Grand Hotel du Parc Crans-Montana

... the casualties of the Matterhorn.
Zermatt itself is tiny, with only electric taxis. It is much colder than Lauterbrunnen even though it's on the border of Italy.
Switzerland is strange. It has no language of its own. In Bern, Lauterbrunnen and Zermatt they speak German but in Montreux they speak French, even the train announcements change languages. It gets confusing, so I just stick to greeting people in English most of the time. When I had arrived here I was fuming a bit because I ...

I decided to change hostels because I really didn't like this one. I am not fond of the international hostels. They're like hospitals, although the buffet breakfast was nice and I liked their cat. I was woken up by screaming, unruly kids. Some parents aren't parents. I was happy to change. The sun had also come out and so I snuck on the train from Montreux Tilletet to Veyvey which is only 5 minutes away. The place is much nicer and has free food and a kitchen. I actually got an entire 6 ...

... and beggars, especially here. I have gotten to the point where when I saw the man praying for money I just wanted to kick him. I have been told that there is work in Switzerland if you don't mind the cold and a little hard work.
It has been a while since I have encountered any of them, but it really made me hot under the collar. I have also found that I am much more suspicious of everybody, everytime someone approaches me I am a little more on my guard.
I think I also saw an old ...

Unfortunately the weather was terrible. It was raining this morning but I decided to make the most of what I could Mannlichen as I thought I would go on a small hike between there and Kleine Scheidegg. Wengen and Lauterbrunnen are ok in the wet but Mannlichen was not. I suppose it was too high and the weather couldn't hold. It was very windy and I swear the rain was ice flakes. Twenty metres in front of me there was only white. It was quite amazing in its own way as I ...

Unfortunately the weather was terrible. It was raining this morning but I decided to make the most of what I could Mannlichen as I thought I would go on a small hike between there and Kleine Scheidegg. Wengen and Lauterbrunnen are ok in the wet but Mannlichen was not. I suppose it was too high and the weather couldn't hold. It was very windy and I swear the rain was ice flakes. Twenty metres in front of me there was only white. It was quite amazing ...

... that I have much to compare it to, but I wouldn’t argue with that. Pictures will tell that story.

Shortly after I got to the hostel I met Bill, a retired engineer from Baltimore. He’s a pretty experienced hiker and I decided to go with him on a "six hour" hike the next day. That six hour hike turned into nearly 10, but it was entirely worth it. I can’t count the number of ...

... the Horner Pub, the Lauterbrunnen ski club were still out in force, drinking and singing loudly in German, obviously having enjoyed quite a few après hike beverages of their own. We weren't feeling too much of the Alpine wellness this morning though as we made a very slow start. The weather wasn't great this morning so we decided to drive 20km into Interlaken for a look around, as neither of us had ever been there before. The town is named because it sits ...

... to Suppenalp which had an awesome looking restaurant onto the North Face Trail which viewed the hills named the Eiger, Monk and the Jungfrau which means Beautiful Princess and back around to Murren. You could not wipe the smile off my face - even with all the hills. Took another cable car across to Gimmelwald which was very cute and quirky - sleeping in the barn on hay and eating cow **** balls - which you have to eat to ...

... and all of these clouds is doing nothing for my tan! Anyways, they keep telling us that summer is coming, soon (they hope!) Im attaching a bunch of photos for you to check out, these are from the last couple of weeks, hope you like it... Chat Soon CP

... lunch, as all of a sudden there was a loud commotion from the street, where many of the people eating had gone over to with their cameras. I went over and found a huge parade of little schoolkids and probably every single cow in the town, all with big bells around their necks! Some of them even had weird floral headdresses on. It was so cool. Let's put it this way - it was the only thing I decided to take a video of. That's how cool it was. We left after that, but someday I will be back.