Switzerland: Have You Been There All Along ???

Getting to the end of our vacation — we have really been enjoying Switzerland.  If we could only visit one country in Europe, we have both agreed on Switzerland being the one.

The Swiss train system is arguably the finest in the world. The trains really leave on time. Exactly. There are different choices, like this express train that only stops at the bigger cities and goes faster. Other trains stop more and go slower. If you take the fast thru train, you can get almost anywhere in the country faster than by airplane if you count the security check and waiting and transit to and from the airport.

Dave had really wanted to do the Glacier Express Train ride — 5 hours long — and we had been trying to figure out how we could fit it in.  We “turned in Geneva” for the day and came up to Zermatt so we could start the Express tomorrow at 9 am and still get  to Zurich for our trip back to the US on Monday.

The last hour of the ride was some spectacular scenery.  A lot of waterfalls, and a white water river carry down the glacier melt.  We gained a lot of elevation and the train was built to zig zag around the mountains on the side of some very steep cliffs.

Jungfrau with strong winds on top, but shirtsleeve weather in the alpine meadows below.

When we got off the train in Zermatt it was amazing.  It looked just like a Swiss Village full of Chalets with snow covered mountains not far away — and here it is the middle of June.  Our hotel was just around the corner, and it too was the most amazing hotel we had ever been to.  All the walls, ceilings and closets are carved wood — we have a great balcony, and a jacuzzi tub.  Before long the rain started, and we just left the door and windows to the balcony open and enjoyed the rain.  It never got very cold, but it did rain quite a while.

We walked down to the end of the main street, checking out all the restaurants along the way.  It was easy to imagine what the village would be like during the winter with the snow and skiers all around.

Dave took this picture for our friend Greg Frasher who is a leader of the Black Sheep Motorcycle Club.

We ate outdoors as we have most every day.  This was the first time the servings were so big that neither of us could finish.  Very good.

Back to the Hotel Alex to enjoy some really good internet connections and the start of the World Cup.  The Best Channel we could get in English was from Britian.  So naturally they were routing for England to win the match against the US.  It was interesting to watch it from their point of view, including the commentaries at the end.

Here are some more pics … We’ll add more commentary when we get a chance.

Wow! this is really clean water in the river running right thru downtown Zurich. The Swiss are not allowed to dump anything in their rivers or lakes. So the water is all "near drinking quality" (but they still process it)

Ferry boat on Lake Luzerne

Pretty Nice on Lake Luzerne and it's only the beginning of June

The really important stuff from Switzerland

Alpine meadow. This is what those sheep were munching on. How come they get all the good views?

The Cogs on the railway that are required on the steepest part of the railway to the highest locations.

Pretty nice panorama view on the Glacier Express. They are proudly the slowest express train in the world with over a hundred tunnels and over a hundred bridges. Luelle has everything she needs....

Looking back out of our train window. The bridge pilings are over 150 feet tall.

The Matterhorn. This is what we wanted to see at Zermatt, but it stayed behind a cloud while we were there. We found out from the locals that Mid September and October are the best months for weather if you really want to see the peaks. Or climb them in the sunshine.

Luelle is checking out a piece of Rose Quartz inside the Alex Hotel in Zermatt.