That is clearly what Zermatt had in store for me! Forced rest and relaxation. Which was probably just what I needed and not something I would have done on my own. I had three things I wanted to do here. Paraglide, go to the Matterhorn Museum, and go to the Matterhorn Cemetery. (I also thought about taking the Gornergrat train up the mountain…but why go up into clouds and snow? And why pay $84 to do so?)
I haven’t been in the most chipper mood here, so I had a lazy morning. I didn’t sleep well or late, so I availed myself of the free breakfast buffet. But I wanted to eat late enough so it could be brunch and not too late so as to miss it. I think I timed it well! It was a good buffet. I had some eggs, pineapple, kiwi, two slices of cheese and ham, and a cinnamon roll—sort of. It looked like a cinnamon roll, but didn’t entirely taste like one. It was fine.
I relaxed a bit in my room before getting ready for the day and heading out into the snow. It was snowing big, beautiful snowflakes when I first set out. As I was out, it started getting wetter and was more sleet by the time I finished. Because the paragliding was off, I was in search of the museum and the cemetery. The museum was closed. Wah wah. Story of my life here in Zermatt. It’s the low season, so that was closed, too (along with loads of shops and restaurants). But I got to see the cemetery, so that was cool. More people have died climbing the Matterhorn than I thought. Sad.
I decided to just walk through the town and have no real idea where I was going, but it’s nestled in the Swiss Alps, so it’s not like I could get lost. The mountains were pretty. The yellow trees (they have pine trees…generic term…that change colors! Beautiful yellows!) were getting a soft coating of snow and the clouds and fog was rolling in. I hope the photos turn out!
I pretty much walked the whole place and was cold. So it was the perfect time to return to the hotel and the pool and hot tub! Spent a lot of time in the hot tub…it’s not as hot as ones back home. And there were four different jet systems that you had to activate. One of them was a thin jet of cool water that came out in the seats. That might have helped it not be overwhelmingly hot. I got out and read in the chairs before falling asleep. It was so warm in the room that it was a great place to nap!
Then I relaxed in my room and read a little more before venturing out for dinner. I had researched good fondue places in town and settled on one that I thought was open right now. As I went out, it was dark and it was snowing again. Snow was actually accumulating on the ground this time. It was just so lovely. I was walking through a wee Alpine town and it was cold, snowing, and had that smell of an early winter evening. I loved it! I was the only person in the restaurant for a lot of the time I was there. But I ordered a side salad, which was tasty, and a cheese fondue. Oh my gosh, it was so good! I knew that you served bread with a cheese fondue, but they also brought me potatoes! Little baby potatoes. They were delicious. I loved the potatoes way more than the bread.
I ate about half of the cheese before I finished. When the server was clearing it away, she said, too much? I said, yes for one person! She said, this is the amount for one person…many people eat all of this and some even ask for more! I was surprised and she said, but most Swiss people!
A few people, locals, came in toward the end of my meal and they kept switching between French and German. Which I have noticed in other places here as well. My hotel speaks German. The McDonald’s yesterday spoke French. These people spoke both. As if switching languages from place to place wasn’t enough for me already, they were doing it in one restaurant!
Because I need my swimsuit to dry enough to put in my bag in the morning, I couldn’t go back to the hot tub after dinner, even though I really wanted to! So instead I read more. And then showered because tomorrow is an early morning and I wanted to heat my room up anyway. Considering my shower is in the middle of the room, it worked nicely! I’m hoping to catch the breakfast buffet in the morning before I have to leave for the 7:39am train, but we’ll see! Off to Venice…where Italy is looking like almost a complete washout. Please let that not be true!
torrie's travels 