HEADING DOWN

INSIDE A GLACIER

and as if that's not enough- on the top of this mountain they've also cut into a GLACIER- and have it lit so that you can walk into this longgggggggggggggggggggg longgggggggggggggggggg tunnel and then come out into this ice room- it was mind blowing to realize you're up 12000 feet, INSIDE a glacier- in Switzerland!

MORE SHOTS FROM THE TOP

The views up here were just incredible- and to go from 80 degrees in Zermatt to WINTER in a matter of an hour- pretty cool- especially when you know you're looking out at Switzerland- actually over these peaks if you ski'd them- you'd end up in Italy!

FLASH TO THE SUMMIT

and a very happy Carol Lee :)

FLASH TO CAROL ON THE CABLE CAR!

I think the face says it all.

WE'D BEST BE THERE!

So the whole ride took about 45-50 minutes- but as we were approaching the first snow covered station in the gondola Carol says to me, "All I can say is we had BEST be there at this point! We had better NOT have to go any further!"--- silence in the car- its just the two of us in there--- "Do you hear me????" she says quite emphatically! I look out and up at the mountain ahead of us and I say as calmly as I can muster, "Well, I guess it is, what it is..." Carol told me later- that's when she knew she was in trouble.... :)

And as it turns out we weren't there yet. In fact we were only at the bottom of the last stretch- which involved pretty much STRAIGHT UP this mountain side- honestly I still don't know how this cable car made it but it did! This is a shot of the group waiting to get on and another of the cable car coming to get us.

HEADING UP

So its pretty cool- you walk out of your hotel, and go along a rushing mountain stream- and pretty soon in the middle of town you are at the lift which goes up to Klein Matterhorn! There are actually three lift stations in Zermatt; 1) goes to Klein Matterhorn the highest lift station in Europe (of COURSE the place we went), 2) another is a cog railroad that goes to about 10,000 feet but never involves gondolas and 3) is one that involves underground elevators, gondolas and cable cars and goes to about 10,000 ft with classic matterhorn views. Since we already have one of those on our balcony we figured, GO FOR THE GUSTO and go for the snow capped mountain!!! Here's a shot of Carol on one of the first gondolas and a view from the gondola. The snow capped mountain in the back (Klein Matterhorn) is where we went!!

AH SUMMER IN SWITZERLAND at 12,736 feet!

How's this for a shot! It took us about 45 minutes in a combination of gondolas (seat 6) and a cable car (there were about 50 people in it)- to get to the top of Klein Matterhorn-

And there were A LOT of people skiing!! And YES I wished that I could- but the lift tickets up/down for this mountain cost about $150 so I wasn't even going to THINK about renting skis and equipment for a few runs just say I did it- oh but I wanted to.... :)

CAROL CONQUERS THE MATTERHORN: SHE DID IT!!

I'm happy to report that Carol is not only continuing to feel better but she conquered the Matterhorn today!!! In case you don't know- she has a TERRIBLE fear of heights- but was determined to do this, for me, and for herself. Actually to be specific we went to Klein Matterhorn which is nearly as tall as the Matterhorn but is a couple of peaks away- Klein Matterhorn is the highest lift station in Europe at about 12,736 feet as I recall. Here we are in the clouds in Switzerland!

LITTLE HIKE

We went for a little hike today up in the hills around Zermatt- turns out we had some unexpected plans that changed. Carol came down with a bug a couple of days ago and hit rock bottom two nights ago- she hadn't slept for 3 nights- and so I pulled the plug on Lausanne and changed our reservations to stay here in Zermatt for two more days- and forget about making the trek to Lausanne. The woman who owns our hotel couldn't have been more sweet and told me that she was going to make Carol an herbal drink that would cure her and make her feel wonderful. I'm not really sure what was in it- I know honey and lemon- but it sure did the trick. We stayed in an entire day on Sunday and slept most of the day- we've both been so tired and worn out anyway- and these shots were taken today- so as you can see, we're back at it- although only coasting into the weekend and our return to the US now :) Plus she ran with the goats, so she can't be that bad---

SPRING AGAIN

You know, one thing (among many) that is interesting with all the traveling we've done this year- is that we've experienced FOUR Springs! First, we had spring in Raleigh, NC in March when we went to visit Carol's Mom and stayed with Catherine and Lyn. Then we came back and had spring again about a month later in Cedar Falls- enjoying the lilacs in our yard. Then when we went to parts of Italy in May, we had spring again in some locations, and now, its spring in Zermatt, Switzerland!! Look at the lilacs that we found this morning and there are more right underneath our balcony!

THE RUNNING OF THE GOATS

You know some people live on the edge by running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain- My wife, however, has decided that she will run with the goats-

Remember the goat parade I mentioned the other day? Turns out its a daily ritual in Zermatt, Switzerland- and Carol has it DOWN to an art at what time of day the goats will run. So at 4:15pm we headed over to the main street in town- and I averted off in one direction to pick up our laundry and bring it back to the hotel- and Carol went to run with the goats. After about 1/2 an hour I joined her- and it turns out I didn't miss the event!

She just loves these goats- she says to me, "Its just so 'old world' I mean what other city could you still see goats running through the streets?" I looked at her, "What other city have you been in that you could EVER see goats running through the streets???" Then I remembered that we lived in Iowa and it actually still could be a daily occurrence in some places. Here's a few shots of her goat run today :)

ZERMATT THE TOWN

Here are a couple of shots of Zermatt the town- I don't think you could find a more Heidi-like Swiss village if you tried- we even saw a goat parade today at 5pm!! Right through the middle of town! These houses that have the little barn doors under them- from my understanding- they are places where the animals live UNDERNEATH the houses- and they are supposed to help WARM the house??? That's what I read- all I know- is that walking past them--- I heard people inside the houses with dishes at dinner time- and I smelled animals underneath- I'm just wondering if its the goats---

VIEW FROM OUR HOTEL-THE MATTERHORN!

This seriously is the view from our hotel room- in fact you lay in the bed and virtually see the same thing- and we have a balcony that we can sit on and enjoy this view for hours on end- which is the very first thing we did after we arrived. This picture of me is the best one of the lot- and I can't get it to go unsideways but never let that stop me from posting.

AT LAST- SWITZERLAND!

Today we made our way south in the country to Zermatt, home of the Matterhorn!!! The weather just couldn't have been more perfect. It took three trains, and three hours to get there from Luzerne- and the last leg of the trip was by cog railroad- and it was absolutely AWESOME! This is a shot of the train (we were in the back) winding its way up and up to Zermatt. Nothing can try to capture the moment of this trip as much as a video- so I'm also putting one of those up on the blog. Our hotel is called Hotel Parnass (another Tripadvisor.Com find)- and it is by far the hotel with the best view of any hotel we've ever stayed at in our life.

LAKE LUZERNE

n the afternoon we took a boat cruise out on Lake Luzerne for about 2 hours. The tickets were free because of our Eurail pass. I'd like to tell you that it was spectacular and amazing but the truth is that it was sort of like sitting in a bus station for 2 hours with crowds of people smoking and kids being kids (school groups)- Finally about the last 20 minutes of the trip we decided to get up and walk around and realized that inside the boat, there were tables, it was q----u----i----e-----t and you could see in every direction. I still got a few fun pictures. The one of the boat with the Swiss flag is like what we were on- The one of the group sort of gives you a realistic view of our vantage point for nearly two hours of the trip :) Isn't it good to know that everything isn't perfect on this trip?? :)

The large mountain behind the water is known as Mt. Pilatus. Pontius Pilate is coming back into our story- turns out that legend is that he was thrown into the waters and killed by the Swiss after crossing over from Italy- and so this mountain is named infamously for him.

SWIEZE FUSSBALL

Really fun, last night, we got to be walking around the streets when Switzerland played soccer against Honduras. Horns started honking on cars driving around for HOURS beforehand and all you could see was a sea of red shirts. I got a couple of pictures at a gathering outside a bar about an hour before the game started. The great HD tv is where we watched part of the game- there wasn't much of a crowd around this store- because there was no sound. But since the audio is always in German it really doesn't make much of a difference if you have sound or not!

THE LION MEMORIAL

So one Luzerne's biggest tourist attractions dating back to the 1700s is this monument to their fallen war veterans. And if you think about it- since Switzerland has been an isolationist country for hundreds of years they fortunately don't need to have war memorials. This one is pretty cool- its a lion, which is dying with a broken spear in its side, lying on a shield- you can see the Swiss cross near its head.

IN THE GLOAMING...

AT LAST- SWITZERLAND!

We crossed the border about 3pm today into the mountainous world of Switzerland! Crossing borders in the European Union is seamless and easy - no different than going from state to the state in the US. So we got on the train in Austria- and got off in Zurich, Switzerland! Didn't get to see too much of the city though as we only had 12 minutes before we had to jump on another train and head south to Luzerne where we are tonight. Luzerne is sort of in the middle of Switzerland and is its own destination but is also a good launching pad for other parts of the country. Here's a shot of Luzerne I took this evening. The light from the early setting sun was doing magical things to the buildings. I remember Grandpa Walton used to call that magic time of evening when everything starts to glow, "...in the gloaming..."

What else THE WORLD CUP

Last one for the day- right across from our hotel is the massive WM Public Viewing area- here's a video clip I took at the start of the game Germany just won against Ghana. You should have heard the cheering! See those German flags waving across the crowd in yellow/red/black!

HAMEL CAMEL

So the last bit of adventure today involved going just a little further to see the Olympic Ice arena where Dorothy Hamel won gold for figure skating in 1976! It was pretty cool- especially when I remember as a 20 year old watching her all those nights an imagining in my head, Innsbruck Austria being someplace far far away and unattainable.

THE OLYMPICS '64 and '76

And as far as I'm concerned no trip to Innsbruck is complete without checking out the Olympic stomping grounds- and so when it cooled off this evening, Carol and I hiked a few miles to the north edge of town to see some Olympic fame. First we discovered the famous Innsbruck Ski jump "Bergisel". We could have gotten closer but after a day of walking- where we got was close enough.

Here's the best part- remember the famous Olympic torches from Innsbruck??? Here they are, with the Olympic rings- they don't look quite as large in life though do they!