Zermatt, Switzerland

John has been working like a mad man for the past month so, thanks to Mom and Stan’s Christmas present, we flew away to Switzerland for an awesome long weekend and much needed break. It was one of our best weekend trips yet!

When I was in university, my sister was living in Switzerland and all the family went over to ski in Zermatt. Zermatt is a quaint little pedestrian village at the base of an incredible ski resort and the famous Matterhorn peak. I wasn’t able to go at the time, so this past weekend was my chance.

We flew into Basel in north Switzerland on the border of France and Germany. Zermatt was on the opposite side of the country, right on the Italian border. The 3.5 hour drive between the two places gave us a chance to see lots more of scenic Switzerland. On the drive we discovered the Swiss love of tunnel building; they spare no expense! Even when we thought a road over a hill might have been easier, the Swiss would stick a gratuitous tunnel there for the fun of it.

We stopped in a summer resort town on a lake called Spiez before heading up into the Alps. To get to the other side of a mountain range, we had to drive our car onto a train which shuttled us through a long, dark tunnel to the other side of the mountain. It was a very weird experience and I tried not to think of the huge mountain mass above us.

The road up towards Zermatt was windy and the towns we drove through were classic. Part of the road was on the edge of a cliff. The road pavement was crumbling away on the edge and the metal ‘safety’ barrier was attached to the crumbling pavement. I was wishing for a tunnel! (Future travelers don’t worry – they are building a tunnel and it’s about finished.)

We couldn’t find accommodation in Zermatt so we stayed in the village below called Tasche, at the hotel “Elite”. The Elite was built the 70s and hasn’t changed one bit, which we got a kick out of. Because no cars are allowed in Zermatt, you have to leave your car in Tasch and take a train for 15 minutes up to Zermatt. Despite being a pedestrian village, there are tons of electronic carts buzzing around Zermatt to shuttle people and luggage to their hotels. We almost got hit a few times because we couldn’t hear them coming.

We arrived in Zermatt late Friday afternoon and caught our first glimpse of the Matterhorn. We got acquainted with the town, rented our skies and decided which gondola we wanted to take so we could get a fast and early start on Saturday morning. We had a drink at the National Hotel and then a huge dinner including goulash soup (yum) and cheese fondue (not yum).

We were up and at them early on Saturday to hit the slopes. We were expecting forecasted sunshine but it was snowing and all we could see were clouds. We boarded the first gondola up towards the ski area under the Matterhorn – and still couldn’t see anything, it was a total white out. We blindly followed a track down to what was luckily another lift to take us farther up the mountain. We were really starting to get down, thinking we would be skiing blind all day with no mountain views, and then, a white light appeared above us. We broke through the clouds – and there was the Matterhorn, gleaming in the sunshine!

We skied above the clouds in the sunshine all day. The conditions were awesome; light fluffy powder and long groomed cruisers. We took a cable car twice up to a crazy high peak with excellent views over the Zermatt valley, the Matterhorn and into Italy. It was such a fun day!!!

The clouds below us cleared at the end of the day so we skied all the way into the town. Halfway down we saw the track that we navigated in the morning in the white out – it is a good thing we stuck to the track because otherwise we would have skied off a cliff!

That night in Zermatt, we had a beer in a pub and watched world cup ski jumping. This is not something we normally (ever) do but we got into it quite quickly. By the end of our beers we were judging jumpers techniques and speed, and estimating/betting on jump distances. (It was surprisingly fun.) After another filling Swiss dinner, we cozied up in our 70s hotel with our tea (yes, the Brit tea drinking has worn off on us).

We had a good long Sunday sleep in and woke to glorious sunshine. We took our time driving back to Basel, on a different route than what we drove in on. It took us through a new mountain pass, cross country ski land, beautiful Swiss villages, another car train in a mountain, and the pretty lake city of Lucerne.

We love all our weekend trips but this one was one of the best! Thanks Mom and Stan.

Salzburg, Austria

Despite her very busy work schedule, John’s sister Lauren managed to get away for 10 days and she flew to London to visit us. She spent a few days exploring London and then we flew to Salzburg, Austria for a winter getaway. Andrew and Jess joined us as well.

We found a great deal on a hotel, breakfast, ski bus package. It was a 4 star hotel and far nicer the accommodation we usually get. We had a good laugh comparing it the hostel dorm room we stayed in when we went to Salzburg in Nov/06.

We arrived Wednesday night, and after a great sleep and breakfast, we caught the ski bus to Shladming for a day of skiing. We had a fun day getting our ski legs back, and trying to navigate around a new mountain in the snow. We made a wrong turn near the end of the day which resulted in a panicked race down the mountain so we wouldn’t miss the bus back.

Friday was Lauren’s 29th birthday. She had sleep in and then joined A&J for breakfast. The hotel surprised her with champagne and cake. They got a tour of the old town, explored and shopped and managed to not get too bombarded by Mozart and the Sound of Music.

John and I skied Flachau on Friday. It was a beautiful sunny day so we were able to enjoy the gorgeous views of the Austrian Alps. My mom taught skiing in Austria back in the day so I thought of her as I cruised down the slopes. All over the mountain there are on hill lodges for eating and accommodation. They were so quaintly Austrian and one had an outdoor coffee bar.

Friday night was birthday celebration night. We went to the old town for dinner in a classic Austrian restaurant, which unfortunately for Lauren only serviced beer and wine. Lauren had to be introduced to a raddler (aka shandy ie beer with 7-up) and after dinner we made a bee line out of to the bar next door so she could get a rum and diet coke. After that bar, we went to a roof top cocktail bar with a view of the old town, and then we headed to another one where Lauren charmed the Italian waiter and he brought us several rounds of free shots. Our last stop was the hotel bar, where we managed to buy one more round before it closed. We then played a bit of poker and hit the sack.

We all slept in Saturday but woke up in time to enjoy one more delicious breakfast. Poor John had to work so the rest of us explored Salzburg. He met us in the afternoon and we had a beer at a traditional beer hall. It was like a college dorm cafeteria, but with 4 different massive rooms (beer halls) instead of one. Andrew figured out how to get the beer – you get a beer stein from a shelf, it is hot from the wash so you run it under the cold water fountain, then you pay and get a ticket, then you give the ticket to the beer vendor who fills your stein. We bought some of the shaved radish they were selling (why?) and headed for dinner at a great restaurant near our hotel.
We all flew out to London on Saturday night – thanks guys for the fun ski trip! Thanks for visiting Lauren!