Zermatt, Switzerland

I woke up after having a surprisingly good night's sleep on the night train. They even served us breakfast. Well, what they called breakfast; it was a bread roll and tea. It was insanely cramped in there with 6 people in a room the size of a small walk-in closet, but we made it work. We were to arrive in Zurich very soon, where I'd be transferring to a different train going to Visp, and then from there, another one to Zermatt. It was a lot of train transfers, but I understood later why they did it that way. Zermatt is a little town right in amongst the Alps. Normal trains can't get there, so you have to transfer to a special, smaller train that can scale the mountains.

When we got to Zurich I stood on the platform and waited for my next train for 40 minutes. I wish I had some sort of eventful story to tell, but sometimes you just sit there and wait for your train. Waiting 40 minutes for my train was pretty much my experience in Zurich. In Visp I had only enough time to walk from the platform where my train stopped, to the platform where my next one was waiting. Before I knew it, I was on my last train to Zermatt. This last train, as I mentioned before, was much smaller, designed to act as a shuttle across the Alps. Needless to say, however, the journey through the Alps was an experience to remember. The views were some of the most beautiful sights I've seen on my trip thus far. Green rolling fields to snow covered masterpieces. I felt like I had fallen into an old painting of Switzerland 100 years ago. The countryside was scattered with tiny cottages exactly like what you see in movies, or old TV shows. I always thought that was sort of a stereotype of Swiss culture, but they actually look exactly like that. The mountains rose so high all around, that I had to strain to see all the way to the top. In certain areas, the melting snow poured off the side in waterfalls, filling river beds with water so cold it looked murky. My train was full of elderly British tourists, who I'm guessing were all on a tour together. This seemed reminiscent of my ferry to Croatia with the old Germans, except this time I actually understood them.

Passing through mountains, tiny villages and cattle, we finally entered Zermatt. Exiting the train, I saw an assortment of backpackers, hikers, skiers, and European families on vacation. The whole place was a huge ski resort. I was so enamored with the beautiful fresh powder snow covering everything, and the absolutely amazing white hills, I almost didn't know what to do first. I walked into the tourist information center, and got a map, making sure to have the front desk attendant point out where we were right now. Then I asked about hostels in the area. The woman told me there was one, but she didn't know if it'd be all filled up already. She seemed to think it was going to be pretty hard to come across a decent room here without a previous reservation, in fact most people keep warning me of that as we're now entering the big tourist season. She gave me the number for the front desk of the hostel, but the reception was closed. I looked at my map, and figured there's gotta be some kind of cheaper hotel here that I walk to which has some room; the city's not very big at all. So I gathered my stuff, and decided I'd just start walking down the main road stopping at wherever I could find to ask for a room. As soon as I looked down main street, I was very surprised to see that there were hotels absolutely everywhere! I passed by some 4 star hotels, and wandered into a 3 star. I asked the front desk in there was anything available. Again to my surprise there was in fact, a room open. It was 90 Swiss Frank a night (60 euros), which is exactly what I paid for my crappy hotel in Venice, so I figured that's a pretty standard 3 star hotel price, and I didn't think I was going to get much better than that here. Out of all the hotels I found, most of them were 4 and 5 star. Things are very expensive here, centrally because it's a big ski resort for Europeans. One nice thing about it though, is that each Swiss Frank is roughly worth one US Dollar. I think the dollar still gets the benefit of the doubt, but it's pretty much right on. So I don't have to do any sort of conversion in my head, to see what things cost in my budget. The other nice things, is that everywhere here (because of their European tourists) takes credit cards, and also accepts Euros so I don't have to change out all my cash.

I reserved 2 nights in the hotel to start with, the front desk called it a studio, but I just figured that's what they were calling it to make it sound bigger, so I'd pay for it. However, entering the room I saw that it actually is a studio apartment. I have my own full bathroom, kitchen, and balcony. I was ecstatic! This was the coolest thing ever, in the coolest place ever with a view that made me never want to leave. As soon I could tear myself away from my awesome room, I went back down to the front desk to get some information about where things were in the city. I asked where I might find grocery store because now that I have a kitchen, I thought it'd be fun as well as more cost effective to go get a bunch of stuff from the market, and make myself meals. However she told me that most things, including the market, are closed today because it's Sunday. I said ok, and didn't think much of it until I checked my phone and realized that it's actually Thursday, then I was thoroughly confused. As she said, most things have been closed all day, and I can't figure out why. It's definitely not Sunday, but maybe it has something to do with the first of the month. People tell me that things will be open again tomorrow, but it's been difficult to find decently priced food within the city. The only restaurants open today are the the ones inside the 4 and 5 star hotels in which I'd end up paying 20 bucks for a plate of spaghetti. I decided to hold out as long as I could in terms eating, and make give my meals more mileage. Instead I went exploring the city.

Zermatt is a really tiny city. You can walk around the whole thing in less than an hour, but it's absolutely gorgeous. You walk out onto the street and all around you are these amazing mountains. A small river divides Zermatt in two, and on the far end, old Swiss homes crawl up the hill side. There's a modest church in the center of town, with a small cemetery around it. Up the side of the hill, there's a single ski lift leading up the mountain. However, perhaps the most beautiful, and certainly most famous site is the Matterhorn towering up over all other mountains. It's one of the most beautiful things I have yet seen. It's an absolute symbol of majesty. I thought, before I arrived here, that the Matterhorn would be off in the distance somewhere, blending into the rest of the Alps. I thought I might have to have someone point it out to me so I'd know what I was looking at. However, as soon as I turned the corner onto the main street I was struck with awe. It's so close I feel like I could just go walking up it, and it looks just how I've seen it in pictures, covered with snow, jetting out into the clear blue sky. It almost looks out of place standing there miles taller than anything else. I couldn't take my eyes off it. I still can't every time I look at it. I just can't believe what I'm seeing. People pass by me, making no notice of it, as if it's just some normal thing. I can't even grasp that. I've wanted to see this mountain my entire life. When I was a little kid, I used to play a game with myself whenever I went to Disneyland, to find the top of the Matterhorn, because that meant we were finally there. Here I am staring at the REAL Matterhorn, and I'm in awe. When I was finally able to tear myself away from staring at it, and after I'd taken a couple thousand pictures of it, I decided to find something to tide me over till dinner. After some searching, I actually found a pretty cool bakery, which also sold freshly made sandwiches (odd paring I thought, but it worked well). It was certainly a whole lot cheaper, and the sandwiches were pretty good quality. I bought one sandwich, and some Almond brittle, and it was all together only about 7 bucks. I also found a sporting goods store (because there are thousands of them here), and bought a thermos to hold water I can purify from the tap, so I won't have to keep paying for water bottles.

When dinner time came around I debated with myself about what to do. I'd seen a steak house just around the corner from where my apartment was, and it sounded really good, but it was starting at 30 dollars a plate. I looked for some cheaper options, but like I said before, just about everywhere else was closed till tomorrow. Luckily earlier today Jamie had sent me exactly 30 dollars, so I figured I'd use that to have myself a nice steak dinner tonight, and then tomorrow I'd grab some stuff from the grocery store and cook. So I went to the Steak House, and ordered myself a sirloin steak, country fries, and some beer from Denmark. I felt full and happy afterwards. It was fantastic! Thanks for dinner, Jamie!

After dinner, I saw the sun set over the Matterhorn, and watched a Genesis concert on TV via my awesome apartment. It's wonderful here. People are friendly, the scenery's gorgeous, and there's lots of snow to play in. I'm excited to play more tomorrow.
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