Zurich

Matterhorn sunrise

Thursday September 18, 2025

Zermatt

Today was an Indian Summer day here – sunny and mid 70s. In a few days the forecast is for rain and a high in the mid 40s. They should get lots of new snow up high.

This morning I figured I would beat the crowd and get to the gondola right after they opened at 8AM. When I arrived, I could not believe how many people were there, and they all had skis. There is skiing at the top 365 days a year. I think this was some sort of training camp. The first ride part way up the mountain was in an 8 person gondola. Then we had a cable car that held 125 people. Where I was in line, we had to wait for the third car. When they tried to close the doors on the second car a worker literally just pushed the people in so the doors would close and the car could be on its way. Our car was not totally full. The third leg up was in a 24 passenger gondola. All these lifts are impressive where they are built. This gondola comes into a top station at 12,740 feet, the highest in the Alps. In the pictures you will see a photo. The lift from Zermatt comes in one side. Another lift from Italy comes in another. The mountain is opposite the Italian entrance, and the exit to ski is the fourth side. There is a full restaurant inside as well as an elevator that goes down about 50 feet through the rock, then a tunnel goes out into the glacier, where there are a series of tunnels through the ice with various ice carvings. In the maze of tunnels there is a slide. The entrance is roughly 3 feet square. There was a 30 year old guy at the entrance who asked me if I knew where the slide went. I had no idea. As we were getting the courage to try it, a German guy came. We joked maybe it comes out in Italy. The German said he would go first. It was actually fairly short and came out in another tunnel. We all did it and enjoyed it. The slide was long enough so it was completely dark inside. The whole place was cool, literally and figuratively. I then went upstairs to the movie theater, where there was a 30 minute video of climbing the peaks in the area.

I then took the 24 passenger gondola down to the station where the cable car comes up. I walked around outside a bit and took a break on the patio. The view of the Matterhorn is better from in town, both the angle and being a bit further away. There was a cool reflection of the mountain on the exterior glass. Then back down the cable car and then down the gondola. From the Italian side it is 4 lifts to get to the summit. It is amazing terrain for skiing in the winter.

After getting back in town I went to the hotel to change back into shorts and a tee shirt. I then planned to take the cog railroad up to another area. It was super crowded, so I went to lunch, then hiked up behind the hotel and found 3 geocaches. All in all, another great day.

Tomorrow it will be riding the rails and ending up in Zurich. I haven’t decided on my plans. I had thought I would go to Interlaken, but it is probably going to be crowded. I may just take my time leaving here and go straight to Zurich. It is about 3 ½ hours by train. I really enjoyed the small villages of Zinal and Grachen. Chamonix and Zermatt are amazing, but just too many tourists.

Friday September 19, 2025

Zurich

This morning I decided I would take the detour to Interlaken and Grindelwald. I purchased a 1 day unlimited travel ticket for the Swiss transportation system. It even includes ferries. The train leaving Zermatt was completely full. The trains leave every 30 minutes, so lots of people moving about. At the bottom of the valley in the city of Visp, I think most people headed toward Geneva. My train to Spiez was not busy. From Spiez I had to change again and go to Interlaken, where I changed again to go to Grindelwald. Most connections are 6 to 9 minutes, and are not a problem. One of the connections was 15 minutes and seemed like a long time. The whole process happens fast. When I came down from Grindelwald into Interlaken, I watched a couple take their time. The train stops, everyone gets off, the new people get on, the door closes and off the train goes. Often it is only a minute or two. This couple had their bags and were just standing back for some reason. When everyone was on, the doors closed. The husband tried pushing the button to reopen the door, but the train was already moving forward. He was upset. Within 10 minutes my train was on the same track going the other direction loading us up to go to Zurich. The timing and sequencing of everything is amazing. The Swiss machine doesn’t wait for slow Americans.

I’m glad I made the effort to see these two beautiful towns. They are busy tourist towns, but the scenery is amazing. I have really been travelling around a lot by bus and train. It has been fun to see so much of Switzerland, France and Italy.

Arriving in Zurich I had a decision to make. Get off at the main station and see some of downtown Zurich, or stay on the same train one more stop and get off at the airport, very close to my hotel. I figured I should at least see Zurich while right here. We arrived on track 37. Yes, it is a big station. I had to go up 3 levels to get outside. I was going to use the bathroom before walking about, but it cost 1 franc and there was a line of people trying to figure out how to pay. It was 1 mile down a very busy street, pedestrians and public transportation, no private cars. Tons of jewelry and watch stores. Just my thing. I reached the lake, took a few pictures and now had to figure out how to get to my hotel near the airport. The airports is a ways north of the city center. Google maps had me walk about 15 minutes to a train station, as it was quicker than taking the local busses and stopping every 100 meters. The station was underground in an old section of town. I ended up following people who were in a hurry. The strategy worked perfectly. I get to the bottom of the stairs, and there is a train loading. Awesome timing, it was the correct train number, so good to go. The doors close and the train takes off, going the opposite direction I wanted to go. The next stop is 5 minutes away. Oh well, all part of the adventure. I get off at the next stop and a train is approaching from the other way, so I get on that one to at least get back to my starting point. Turned out, this was the train I wanted to get on anyway. Instead of waiting 11 minutes for it at the first station, I just got a little extra ride. I had to change to one more local train which dropped me off right by my hotel. Tomorrow morning, I will get back on this same train and go 2 stops to the airport.

Tomorrow I have a late morning flight to Philadelphia, then it is on the Phoenix. If all goes well, I should land about 7:30PM. This trip was different from what I expected, but turned out great. The hip felt good today (I also didn’t hike). Tomorrow will be another good rest day. I should be good as new in no time.

I was asked about how much cash I carry. Basically, this area is credit card based, just like the US, so you don’t need to carry as much cash as on the Camino. There are many small businesses that have a 20 franc minimum on a credit card charge, so you do need to have some cash. There are ATMs in almost every town. This trip was a little tricky in that France uses the Euro and Switzerland uses the Swiss franc. When I first crossed the border they accepted Euros, but gave change in francs. The franc is 1.26 to the US dollar. The Euro is 1.17 to the US dollar. When I did the Camino in January the Euro was only 1.02. I wish I had gotten lots of Euros then.

“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzue