Out trip to Switzerland - Part 4

Today is going to be a great day! My Christmas wish is going to come true, and I'm really excited to see the Matterhorn! I've waited a long time for this, and the day has finally arrived.


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Again, we made our train reservations at the last minute and this time we couldn't get seats together in the second class cars. We decided to give first class a try for this trip because it was going to be an all day train ride, and first class was nice!

Get your souvenirs here! I'm not sure if the ibex was life sized or not, but he looked pretty cute on the souvenir cart.

When you go first class they feed you. We had pork stroganoff, barley, and mixed veggies. Dessert was either chocolate cake or cheese (not cheesecake...cheese) and the chocolate cake was pretty darn good!

Do they have these tunnels to move the masses from train to ski slope without getting snowed on in the USA too?

We hustled out during a stop to take this photo, but I was worried that the train would leave without us!

This lamb was welcoming us to Zermatt, home of THE MATTERHORN!!!

Zermatt is definitely a tourist town. The houses are close together, and the streets are too narrow for cars, so you have to either walk or take one of the little golf cart like things that zip around town hauling people to their hotels.

When I booked our hotel room I chose a Matterhorn view room. It was a good choice because we stayed out on the balcony waiting for the clouds to dissipate all afternoon. Remember, seeing the Matterhorn was on my bucket list. It's still on my bucket list because this is all we saw, and I want to see all of it at one time! We only stayed one night because the weather forecast was not favorable for Matterhorn viewing.

Another train station, another Brezelkönig.

The scenery is always so beautiful. Our decision to use the trains was a good one for us.

Bob's dinner was really delicious (mine was too), and he had rosti again. Rosti looks and tastes like home fries, but is much more expensive when eaten in Switzerland. Ha.

Lausanne is home to the International Olympic Committee, and the museum is very nice.

The Olympic Flame burns here between editions of the games.

Here I am standing under the the high jump bar set at the current Olympic record level. How can anyone jump that high???

I really enjoyed the display with a torch from every Olympic game.

This is the arrow that lit the torch at the Albertville games.

They also had some of the costumes used during Opening Ceremonies.

Sonia Heinies's skates. She was a three time champion - 1928, 1932, 1936

Figure Skaters' outfits and Jim Craig's hockey shirt.

These are Michael Johnson's shoes - Atlanta 1996 - 200m and 400m

A basketball autographed by The Dream Team

A replica of the swimming suit worn by Mark Spitz.   Everyone remembers those!!

Jesse Owens running shoes.

They also had exhibits where you could test your skills.  Bob found out that it's not so easy!

Of course they had medals from every game, and some of them are so beautiful.

The pole vault bar is set at the Olympic record height.

The shore of Lake Lausanne is a beautiful setting for the Olympic Museum.

There's also a clock that shows the time until the next Olympic Games.

Lusanne is so pretty, and it has many parks and fountains.

When my dinner came Bob said he was so glad it wasn't his, but after he tasted it he changed his mind. This is raclette - cheese melted over ham, potatoes and veggies with an egg on top. So good!

So, no Matterhorn for me, but Lusanne was wonderful to visit. Our next stop is another place I've always wanted to see - Jungfraujoch - and we'll see if we have better luck with the weather when we get there.

Our Trip to Switzerland

Every Christmas Bob asks me what I want, and the reply is always the same: I want to see the Matterhorn. Last Christmas I asked for the same thing, and Bob surprised me by telling me that if I make the arrangements we could go to see the Matterhorn. I did, and off we went!

I decided that it would be fun traveling through Switzerland by train, and we found the train station underneath the Zurich airport. What luck! We also found the Brezelkönig, but we were already on the train and agreed to wait for the next train station to see if the Brezelkönig was there too. Oh, did they ever smell good!

Our first stop was Appenzell, a pretty little town filled with flowers, trees, and the Alps nearby.

We like to hike, so we asked the proprietor of the hotel for a suggestion. He checked to be sure we were wearing hiking boots before he told us to take the train to Wasserauen, hike to Seealpsee, take the connecting trail to Ascher, keep going to Ebenalp, and take the cable car to the train which would take us back to Appenzell. That sounded easy enough.

We had our first view of the Alps,

and then we heard cows. The cows in Switzerland are not afraid of steep pastures, and their bells sounded so peaceful.

The trail was paved but very, very steep. We kept puffing along and we were so glad that we did.

This is Seealpsee, and it was absolutely beautiful.

The trail to Ascher wasn't paved, and it got pretty rugged and steep.

There were handrails at some of the worse parts, and that helped quite a bit.

This sign made me laugh. Tie a rope to your children! Yes, the trail is that steep!

The goats that passed us on the trail were very friendly, and so cute!

This is Ascher where there's a little restaurant and hotel perched on the side of the mountain.

Swiss trails are marked with these yellow, white and orange signs.

We're way up there, so I held on tight and kept marching on.

The trail went through three caves, and I HATE caves.

The view at the end of the trail was outstanding,

and the ride down the cable car was easy. High, but easy.

Appenzell is famous for their pungent cheese so we had fondue and, after getting past the smell, it was delicious.

We stayed in Hotel Adler while in Appenzell.

We really enjoyed out stay in Appenzell, and wished we could have stayed longer, but the next day we took the train to Luzern.