I know I've been back for a few days but it has taken me this long to settle down and type up my last impressions of Switzerland. Man, that was an amazing trip! The weather was perfect for the entire trip- blue skies with little to no wind. The temperature was hovering above freezing and even dipped a little below the higher we climbed up the mountain. We could "commute" to the slopes everyday in an electric bus that was a full size add for Gruyere cheese- so 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 and cheese- funny combo, eh?
On our second day, we tried to ski into Italy but the mountain was so damn big, and it was cloudy, that we actually missed the turn and ended up back in Switzerland. It was fun to ski on the boarder between two countries. When we asked someone at the hotel how to get there, he showed us where we went wrong- we missed the turn because of the clouds. The guy responded that the clouds were a result of all the pasta they were cooking! On our
last day when we finally did make it into Italy, the difference was noticeable. The Italian side was, well, very Italian- colorful and fashionable and less meticulous than the Swiss. This area was the "backside" of the Matterhorn. For lunch we stopped and had a pasta lunch, because that is what one does in Italy. We were expecting a culinary treat but it ended up being a gastronomic disaster! But at least the coffee was good. Cervenia redeemed its culinary reputation on our last day when we had a heaping plate of pasta with rabbit meat, served with a crusty bread roll. Around the resting huts on the Italian side were hundreds of people, mostly women, sun bathing on lounge chairs, in the snow! People had just stripped down to their bras, closed their eyes and soaked up the sun, all the while wearing their ski boots. Only in Europe.
This weekend was the last skiing day of the winter season before they closed down and re-opened for the summer season. We were told that this place has year-round skiing and many Olympic teams train here. The town of Zermatt was really nice but noticeably Swiss because every 2 feet there was an advertisement for a watch. The streets of this place were deserted by 7:30 pm and all the shops closed by 6:30. It was really strange and old fashioned but there was something pleasant about it, too. This trip reminded me how much I miss Europe.
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