Hotel Mirabeau Relais Du 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 ...

... but our legs struggled to keep us upright on the steep slope. I know uphill is harder but my legs were shaking 10 minutes in!<br><br>At the bottom we saw that there were two signs pointing to the spot we needed to be, obviously one was right and one was wrong! The right one had a very level path that we welcomed with relief!<br><br>We walked for about 2 hours before lunch, viewing the Matterhorn from different angles and stopping at lakes and streams to fill our water ...

... town of Seez. We must have taken some wrong turning around here, because the GPS went a bit mad. So we found a place to turn round (not easy on those roads) and went back until we could agree with the direction the GPS wanted to take.<br><br>We'd sent a text to Tom to say we'd arrive about 2 p.m, and could he arrange for some food to be left for us from the barbeque which had been arranged. He confirmed, and said he'd come down for us at that time.<br>

... Sunnege Paradise where we started our hike. Again, I am so frustrated with myself for not bringing my hiking boots to Switzerland... The altitude really got us, and the incline up the mountains was rather brutal, but it was all totally worth it for great views of Zermatt, the Alps, the Matterhorn, glacial lakes, and waterfalls. And the occasional marmot. We were trekking for about four hours, and it was great. On our descent, we were not exactly sure where we were ...

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 ...

... giggling (oh, I forgot to mention they were guys). We got up bright and early to head out skiing. Erin and I were the only beginners in the grad group, but we joined 5 others and one of the school's "professors" who was going to "teach" us to ski. We took the lift all the way to the top, where we had heard the bunny slopes were located. Our "teacher" showed us how we should put our skis and then pushed us down ...

"Where are your hands?" - Steve Martin "Between two pillows." - John Candy "... those aren't two pillows!!!!!!" - Steve Martin After 12 hours of traveling on 2 planes and 2 trains, we finally get into Zermatt in the evening. A light flurry welcomes us into town, definitely a good sign of a wonderful week ahead of us. The final leg of our trip is a quick taxi ride to the hotel. One of ...

... of little French towns. It was a bit slow-going until we hit the highway back in Switzerland near St. Gingolfe. Where we'd turned South to head to Chamonix/Mont Blanc on Sunday, today we veered East. Gerald and I were both travelling along with our mouths gaping open. The beautiful snow-capped peaks in front of us were so spectacular. Along this quick highway, we ended up passing through quite a few tunnels. Two of them were each over 3km long! The ...

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>