Zermatt

We arrived in majestic Zermatt after parking at the parking structure in Tasch and taking the glacier express train into the town.  Since it is also "car free" you only have a few options about how to get into town.  Like Saas Fee, Zermatt also has electric little buses that are pretty much your only form of transportation, unless you want to go by carriage.  Zermatt is larger and more upscale than Saas Fee, but still has small village charm.  We quickly pointed out the two hotels we would like to stay in for the next visit, the Zermatterhoff or the Mont Cervin.  Both of them looked very appealing, but for this trip we were staying at the Hotel Rhodania.  We were still tempted to try out the spa.  It was a typical mountain hotel located in a convenient location close to the river that runs through town. The most spectacular part of Zermatt is that you can see the Matterhorn from almost anywhere, including our hotel porch.  The first day was spent scouting out restaurants and shops in the town.  After our late night on New Year's part of the group was beginning to get a bit run down.  Allie caught our terrible sickness first, then me, then Deanna and then my friend Blair.  Unfortunately, it wasn't something you get over quickly. I ended up missing a whole day of skiing and we are all still feeling it now.  For lunch that day we found a cute creperie and then shopped in almost every ski shop in town.  We also found great places for dinner, including Thai, sushi, and mexican.  One night we enjoyed Thai food in a restaurant that felt like you were aboard a ship and the next night we tried Mexican food, even though we were sorry to see Fajitas di Caballo on the menu.  Unfortunately, it's a Swiss delicacy.  On our way to "Tex Mex" place we stopped in the Mont Cervin for a drink and ended up stumbling upon a quartet performing in the lobby area for Russian guests.  The CFO from Mont Blanc was welcoming the four men and we had a hard time departing during the performance.  The next day, the other girls had a great day skiing in the sun looking at the Matterhorn all day long, (debating whether Disneyland or Disneyworld was built first...obviously CA girls knew) while I tried to rest up and get well.  Our last day in Zermatt was chilly, snowy and -21 degrees celsius at the top of the mountain (without the wind chill). We took three gondolas to get to the very top of the mountain so we could ski all the way to the Italy side of the mountain Cervinia.  From the gondola you could tell how massive the mountain or mountains are.  You could definitely spend over a week and not ever take the same run.  Due to the cold, we had to take many breaks to warm our freezing toes and regroup since most of us were now under the weather.  After lunching in Italy, realizing we really preferred panini to sausages, we headed back over to the Zermatt side.  We made it through apres ski and decided Italian would be a good choice for our last dinner.  That night we hit our beds hard, tired from days of skiing and the flu unfortunately.  In the morning, after trying to sleep off our sickness we packed the little green car up for the third time and  headed back to Lugano.  On the way we had driven through Milan, since we had to stop for our bags.  However, on the way home the GPS decided to take us not only over one pass, but through tiny mountain roads through Italy.  Well Italy and Switzerland.  It's so strange how you cross the border, so often.  You'll be driving through this tiny town and all of the sudden you reach the border, one official and you're back in Italy or back in Switzerland.  The drive became a bit hairy, until two snow plows were right ahead of us.  Then they offered for us to pass, which ended up being okay, but I have to admit I was closing my eyes in the back seat.  Blair did a great job driving and we managed to arrive safely in Lugano, without leaving any skis along the road.  Deanna and I rested up for the next couple days, I worked and then we traveled to Milan for our last two days before she headed home.