Day 5 : Zermatt

After a very nice night of resting I woke quite early.  I went for a walk and spend some time reading.  The rest of the family started waking up and we had a lovely breakfast of fruit salad, yogurt and muesli. 

The plan for the day was a visit to Zermatt.  But we were very lazy and missed the gondola that went down at 10:25. That meant we had to wait an hour for the next gondola before traveling by train to Zermatt.  Erik left at about 11:00 because he was riding his bicycle to Zermatt.

This was another long, beautiful journey through the mountains.  Even in the summer the mountains was covered with snow.  It was a nice day but there were still some clouds in the sky.  The journey was as follows:
-         10:25 Gondola from Laucheralp to Wiler
-         10:37 Bus from Wiler to Goppenstein
-         Train from Goppenstein to Brig
-         Train from Brig to Visp
-         Train from Visp to Zermatt
I lost track of the times of the trains and just followed Ariane to the next train.  Ariane even had time to go to the shop at on of the changes (Showing once again the difference between the Swiss who know all about reliable public transport and South Africans with no public transport.)

We arrived in Zermatt at about 14:00 and Erik was already waiting for us.  There was a marathon in Zermatt that morning and the streets were very busy.  We went to the Coop store and bought some food.  Then we found a bench next to a tennis count and had a picnic.  It started raining a bit but we just went on.

Ariane, Erik and Mom
At about 15:15 we went for a walk through the town. The flowers on buildings were stunning and it made the streets look cheerful.  It was very busy with a lot of tourist groups walking behind tour guides and for the first time we hear people talk in English. 
 
 We walked through the town looking for a view of the famous Matterhorn Mountain.  It was very cloudy but we hoped to get a good view.  After each turn we were looking up and at last we got a glimpse of the mountain.  We walked closer but the clouds were not kind and we could not see the whole mountain.  After waiting for almost 30 minutes we gave up and walked back to town.
At about 16:00 Erik started riding back with his bicycle but we stayed a bit longer.  Went into some shops for souvenirs and went to by meat and vegetables for dinner.  It was about 17:00 when we walked back to the station.  The trains were very busy and we had trouble finding seats together.  A lot of people were standing. We were tired but still had a long ride ahead.

  • Train from Zermatt – Visp
  • Train from Visp – Gumple Steg  We had to wait for about 20 minutes for the next bus
  • Bus from Gumple Steg – Goppenstein It started raining while we waited for the next bus
  • Bus from Goppenstein – Wiler
  • Gondola from Wiler – Lauchernalp  The office was already closed and we had to pay CHF 8 each for a one way ticket and could not get any discount.
  • Walk from gondola to chalet
When we arrived at the chalet at about 20:25 Erik was there.  We ate some lekker minestone soup that one of the neighbours gave us and had some coffee.  After relaxing a bit Erik, Ariane and my mom started making dinner.  I went to phone Hardus and then we ate.  After cleaning it was time for bed.

Comments

  1. SelenaThePlaces19 March, 2012 16:55

    Such beautiful pictures! I can't to see more of Europe. Thanks for sharing!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê

Image
   Weather vane on the VGK Church in Carnarvon    This photo made me think of a song we used to sing as kids.    It is a traditional Afrikaans song about the rooster on top of the church. The words of the song and its translation: Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê There is a chicken that cannot lay an egg Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê There is a chicken that cannot lay an egg Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê There is a chicken that cannot lay an egg Dis die haan wat op die kerktoring staan It’s the rooster standing on the church tower Dis die haan, Dis die haan It’s the rooster, It’s the rooster Dis die haan wat op die kerktoring staan It’s the rooster standing on the church tower More about all the churches and other buildings we saw in Carnarvon in the next post.
Read more

Dutch Reformed Mother Church, George

Image
One of my favourite sights in George is the white Dutch Reformed Mother Church with the beautiful Outeniqua Mountain as background.   I have many memories of visiting this church: On a history class trip when I was about 10, for a art class when I was about 13, for my cousins wedding in 2004, for her baby’s christening a few years later and many other times.   But most of all I like seeing this church every time we drive through town.   The cornerstone for the church was laid on 14 April 1832.   Slaves were used for some of the building work like the digging of the six-foot deep by five-foot wide foundations.   Due to financial problems it took 12 years to complete the church and it was consecrated in 9 October 1842.  The church is a National Heritage Site. On 13 September 1905 disaster struck when the church tower collapsed.   The wood rotted from water damage and lead to the walls weakening.   After a lot of rain for two days the tower collapsed.   The tower was reb
Read more

Eyewitness Travel Guides – A Book Review

Image
  Last month I wrote a book review and I enjoyed it.   Today I want to share some more of my favourite travel books.   DK Eyewitness Travel Guides I bought my first travel guide in 2008. I was planning a trip with my friend Lelanie to London and Europe.   While planning the trip I bought the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Europe and I paid R 282.00 for it.   Except for my university textbooks, this was the most expensive book I have ever bought for myself.    We were doing a Contiki Tour and visited 7 countries.   I studied the information in guide the about the cities we would visit.    I made lists of places I want to see and then looked for more information about them.   In the end I did not take the guide with me (the 800 pages was just to heavy to carry along) but packed all my lists to use.  At Departures at Cape Town Airport in 2008 My second guide was for the same trip.   The Eyewitness Travel Top 10 London traveled with us.   We stayed in London for 4 da
Read more