Hotel Valaisia Crans-Montana

... to go out in the cold again, so then we spent time on YouTube until they got home and made us dinner. Ah, the Italian life. Meghan and I crawled into our beds but didn't sleep for a long time, just talking. We both thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of speaking normally, without adjusting our language to make ourselves understood. She had been accepted that day into an English teaching program in China, and wasn't sure if she wanted to take it or not, so we talked ...

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 ...

... town of Zermatt and its Matterhorn views.<br><br>Zermatt is a very small town of only 5000 people with no petrol fueled vehicles at all. They have little electric taxis and horse drawn carriages to take people around. Very cute.<br><br>We made our way to our hotel which was unfortunately up a small hill. This would have been ok except for we took a couple of wrong turns and our backpacks were getting heavy!<br><br>The receptionist was a lovely guy and explained that the ...

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 ...

Farmor agreed to watch Evie and Tyler for 2 days while Sue and Tom hiked to Hornlihut, the refugio at the base of the Matterhorn. Hornlihut is at 3200m directly below the Matterhorn (4400m) and serves as the base camp for those ascending the Matterhorn. When we called for reservations, they asked if we were ...

... way up to meet Evie and Sue at the playground (after a 5 euro hot chocolate) and we all walked down through some delightful traditional Swiss towns.<br><br>                                                  <br>

Sue and Tom decided late in the afternoon to take advantage of the Tram/Gondola/Train infrastructure of Zermatt and spring for a 4 day "unlimited rides" pass. We took advantage by taking the ...

... to see the train pulling away. Of coursre. Split second decision, I was going to jump the train, just like in the movies. However, the train was already too far out, and me not being the most athletic/fast person in the world, I didn't make it. But I did try. It was dramatic. So, now I'm yelling after the train "Aspetta!! Aspetta!!" (Wait! Wait!) while running and making a scene. After giving up, I find myself next to an older gentleman on the platform ...

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>