The kids doing their new favorite thing - sledging!Last week was the kids mid term break from school and we had the opportunity to go to Zermatt, Switzerland to ski. Wow. Skiing at the base of the Matterhorn mountain is really cool. The view is spectacular. Glaciers surround the area too. The weather was crystal clear. Not a cloud in the sky all week. We werent complaining about the lack of snow while there because we were so happy to see the sunshine for a whole week. Zermatt is very unique in that it is a town at the end of a valley and there are no cars allowed there. Every single person has to arrive by train as well as all the town supplies and necessities. (well you can ski over the mountain from Italy, but that doesnt count) The hotels do have these little electric vehicles to haul luggage back and forth from the train station and there are also electric taxis along with horse carriages, but no personal cars allowed. Zermatt doesnt have ski in/ski out facilities, so us spoiled Americans are a little confused by those things. The ski pists (runs) are basically on the OTHER side of the mountain so every morning the lifts have to carry every single skier to the back side of the mountain. They have some really cool lifts though- from 5 person chair lifts to regular gondolas to huge gondolas that carry 100 people at a time (think James Bond movies) to a mountain hugging train that snakes up the mountain edge. The coolest "lift" is the funnicula (I have no idea how to accurately spell that). it is a train - like a subway - in a tunnel that is cut into the mountain and basically goes straight up. The weird thing is that it goes so fast. very strange to shoot up a mountain in a tunnel at flying speed. I still cant figure out how the train gains so much speed so quickly.
We stayed in a aparthotel type place. Nothing too scenic, but nice and in a great location. The funny thing about European beds is that every one is a twin size (at least that is what we have come across on our budget!). They have the bottom sheet and then just a duvet. No top sheet. All that is fine, and we are used to it, but in Zermatt they had the duvets folded to a 4' x 3' size. After I woke up the first morning, DA was complaining that if they wouldnt give him an extra blanket, he was just going to have to buy one. I was like what??? you were cold??? then I realized he didnt know to unfold his duvet (in his defense, it was very thin and you couldnt easily tell it was folded) - so he slept the whole night with a 4' x 3' blanket. I wish, wish, wish I would have gotten up in the middle of the night and seen that tug of war.
We stayed in a aparthotel type place. Nothing too scenic, but nice and in a great location. The funny thing about European beds is that every one is a twin size (at least that is what we have come across on our budget!). They have the bottom sheet and then just a duvet. No top sheet. All that is fine, and we are used to it, but in Zermatt they had the duvets folded to a 4' x 3' size. After I woke up the first morning, DA was complaining that if they wouldnt give him an extra blanket, he was just going to have to buy one. I was like what??? you were cold??? then I realized he didnt know to unfold his duvet (in his defense, it was very thin and you couldnt easily tell it was folded) - so he slept the whole night with a 4' x 3' blanket. I wish, wish, wish I would have gotten up in the middle of the night and seen that tug of war.
We all had fun skiing, but the kids' new favorite activity is sledding, or sledging as it is called in Zermatt. They had 2 runs specifically for the sleds. It was hysterical and so much fun. You just steer with your feet sliding across the snow and dig your heels in when you want to stop. Needless to say, you are covered in snow after you stop.
Since we were there over Valentine's Day, I thought I might buy DA a new watch. His broke the week before our trip. I thought what better place to buy a watch than Switzerland, right? there are watch shops everywhere. No shortage there, but my, oh my - The prices were crazy. Some so outrageous that we kept looking at them in the window trying to figure out what was so special about them (to the tune of 157,000 francs). Well he didnt make it home with a new watch. Just a valentines card. And our valentine dinner you ask? Tex Mex meal. delicious. Tex mex in the mountains of Switzerland when we cant even find decent Tex Mex in London. crazy. The chips and dip where funny though. menu said "nachos con salsa" which was nacho flavored Doritos and good salsa. no cheese. We just laugh at the "nacho" flavoring. give us some good, plain, salted tortillas please. DA ordered the chicken fajitas. They were interesting too. Chicken cooked in coconut, served with bananas and kidney beans with flour tortillas. DA said they were very good. I just took his word for it and enjoyed my veggie fajitas alone.
All in all, a fabulous trip. No broken bones. oh, L's assessement - "it was cool". I define that as success.
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