My "happy place"

Magical. Beautiful. Fascinating. Nature at its best. Fun. Modern. Historical. Delicious. Unique. There are so many words to describe Zermatt, Switzerland, but truly none of them would do it justice.  We spent 3 days here recently and as we were sitting out on a restaurant patio with a glass of wine and overlooking the Matterhorn with bluebird skies, I decided to define Zermatt as one of my "happy places".  This means that it is one of only a handful of places in the world where I can go there and be instantly happy just because I'm there. Side note: my happy places also happen to be defined by the places that I teleport myself to in my imagination whenever I am having some sort of miserable dental procedure.

Where to start.... Zermatt is one of the world's premier ski resorts and for good reason.  It has 225 MILES of ski trails, more than 100 modern lifts/gondolas, word class restaurants and apres ski bars, unparalleled views of the Matterhorn, the cutest streets and old chalets, no cars allowed, and lots of activities for non-skiiers. Since words can't do it justice, here are some pictures to help...

There are no cars allowed in Zermatt, so we parked in the nearby town of Taesch and took a local train into the town. In typical Swiss style, the train was immaculate

You can still see many old chalets and barns that have been around for hundreds of years.

The town of Zermatt doesn't allow cars because they don't want to pollute the area. The hotels and taxis are allowed to have cars, but only electric ones like these little go-cart looking vehicles.

The main street of Zermatt is hopping with people, shopping, and this fuzzy looking sheep/ram mascot.

Checking out the "pistes" from the gondola.

Half of the skiable terrain is actually within Italy

The second day in Zermatt we went skiing. This is us en-route to the top of one of the mountain peaks, called "Glacier paradise", where you can ski 365 days of the year due to the permanent glacier and altitude.

Hut, Ryan, and I went skiing for the day and met Ryan's mom and aunt mid-mountain for lunch and then for drinks outside at the "ice bar". Oh and hello random man that would not get out of the way for our picture.

View from one of the chairlifts.  We rented skiis for the day, Stockli is a Swiss brand of skis.

Yum. that is all.

Heli-skiing is very popular

Filling up on fondue after a "hard" day on the slopes

On the third day we decided to take it easy. We took one of the metro lines that goes through the mountain up to one of the mountain peaks and had lunch on a terrace overlooking the Matterhorn.

"my happy place"

Being artistic with my wine glass and the Matterhorn's reflection

The panorama function on the camera ALMOST does the view justice, almost...

Family adventures in Lavaux

Excuse my blog-silence, Ryan's parents and aunt came to visit for 10 days and we were busy checking out some really fabulous places in Switzerland while they were here. It was fabulous to share our lovely country with family and create special memories with them in some fantastic places! We love when family and friends come to visit and it becomes even more fun as we begin to know the area/country better and can show everyone our favorite spots.

The first destination we checked out was the Lavaux region.  For those who missed the background in previous blog posts, the short version of the long story is that Lavaux is one of Switzerland's wine regions and also a UNESCO heritage site because of the terraced vineyards that have been formed by the winemakers over thousands of years. The terraced shapes of the vineyards allows the vines to get more sun than they normally would on flat ground and this creates wine that is unique to the region.  Although it is still winter and the vines haven't woken up from their winter slumber yet, the drive through this area overlooking the cliffs and the little winery towns is unparalleled. I can't wait to come back in the summer when the tasting rooms of each of the little wineries are open and the vines are green!

Ryan's aunt at one of the look out points

In the town of Dezaley in the Lavaux region

Stopping to take in the views

The Lavaux Vinorama is a tasting center for the region where you can also watch a film on a "year in the life of a wine grower"

Inside the Lavaux Vinorama for a few wine tastings

Not related to wine at all, just a cute picture pre-Lavaux adventures :) (excuse the mess of clothes in the background... Europeans don't believe in building closets in homes)