Rex Zermatt

... used my final day of my eurrail pass for this trip only to find that the trip from Visp station to the Zermatt was not valid despite being told by two train operators that it was. I also couldn't get through to the girl at the station that my eurrail pass allows me discounts for the train but she kept telling me, 'no, no, you can't use anymore days it's full'. Today wasn't the first time I have been stuffed around by the Swiss. It's hard to believe that Einstein was educated here.

... over his chair and almost fell over backwards himself! It was quite comical! He did eventually pay and walked out in quite a huff, we saw him further down the street still examining his receipt and shaking his head!

The first part of our journey took us to Visp where we boarded the ‘Glacier Express’. This train takes you through the mountain region below Zermatt and the Matterhorn and shows off some beautiful Swiss scenery before finishing in the ...

... 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.

Now we realised this was our last chance to get the police photo, as soon we
wouldn't be in Italy any more ...

... a guest speaker, the President of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law, on the role of non-state actors in international humanitarian law. On Wednesday, we had another guest speaker from the University of Business and International Studies Geneva, who spoke to us about the United Nations System and Multilateral Diplomacy. On Thursday we did not have school because of the holiday "Jeune Genevois," so I spent the day catching up on relaxation and ...

... 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.
 
                 

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 ...

... Gondola, we took a Tram to the top. Each stage of our journey had its own playground! The zipline at 2600 took the cake for the most over-the-top experience. Tom took Tyler home for his nap and returned 1/3rd of ...

... a couple of hours ("drink" turned into "drinks"). We had a not-so-good fondue dinner, hung out for a little while, and then EVERYONE passed out early. Sunday was very painful. I felt muscles I never knew existed before! Annie and I set up appointments for massages, and then we all walked around town looking at useless **** no one really needs. We had some delicious pizza for lunch and found a nice place to sit ...

... but really this one is manageable. The town is very well maintained - no big surprise there - and well organized to handle the large influx of year round tourists trampling through the mountains. The city is a no car city, so even people that drive have to leave their car in the city before Zermatt and take the train into the village. I doubt that there are many locals that live in Zermatt that don't earn their living from tourists ...

... mountain and realized that had we known, we could have organized ourselves to have gone on a nice hike around here and stopped along the way for a picnic. I guess there will have to be a next time. Realizing that one path wasn't giving us better views, we turned back to the town. Actually, we are pretty sure that this wasn't a path intended for walking, but a ski-out during the winter. Again, we would really love to return someday, especially to ski ...