hike, which was perfect. Thankfully we packed plenty of food with us because the restaurants and shops at the end of the hike were all closed. In two hours of hiking, we probably only passed 15 other hikers. It was really nice to feel like we had the whole mountain to ourselves.
Tay: Zermatt itself reminded me a lot of Aspen Colorado. It’s very much a mountain resort, and we had no idea it would be so deserted during May. As soon as we were off the main street where we got off the train, it was almost eerily quiet. It felt like a ghost town. All the shops and hotels were closed. We would go for minutes of walking toward our hotel without seeing anybody, and this was at about 7 pm. We found a grocery store and picked up some breakfast food and sandwich necessaries, then turned in earlier than we have for many nights to try to catch up on the sleep we missed while at the airport. The hotel seemed deserted when we got there, and I panicked for a second when the lights were off the and door didn’t pull open. Turns out it was a push door. There were keys to a dozen rooms sitting in the open in a little cubbyhole, and a sign on the desk window that said “self check in.” We followed the directions and it turned out just fine. There was a restaurant in the hotel and I wandered down looking for spoons at some point. I think I scared one of the other renters, a Chinese lady who had helped herself to some coffee. It was so weird to have the hotel empty of any staff. I found some spoons, and, if I’d been interested, could also have snagged a couple bottles of liquor from the open fridge.
The next day we decided to hike to Sunnegga. We were expecting a two-hour hike to get there, but before leaving we googled it, and Google Maps said it was only an hour long. We were pleasantly surprised but learned an hour later that Google Maps may have calculated a walking rate but it was definitely not calculating the climb. The hike was pretty steep, like hiking the Y. We took it pretty slow though, resting often to admire the increasingly fantastic view of the Matterhorn. The Matterhorn was visible almost the entire hike, which was perfect. Thankfully we packed plenty of food with us because the restaurants and shops at the end of the hike were all closed. In two hours of hiking, we probably only passed 15 other hikers. It was really nice to feel like we had the whole mountain to ourselves.
Becca: The reason we had to take the hike pretty slow? Me. haha. It was pretty steep! It was so fun to stop often though, and take in the view. The Matterhorn just looked prettier and prettier the higher we climbed. At the top of the hike was Sunnega Lodge, a ski resort. Before we reached the actual building, we just saw a tunnel with automatic sliding doors. It said Sunnega on it, so we decided to see if it would open. It did, and we walked up the tunnel. It was the weirdest sensation, it felt like we were the only two people on earth. Maybe because we had recently watched the movie "Passengers." :) There was music playing inside the tunnel and it led to an elevator up into the lodge, but we got nervous about taking it in case the lodge was closed. We decided to climb up to the lodge, which was indeed closed, and ate our pb&j lunch while looking over the view of the Matterhorn.
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| Tay loved these chairs! They seemed like they should be at a beach, not a ski lodge :) |
Tay: We enjoyed some burgers at one of the few open bars that night. Good burgers, but not enough flavor we decided. Dad’s burgers are so flavorful that they spoil us, I think. Our waiter seemed pretty amused that we only ordered waters despite sitting up at the bar. All the tables were taken though, so we just embraced our peculiarity.
Becca: We ate at the Brown Cow Pub, I believe it was called. It seemed like the happening place, as it was pretty packed and reasonably priced--an amazing find in Switzerland! We got burgers, fries, and coleslaw. Delish. When we ordered waters, our waiter (who looked just like Thor) smiled. He filled up two beer jugs with water and told us, "Cheers!" We couldn't help but giggle.
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