Nicoletta 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

... the casualties of the Matterhorn.<br>Zermatt itself is tiny, with only electric taxis. It is much colder than Lauterbrunnen even though it's on the border of Italy.<br>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 ...

... saying that this was the World Downhill Mountainbike Championship trail. I can tell you that they are a brave bunch! Some of those hills are STEEP!!<br><br>The rest of the walk was quite pleasant and importantly, all downhill! We found a sign at the bottom that said that people walk up the same trail for training to climb the Matterhorn. It took us about 80 minutes to walk down and the sign said that the climbers that are fit enough to conquer the Matterhorn should be ...

... br>We had decided to travel via Aosta, so as to get as close to the roadbook outlined route as possible. About midday, we got our first views of Mont Blanc, or Monte Bianco, as the Italians know it. As we turned off the motorway, we could still see it, until the narrow winding roads took us across the other side of another mountain.<br><br>Now we realised this was our last chance to get the police photo, as soon we<br>wouldn't be in Italy any ...

... took Evie back up via the Tram to the top of the Klein Matterhorn just before the last ride at 4:30p. Along the way, they watched a parade of swiss dancers with typical accordian players as they paraded down main street as part of an annual traditional festival.<br> <br>                  <br>

... motion sickness coming on.<br><br>                We arrived in Munich about 5:30 and met Dana for dinner at the Marriot, where he had graciously helped us with a room. For three guys who have been in hostels for over two weeks, having over-friendly staff dote on us, extremely soft beds, free toiletries, a maid, a fresh and clean room, and most of all privacy-made us feel like we had never been in a hotel before. And hotels in Europe are not the same as in America ...

... Of course, the cow had her signature bell. Upon trying to pass ole' Bessie I asked whether the bell bothered her. Her "moo" sounded in the affirmative. The photos I took on my hike are my best effort to capture the beauty of this area. I saw probably six other humans during the 6 hours I was wandering trails. It was liberating (but possibly not wise) to have no itinerary and no schedule and to just take whatever fork in the trail ...

... remove it. Actually began to hurt a little come the morning, but i was able to find some tweezers to undo the damage. The other highlight of the trip was meeting Xavier. He was the mountain guide of the parallel group. Again that group consisted of 5 mostly older people, and he was their guide. Unable to talk in English or german, we found a common tongue in spanish and were able to exchange stories about argentina. I quizzed him about ...

... too. Finding the place isn't easy. The map on the website is very brief, and it doesn't tell you about a steep hill you have to climb before you get there. I spent a good hour looking for it because I was too stingy to pay for a taxi :) Local's directions were ok, except I was quite a bit aways at times, and I had to remember too many turns... and sometimes, the accent just killed me and I had no clue what they were saying. I'd highly recommend staying here ...

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>