Our original plan on Thursday was to take the Glacier Express train to the eastern side of Switzerland; but, the weather just wasn't cooperating on that side of the country, so we decided to check out Lucerne instead, which is located in central Switzerland. So in the morning, we took a 2.5 hour train ride (with a few connections) from Zermatt to Lucerne. Lucerne is one of the most heavily tourist-visited cities in Switzerland, mainly because of its historical center town, numerous mountain excursions that are close by, and the famous wooden bridge that goes over the river (its actually the most photographed spot in Switzerland). So we adventured around for the afternoon checking out Lucerne and all of its sites. We did a 2 hour walking tour around the city that covered most of the major sites.
In front of the "Lion Monument". It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris, France.
The wooden bridge over the river
Again, love this water color!
We wrote our names on one of the medieval watch towers
Checking out the medieval walls surrounding the city
The wooden bridge from the other side
After checking out Lucerne we decided to take the train back to Geneva to stay at home for the night since we planned a day trip closer to home on Friday. Once back home, Ryan came with us for dinner at one of our favorite Geneva restaurants, Chez Ma Cousine, which serves a very simple yet delicious meal - rotisserie chicken, potatoes, and salad.
Here is how we met our cheese/chocolate/wine requirements for the day:
Cheese: Cheese at the hotel for breakfast, cheese in our pasta for lunch Chocolate: Nutella on bread for breakfast and chocolate cake for dessert at dinner Wine: Prosecco in our orange juice for breakfast... mimosas!
We woke up on Wednesday in Zermatt to cooler temperatures and cloudy skies, but then miraculously we saw sunny skies on the webcams for one of the mountain peaks. So we scurried outside and to the train station to hop on a cog railway trail to take us to the top of the Gornergrat mountain. As always, the train rides up to mountain peaks are almost as cool as the views at the tops, because you get to slowly see the green, summery world fall below and turn into a snow-covered winter wonderland in a matter of minutes. I just find it so fascinating to know that in the valleys below summer is in full force while up top, spring has barely even started!
Train parked at the top of the Gornergrat mountain
The views on top of this mountain peak were the best I have seen yet in Switzerland because we could see an entire glacier spreading out in front of our eyes. Its one thing to see it in pictures, but another to see it laid out in front of you. Its hard to get an idea for how huge this glacier is based on the photos and videos, it stretches for miles below! But here is an attempt...
Feeling on top of the world
In the left of the picture is the Dufourspitze, the highest mountain in Switzerland. At the base of this mountain is actually a hut (the Monta Rosa hut) that you can hike to and stay at by crossing the glacier fields... insane, I'm fascinated by the people that can actually do that type of hiking!
Looking to the right, the Matterhorn was covered in clouds the entire time unfortunately
The snow was still really deep in some areas as it continues to melt
The station on top of the mountain
After spending a few hours at the Gornergrat station, we decided to make out way back down to town and then up go up to one of the other peaks in Zermatt, this time via an underground metro type of train. Our destination was Chez Vrony, a restaurant that is consistently named one of the world's top ten mountain restaurants. This is a favorite of one of my friends here in Switzerland and I had been dying to check it out. The tricky part is that you have to hike 25 minutes to get to it, but in the end that just makes the food taste that much more delicious because you had to work for it, right? ;) The setting, views, and food did not disappoint. The restaurant's terrace is as Swiss perfection as it can be -- its covered in comfy lounges, pillows, blankets, sheepskin rugs, and basks in the sun - a place that invites you to eat and stay awhile... and so we did just that.
The sun terrace
Truffle risotto and goat cheese/pear ravioli
Go away clouds! We want to see the Matterhorn that you are hiding.
Toberlone mousse with pomegranate foam for dessert
If the setting and food wasn't amazing enough, perhaps the best part about our experience at Chez Vrony is that they have a trampoline on their terrace. I mean, could it get any better?! With this discovery, I declared Zermatt yet again one of my "happy places" and we bounced to our hearts content while overlooking the scenery - check out the video below for our bouncing fun (and giddy giggles)
Sarah the gymnast showing off her skills
After our trampoline session, we hiked our way back to the metro station and I decided that the plentiful dandelions in the meadows along the way were just begging to be made into a floral wreath
Washing the dandelion stickiness off my hands in the stream
Having landed back in town, we again indulged in the spa area and then took our sunburned faces to dinner for the evening. All in all, another day of vacation perfection!
Here is how we met our cheese/chocolate/wine requirements for the day:
Cheese: Cheese at the hotel for breakfast and goat cheese in our ravioli Chocolate: Nutella on croissants,chocolate on our pillows in our hotel, and mousse made out of Toblerone chocolate Wine: Whites for lunch on Chez Vrony's terrace and red for dinner
Tuesday started with a wonderful, simple Swiss breakfast at our hotel. Although breakfasts in Europe can't hold a candle to the traditional American eggs and bacon breakfasts, there is definitely something to be said for a breakfast of freshly baked croissants with Nutella spread, fruit salad, homemade cheese from the neighboring farm, hard boiled eggs, and fresh OJ (all served on adorable plates adorned with Swiss cows of course).
With fully bellies, we headed into the mountains in our hiking gear. After finding out that the trip to the top of the Jungfrau mountain cost a whopping 198 Swiss francs (!!), we opted to go to the peak of the Schilthorn instead, which was one of the sites in the James Bond movie 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' and our hotel concierge claimed that it had better views than the Jungfrau anyways. We took a variety of trains and cable cars to the peak. The cable cars are used in the winter to transport skiiers to the various trails while in the summer they transport tourist view-seekers to the various peaks. All of the cable cars in this area played the James Bond theme song over the loudspeakers while on the rides (it was cute the first time, but by the 4th and 5th time it got a little old!). Cheesy music aside, the view from up top was amazing, it provided a full 365 degree panorama of the surrounding mountains and the 50 degree temperature on the summit was also welcome as the temperatures in the valley below were approaching 90 degrees. As with all of my past pictures of the mountaintop views, pictures just don't do this spot justice - I could have stayed up here for hours taking in the sights, basking in the sunshine, and watching the world go by in the valleys below.
The building contains a restaurant that rotates 365 degrees once every hour to allow visitors to take in the views
After dragging myself away from this peak, we rode a different set of cable cars down to the little village of Gimmelwald, one of Rick Steeves' favorite spots in Europe. The popular tourist saying about Gimmewald is: If heaven isn't what its cracked up to be, send me back to Gimmelwald! And heavenly it is, it is a slice of Swiss alps perfection with outstanding views, pastures dotted with alpine flowers and cows, mountain chalets, and a quaint way of life.
Benches in town
Heidi braids in full force
Filtered glacier water that you can use to fill up your water bottles
We had lunch at a hostel overlooking the mountains. Lunch was a "croute fromage", basically a big slice of toasted bread with cheese and an egg on top -- do you notice a pattern yet with Swiss food? :)
The hostel where we had lunch
To give you a better feel for this adorable mountain destination, below is a video from Rick Steeves on the town:
After lunch, we took another set of cable cars down all the way to the valley floor (known as the Lauterbrunnen Valley) and proceeded to hike down to one of the lower train stations on our way back to Interlaken. This valley is often called one of the most beautiful in Switzerland because of its dramatic cliffs and waterfalls. We managed to get close to one of these waterfalls to cool off in its mist.
Feeling the temperature of the river (FREEZING) and skipping rocks
After a rewarding and steamy day of hiking and adventuring, we went back to our hotel in Interlaken and grabbed our bags and hopped aboard a 1.5 hour train to Zermatt. I had been to Zermatt previously in the winter season and if you remember from a previous blog spot, I named it one of my "happy places" in the world, so I was excited to check out all that it had to offer in the summer to see if it could live up to my expectations in this season as well. Our first order of business once arriving in town was to find a hotel. Apparently summer is the "low season" in Zermatt (which is the opposite of Interlaken, whose ski slopes are lower than Zermatt, so winter tends to be its low season), which meant that we found an awesome deal at a swanky hotel in town, complete with a "wellness" spa area that we took advantage of.
After relaxing in the wellness spa, we grabbed an Italian dinner in town and caught a good night's sleep in preparation for more alpine adventures the next day.
Here is how we met our cheese/chocolate/wine requirements for the day:
Cheese: Home made cheese at the hotel for breakfast and cheese on our croute fromage Chocolate: Nutella on croissants, mmmm and chocolate on our pillows in our hotel in Zermatt Wine: Glass of white for lunch and red during our Italian dinner
