Testa Grigia 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.

... was apparently very beautiful with constant views of the Matterhorn, but away from the tourist trails a bit. He also told us it was very flat and easy – ideal for us given that Witek wasn’t 100% well!

We had to catch a sort of cog wheel rail for the first bit, followed by a cable car to the beginning of our walk. I have been getting a lot braver with cable cars and chair lifts and managed this one without any problems.

Once at the top we found ...

... So I was keeping an eye open for a policeman, and spotted a whole police station( or should I say Carabinieri)!! There must be one in there, we thought. And it's definitely worth stopping. We got a place to park (probably not very legal, but we were following the Italian rules of the road by now), grabbed our Landy Rally T shirts, and went on the hunt for points. It lookead bit locked up, but as we poked around the gate, a couple of people came out ...

... 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.
 
                 

... on the snow with a lovely view from Mont Blanc on one side and the Italian plains on the other. In between there were dozens of skiers and snowboarders enjoying some summer runs. After our snow hike, we took a Tram down to do a 10K hike to Hornlihut, starting at 2500m. Tom was suitably freaked out by the ...

... 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 ...

... Got to VISP and took train to Brig. Qucik lunch for boys and then headed from Brig to Milano. Again, only ones in our compartments. Kids have a whole routine down that scares anyone who looks in. Alex has yet to do the Harri Krishna routine he practiced. He also carries the darn shower cap with him, but I am sure if someone touched the door handle, the whole act would ...

... and the first one to yell out "I SEE THE MATTERHORN!!" wins the respect and admiration of all in the car. It was beautiful, a little cold (8 degrees celsius). We went to McDonald's and had a hamburger, then went on a hike toward the Matterhown. It was really nice to be in the SUN, HIKING in the ALPS like we planned our whole trip around!! After a couple of hours, we were good to go ...

... partout! (Guillaume je pense que même moi je pourrais en pêcher du poisson dans ce lac là! Y'en a presque autant qu'au lac Donlon! haha!) Tout le monde me regardait, attendant que je meurts glacé ou que je change d'idée. Mais non, je l'ai fait et j'ai survécu! Je me suis en fait trompé de lac pour la baignade. Je devais me baigner dans un autre lac qui provient d'une source plus chaude alors que je me suis baigné dans le lac qui provient directement ...

... we dubbed it the "cheese bus". For someone like Mitch who hates cheese, Switzerland is a tough country to be in. At the restaurants, Mitch asks the waitress if any dishes have cheese and they respond with this perplexed expression. He got a bit frustrated but I was amused. I ended up eating some of his dishes because, as you'd expect,they came covered in cheese. It was a mutual exchange because he ended up eating my deserts that were covered in nuts. Nuts ...