A one hour flight to Amsterdam Schipol Airport, one and half hour layover, and another one hour flight and we’re in Geneva, Switzerland. Gerald and I really like Schipol Airport; it’s clean and easy to navigate. We also like the idea of going through security at the gate instead of at a central point when connecting. It’s definitely less of a headache than getting all mixed up in the mob of people, like CDG Paris (although I do like going through Paris so I can get some Laduree macrons!). We have also taken great advantage of Elite status; the lounge is our best friend during these layovers. Clean, empty bathrooms, free drinks, snacks and internet! It makes layovers at the airports so much better. We just found out that we’re not getting 100% of the miles we’re flying because we’re paying for the lowest airfare, which only entitles you to like 20% of the miles – rubbish!
From Geneva, we took a 3 ½ hour train ride to Zermatt. It was a bit confusing trying to figure out which train to get on since our destination on the ticket was nowhere to be found on the departure boards. Gerald didn’t want to take any chances, so we took a train to the main station and from there transferred over to 2 other trains that would finally take us to our destination. The transfers could have been avoided if we took our chances and got on the first train. Anyhow, now we know. Besides that little confusion, the trains were great. They were on time, clean and the views out were wonderful. I was surprised to find that the predominant language was German in Switzerland and they don’t really translate much to English. Most announcements were in French and German. Gerald and I just followed the crowd.
We finally arrived in Zermatt around 5:30 pm. With all these short connecting flights, I couldn’t really sleep so by this point, I’m pretty exhausted. Zermatt is a pedestrian town; therefore, there are no fuel powered cars to be seen, which was a change. We were picked up in a 90,000 CHF (can you believe this?) electric car by Joseph from Hotel Phoenix. Hotel Phoenix is an eco friendly hotel run by geothermal energy. Gerald was excited about this. It was centrally located in town so we were able to walk to the lifts and bus stops with no problem. The staffs there were great and we would definitely go back. They had a very convenient ski room to store all our belongings and served us breakfast every morning. We had lunch on the slopes and went into town for dinner using recommendations from Joseph. He was born and raised in the area, so he knew his stuff.
The first night we went to an Italian restaurant called Grampi’s and had pizza and risotto; total bill was 60 CHF! It was delicious, but nothing fancy. We soon realized that everything here was expensive! We peeked into a McDonald’s just to see what a Big Mac meal cost and it was 12 CHF! Ridiculous, but what can you do! Our other meals consisted of steak at Chez Jules Max, where the waitresses, dressed in traditional German outfits, and served us our meals tableside (cutting our steaks and preparing our dishes right in front of our eyes). Our last night, we had the traditional Fondue and Raclette at the Swiss Chalet. Gerald went for the cheese and I went for the broth. Two very simple meals but so very good! I think the experience of it is more exciting than the meal itself. I love restaurants where you cook your own food. It’s like cooking and eating out in one, which I really enjoy. Overall the food experience here was nice despite the steep prices.
I realize this blog entry is pretty long but I really wanted to document all of our experiences so we can share it with our family and friends. If you’re bored, I give you permission to exit out of the screen...hehe.
Now on to the skiing! Our goal was to ski the Swiss side of the mountain on day 1 and the Italian side on day 2. We woke up to a beautiful Friday morning in Zermatt; the sun was out and it wasn’t super cold! Joseph told us the last snow was before Christmas so we were a bit worried about what the slopes were going to be like. We walked 5 minutes to the lift station at about 9:00 am. It wasn’t crazy crowded like I’d imagine it to be. In order to get to the highest point of the mountain on the Swiss side we took a staggered train thingy to one point, then a gondola up to another point, and then a another train to the highest point. The views were spectacular and the transportation state of the art. Once we got to the top, we only took maybe 2 other lifts. From there, it was straight skiing for 5 hours. This was good for me, because I always tend to fall into others while waiting in the lift lines...haha. When we did have to take a lift, they had a conveyor belt right under the lift chairs that just takes you straight to the chairs so you don’t have to ski up to it. Genius! And one more thing...instead of having to get your lift passes scanned each time, you place a credit card like thing in your jacket pocket and when you arrive at the lift gates, it reads the pass and lets you in. No need for extra workers standing by scanning passes. As for the slopes, the snow was packed nicely and wide open. There were a few icy patches (where I fell) but for the most part, the trails were good. Supposedly they make a lot of their own snow. Gerald and I noticed there were no trees in sight, just straight up mountain. Because the mountains were so empty, I was a bit hesitant to follow Gerald down the slope when I kept seeing people go the other way. I always asked ‘’Why are they going that way?’’ I thought he was taking me down some blacks or something. Come to find out, there were very few blacks so I was good to go. It was so peaceful up there in the mountains. Sometimes, I would get lost in thought and forget I had to pay attention to skiing. Did I mention that I was the only person falling on the mountain? I fell a total of 3 times on the first day and didn’t see a single soul fall, other than me. How sad is that! These people were very good, I was impressed. We noticed that they were also twice our age; the average age of skiers must have been 40! I hope when I’m that age, I can fly down these mountains like them. Overall, the first day of skiing was awesome. We stopped by the Iglu Bar, made entirely of snow, to have a few drinks at the end of our run. From there, we took a short train ride back into town and called it a day.
Day 2 of skiing was even better than Day 1. We took the Matterhorn Express way up 12,000 feet of the Swiss Alps. We met a nice Swiss family on the gondola ride up and they gave us a few pointers on how to make most of our day and we did just that. This trip up took us 3 gondola rides and one train ride up to the peak. The views from this height were amazing; I think we were even higher than the birds! Supposedly people who aren’t use to this altitude would have problems breathing; I thought I would be one of those people so I really concentrated on taking big deep breaths to make sure I was getting all the oxygen I could get. I got tired a lot quicker up here but overall, I was fine. The Swiss family told me that some people collapse when they get up here so I was a bit nervous. But, I’m still alive, and writing this blog! Haha...From the peak of the mountain, we skied down 17 km (10.5 miles) down to the town of Valtournenche, Italy. From there we took another gondola up 10,000 feet and skied 13 km to the town of Cervenia, Italy. It was wonderful. We skipped lunch this day to make sure we can get back to the Swiss side before the last train went up. Our last run took us back into Zermatt and that would end our ski trip in the Alps. Some say that Zermatt is the best ski resort in the world and from our experience, it was pretty up there! Here’s a quick read about Zermatt and what it has to offer in case you want to plan a trip there: http://www.ski-zermatt.com/winter.html
Thanks for sticking with me through this entry. By the end of the year, you’ll probably have travelled Europe with me =) Gerald and I are heading to Chamonix, France with two other coworkers this coming up weekend so we'll get to compare the Swiss Alps vs. the French Alps =) Hope you had a great weekend!
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