Zermatt

The mystic pinnacle of the Matterhorn...drew my eyes toward it with irresistible fascination...

John Tyndall, The Glaciers of the Alps

Welcome to Zermatt! Beautiful skies and we can actually see the Matterhorn! What a gift!

After checking into our hotel Basecamp, we walked up the road to a restaurant with an amazing view! We enjoyed a summer salad and fancy raclette!

It was highly recommended to take the Gornergrat Bahn to Gornergrat and since the weather was clear, we decided to take advantage and do it right away. It is one of the most spectacular train rides I have ever been on. The views are impressive and at the top were amazing telescope type viewing devices that actually had the names of the peaks appearing above them! Without it, the only one I can name for sure is the Matterhorn.

We chatted with our neighbors at the hotel and found out that they had been hiking on a glacier all day! Maybe it was this one.

I would go on this train ride again and again. It was so beautiful and so peaceful. It was a little expensive but absolutely worth it. After the ride, we picked up some salads, wine and chocolate from the COOP for dinner on our balcony. What a view!

I took many photos of the Matterhorn because you don't always see the top. I even tried a few long exposures just for fun. The one looks more like a painting than a photograph.

The Morning Alpenglow

In the morning, we woke up in time to see the sun rise on the Matterhorn, so of course I took more photos! Here are my 2 favorites.

This was the Alpenglow, to me the most impressive of all the terrestrial manifestations of God. At the touch of this divine light, the mountains seemed to kindle to a rapt, religious consciousness, and stood hushed like devout worshippers waiting to be blessed.

John Muir

After a fantastic and hearty breakfast, we ventured out to find a hike. We strolled through town and we found a trail called the Matterhorn Trail! Imagine that!

Parish church of St Mauritius

We called this place "The hills are alive"! I don't think the person on the trail was Maria, and we weren't in Austria, but we couldn't resist the urge to sing it!