Alex Hotel Zermatt

... control recently has broken down, this was the perfect sign to follow, where I planed to cross the border to Switzerland.<br><br>Just arrived in late afternoon to Aosta, I was not only already entered to the italian part of the alps but also to the point of good bye. Here I decided not to spend another night in Italy and crossed the border to my homecountry Switzerland a hour later at Calle del Gran San Bernardo. <br><br>BIENVENUE EN SUISSE - WELCOME TO SWITZERLAND

I am only stayin the night just to see the Matterhorn. The sun is out and I took a hike up nearby hill. It was about an hour and a half uphill walk with regular short stops to catch my breath. I think I have had enough of hiking now, I did 4 hours of it at Montreux as well, I must have the best **** at the moment. Spectacular view of the mountain at the hilltop though. It's less of a mountain and more of a giant pinnacle of rock. It looks menacing, to prove it there is a nearby graveyard full ...

... maybe having to climb back up. We mapped out our short path and planned two more stops before the sign.<br><br>After a total of half an hour climbing this wretched mountain we eventually made it to the signs. Seriously, we are both well accustomed to walking up hills by now and we both needed to stop every 20 metres or so on this walk! It was horrible! <br><br>At the top we found mountain goats. That really made me think that maybe we were going to wrong way.<br><br>We ...

... some of them work. I walked up to the look out and checked out the surrounding mountains and it was breathtaking,... and ************e else had some out at that time which was even better. Happy I got gloves though!!!<br><br>After we descended to Zermatt we visited the Climbers Cemetery, the cemetery where people who are killed climbing the Matterhorn are buried... last time I was in Zermatt I visited the cemetery and wanted to go back.. it is such a peaceful place... alsp very sad ...

We had packed up the Landy by about 8 a.m., and were ready to plan the route to Val d'Isere. With no roadbook to follow, the GPS was put into use, and a quick check against the maps verified that the best route was probably down towards Milan to join the motorway, and take motorways towards Aosta.<br><br>So, not much in the way of navigating to be done, except to check the road signs now and again, so the hunt for bingo photos was driven hard today ...

We woke "late" (8am) and were the last to leave our bunk. Skipping breakfast, we began our 5 hour journey back to Zermatt. We chose a route that would give us a different view of the valley, but involved 1800m of decent. We paid for it for the next few days. We arrived at our apartment and ...

... driving off right away. They sure don't waste any time here.<br><br>Where we are going we can only drive as far as the town of Tasch. It has parking garages all over the place. Each hotel and restaurant have parking underneath. It is a small town of parkades. You have to take the shuttle train into Zermatt as no cars are allowed in Zermatt. Zermatt is a bigger town that Tasch.<br><br>We find a campground just on the ...

... pub at the top of the Rothorn Cable Car that serves hot Gluvine and Jaggertea plus many other specialties. You can actually see it at the live webcam at: http://bergbahnen.zermatt.ch/d/web-cam/ rothorn.html We ...

... work out how we could get out and some old Italian guy came up and started going off his nut at Gemeah who was driving.... so Gemeah went off her nut back at him and he ran away !!! Don't mess with Miss Piggy when she has had enough of Italians and their **** for one day!!! Anyway we finally found a spot in a secure car park and enjoyed the beautiful town of Bellagio (all the while trying to calm down from today's driving experiences) Day 213 - Thursday 28th September -Varenna (Lake ...

www.elodie50a.com<br><br>Here is a video (sorry for the very bad quality)<br>http://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=R5_9hODsqgs<br><br><br>