Day 10 - Matterhorn

We are thanking the weather gods once again for today. The rain stayed clear of us and it ended up being a great day! We made it to Matterhorn with some amazing photos!

We started the day off early catching a 6am train. We had to make a few changes before arriving in Zermatt around 9:15am. We stopped at our favorite grocery store for some snacks and breakfast. Zermatt is a little town at the bottom of the mountain range - a very Switzerland-ish town. It's exactly what you think of Switzerland.

We first made our way up to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise - you will see by the photos why it is named this. We took a small gondola about 2/3 of the way up before switching to a huge 100 person gondola for the rest of the way (blue route on map). We were a little worried because the clouds/fog was still around the mountain by the time we got up to the top. But the weather gods did not disappoint! Once we got all the way up, we were above the clouds and it was amazing. Absolutely breathtaking! The photos below will not do it justice. It had just snowed because everything was ice/snow covered. There was a little platform you could walk up to. We could see Matterhorn from the backside and a few other mountain peaks. It was quite cold as we were 12,739 feet above sea level!

After we warmed up for a bit inside we headed back down the same way, gondolas. Again going through the clouds and fog. We got some lunch and headed up to another part of the mountain range (yellow route). This was not nearly as high but it gave you the iconic photo of Matterhorn. To get to this point we took a cog wheel train about 3/8 the way up (yep, I just used 3/8!) and then gondolas the rest of the way. Again, we were a little worried about the clouds/fog rolling in but we got there literally just in time. We got some great pics and then the clouds rolled in. You will have to see the progression in the photos below. The clouds came in and left a few times while we were there, so it was all okay! We stayed up at the top for a little while and enjoyed the sights before heading back down.

We enjoyed everything about the day! There were no crowds and really hardly any people at all which was very nice. We had another three plus hour train ride back to our hotel in Lucerne and got some dinner before heading to hotel for the night around 8:30pm!

Tomorrow is a big day! It's Eileen's birthday! So we will have to do some special celebrating for her tomorrow as she deserves it :)

We will be heading to Murren tomorrow, which is still in Switzerland. Hard to believe we only have a few days left before heading home!

Distance Walked: 3.53 miles

Love,
C-Squared

 Streets of Zermatt.

 Streets of Zermatt. The water is really that color - it's mesmerizing.

 View from our gondola on the way up.

 The top of Matterhorn Glacier Paradise.

 The icy steps we walked up to get to the little platform.

 The platform. Look at the ice on the metal poles on the left side of photo.

 Ice on the cross.

 Thought this was cute.

And there is the view! Matterhorn.

Matterhorn.

 Kevin and Amber selfie with Matterhorn in background.

Erv with Matterhorn in back. Great photo :)

Amber and Eileen selfie!

Erv and Eileen riding the cog wheel train up.

 The clouds are rolling in.

 We made it to the top just in time to get some great photos.

Amber and Kevin

Here comes the clouds!

Here they are and Matterhorn is just gone. It was crazy how fast they moved!

In the town this group would perform. They yodeled and everything.

Map of Matterhorn.